Oscar Fever

Hey, you crazy awards people, you!

As you all know, or should know by now (weren't you paying attention? F-.), I love the Academy Awards. I love the little naked statue-man with the sword, I love all the celebrities lookin' all perty, I love the acknowledgement of film as an art form, I love it all! Normally I have a big Oscar party with all my peeps, but I decided this year not to have one, and therefore, I can put my picks up on my blog! Weeee!

I'm going to leave out the short films, the foreign language film, and the documentaries because I simply have not seen enough and do not know enough about them to make a choice, so that would be just plain silly.

I'm going to give two choices:
Jam's Pick will be the person/film I believe should win.
Real Pick will be the person/film I believe will win.

Ready? Steady? Go!

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Art Direction
Dreamgirls
The Good Sheppard
Pan's Labyrinth Jam's Pick, Real Pick
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

This one is a no-brainer. Pan's Labyrinth is supposed to be the most visually appealing film of the decade. The others don't stand a chance.

Costume Design
Curse of the Golden Flower Jam's Pick
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls Real Pick
Marie Antoinette
The Queen

A realatively slow year for fantastical costumes, "Curse of the Golden Flower" definitely proves its worth, with ornate costumes that make the Geisha look like servants. Dreamgirls will take it, though, as the designer was nominated without a win for "Ray" in 2004, which was quite the upset.

Film Editing
Babel
Blood Diamond Real Pick
Children of Men Jam's Pick
The Departed
United 93

While Babel will win other awards, the editing should go to Children of Men, which was edited in a fast-paced and very unique way. Blood Diamond, with its action and its lack of Best Picture nod, will steal the statue.

Original Score
Babel Jam's Pick
The Good German Real Pick
Notes on a Scandal
Pan's Pabyrinth
The Queen

One of the tightest categories this year. Notes on a Scandal has a remarkable score, falling just short of Babel's. However, Thomas Newman, heavyweight at the Oscars in this category, has seven previous nominations under his belt without a win. I think it's his year, especially considering Gustavo, Babel's composer, won last year for Brokeback Mountain.

Original Song
"I Need To Wake Up" - An Inconvenient Truth
"Listen" - Dreamgirls Real Pick
"Love You I Do" - Dreamgirls
"Our Town" - Cars
"Patience" - Dreamgirls

I have given up on this category. Every year they pick a random crap song as the winner, with many left without what they deserve. This year, the academy has taken that a step forward and nominated five songs that are uninspired, boring, and ordinary. The only one to have what it takes to win is Beyonce's "Listen". Jam's Pick is not on this list, unfortunately. "Never Gonna Break My Faith", written by Bryan Adams, sung by Mary J. Blige and Aretha Franklin, deserves this award. It is a shame the academy overlooked the obvious best song of the year.

Sound Editing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima Real Pick Jam's Pick
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

The Academy enjoys its war/battle films in this category, the best of them being Clint's Letters. Blood Diamond may give it a run for its statuette, but I doubt it.

Sound Mixing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls Real Pick
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Tough category for me to judge as I haven't seen any of these ones. I'll leave my pick out and give you my 100% that Dreamgirls will take it.

Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns Real Pick Jam's Pick

I kid you not. These are the nominees. Superman has some LOTR staff behind it, so we'll say it will win. Then again, Pirates had a character made with a tentacle face. All I know is there are no "War of the Worlds"es or "King Kong"s this year.

Cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men Jam's Pick
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth Real Pick
The Prestige

With Babel out of this category for whatever reason, Children's unique camera-style should take the cake. Pan's overwhelming artistic flare, however, will overwhelm the voters.

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Adriana Barraza - Babel Jam's Pick
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls Real Pick
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel

Alright people. Listen up. This is the BEST category this year. Five amazing performances, all of which could easily take it. Adriana, in my opinion, was easily the most dominant of the five, but the media is really pushing Hudson's win, especially after her win at the Globes. Abigail Breslin could be the monkey wrench in this seemingly obvious win for Hudson if the Academy is planning on giving "Little Miss Sunshine" the win for Best Picture.

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children Jam's Pick
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls Real Pick
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed

Little Children is rather dark and artistic, which sometimes manages to pull out a surprising win (see "American Beauty" for a great example), but Murphy is practically a shoe-in here. I need to see this role to understand why.

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen Real Pick
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children Jam's Pick

An amazing array of women in this category as well. Kate has been nominated four times before without a win and fully deserves this. Judi Dench was remarkable playing a persona far from her own in Notes. Meryl always delivers. Penelope supposedly gave her breakthrough performance in the spanish Volver. Despite all of these, Mirren looks, sounds, acts like one of the most recognizable figures in the world and will easily take the award.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland Real Pick Jam's Pick

We all know Forest is an amazing actor. He deserves his win, playing a likeable massacring dictator. On a side note, if Will Smith wins this, I will boycott the Oscars. Scout's honour.

Adapted Screenplay
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Children of Men
The Departed Real Pick
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal Jam's Pick

Departed has this wrapped up in a neat little package. The only film on here to also be nominated for Best Picture equals absolute win.

Original Screenplay
Babel Jam's Pick
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine Real Pick
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Sometimes, the best pictures don't win the screenplay awards (see 2004 for example). While Babel was an amazing story, Little Miss Sunshine was on top of its writing, and the voters will be swooning over it. This is a case of profound versus heart-warming.

Directing
Alejandro González Iñárritu - Babel
Martin Scorsese - The Departed Real Pick
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima Jam's Pick
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass - United 93

While Clint doesn't usually float my boat, the amount of direction in Letters would have been phenomenal. Scorsese will absolutely take it though, as he has been nominated many times before, and The Departed is practically the front-runner this year.

Best Picture of the Year
Babel Real Pick Jam's Pick
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

I am been second-guessing myself over and over in the final category. Babel is the best film of 2006. The Academy should be able to recognize it, but Sunshine or The Departed could steal the show. *gulp*

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Well, there they are! I hope you watch on February 25th along with me to find out how genius or stupid I really am!

--Jam the Naked Golden Statue