Insane Year-in-Advance 2010 Oscar Predictions

Coverage on last night's broadcast will come soon. Right now, I'll do a crazy year-in-advance predictions.

Here goes:

Best Picture:

Amelia
Mandela
Nine
Shutter Island
Taking Woodstock

Best Director:

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Clint Eastwood, Mandela
Ang Lee, Taking Woodstock
Rob Marshall, Nine
Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island

Best Actor:

Matt Damon, The Informant
Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island
Morgan Freeman, Mandela
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Boat That Rocked

Best Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Broken Embraces
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Michelle Pfeiffer, Cheri
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Hilary Swank, Amelia

Best Supporting Actor:

Billy Crudup, Public Enemies
Matt Damon, Mandela
Richard Kind, A Serious Man
Ewan McGregor, Amelia
Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Nine
Sophia Loren, Nine
Mo'Nique, Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
Imelda Staunton, Taking Woodstock
Michelle Williams, Shutter Island

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Cheri
Mandela
Nine
Shutter Island
Taking Woodstock

Best Original Screenplay:

The Boat That Rocked
Broken Embraces
An Education
A Serious Man
Up

Best Animated Feature Film:

Monsters vs. Aliens
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Up

Best Art Direction:

Cheri
Nine
Public Enemies
Sherlock Holmes
The Wolf Man

Best Cinematography:

Amelia
Broken Embraces
Nine
Public Enemies
Shutter Island

Best Costume Design:

Amelia
Cheri
Nine
Public Enemies
The Wolf Man

Best Film Editing:

Amelia
Green Zone
Mandela
Nine
Shutter Island

Best Makeup:

Cheri
Star Trek
The Wolf Man

Best Original Score:

Amelia
Broken Embraces
Cheri
Public Enemies
Up

Best Sound Editing:

Green Zone
Public Enemies
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Up

Best Sound Mixing:

Avatar
Nine
Public Enemies
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects:

Avatar
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

So, there you have it. My crazy predictions. Deal with them now. Not another one until Juneish.

Really Quick

Paul McGuigan's "Push" (**1/2) is a flashy, diverting, ultimately uneven action film that relies so much on its cinema verite filmmaking style that the story gets lost along the way. In the end, it sets itself up for a sequel that is not particularly desired, based on the box office intake.

If I Had a Ballot

Everyone calls it that. So am I going to.

I include all of the main awards (from Best Picture to Best Screenplay) and the technicals (from Best Art Direction to Best Visual Effects). And then I have two categories I would like to see the AMPAS include. They are signified by being the final two categories listed.

I'm going to model this after the posting by my good friend Actionman (not because I'm stealing everything from him; he just thinks of darn good things to do), by having the nominees in order of best best to least best.

Motion Picture of the Year:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
WALL-E
Slumdog Millionaire
The Fall

Achievement in Directing:

David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Tarsem, The Fall
Ben Stiller, Tropic Thunder

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:

Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man
Seth Rogen, Pineapple Express

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Kate Beckinsale, Snow Angels
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Dark Knight
Olivia Thirlby, Snow Angels

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Aaron Eckhart, The Dark Knight
James Franco, Pineapple Express
Gary Oldman, The Dark Knight
Bobb'E J. Thompson, Role Models

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:

Jane Lynch, Role Models
Tilda Swinton, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Amy Sedaris, Snow Angels
Cate Blanchett, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Amber Heard, Pineapple Express

Animated Motion Picture:

WALL-E
Bolt
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

Achievement in Screenwriting:

The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionaire
Tropic Thunder
Pineapple Express

Achievement in Art Direction:

The Fall
Tropic Thunder
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Cloverfield
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Achievement in Cinematography:

The Fall
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Snow Angels
Changeling

Achievement in Costume Design:

The Fall
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Changeling

Achievement in Film Editing:

Slumdog Millionaire
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
WALL-E
Cloverfield

Achievement in Makeup:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight

Achievement in Musical Score:

The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
WALL-E
Changeling

Achievement in Sound:

WALL-E
The Dark Knight
Cloverfield
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire

Achievement in Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Iron Man
Wanted
Cloverfield
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Ensemble in a Motion Picture:

Tropic Thunder
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Performance by an Actor/Actress in an Extended Cameo:

Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder
Eric Roberts, The Dark Knight
Danny McBride, Pineapple Express

Until next year!

Wow.

http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_audio/020209_christianbale.mp3

I think Shane got the point.

Really Quick

"Taken" (****) has the potential to be an action classic. I loved very close to every second of the film. Liam Neeson is utterly revelatory.

Review coming soon, I hope.

The Sundance Film Festival: Films I'm Watching For

This year's Sundance Film Festival is one with films to be excited about truly. These are just a few of the films I'm looking forward to seeing in wide release.

Black Dynamite: Much positive feedback has been given to this spoof/throwback to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s. I simply can't wait for it, as it supposedly uses the Technicolor filming process, which hasn't been use since the 80s.

500 Days of Summer: A festival favorite right now. Supposedly, it encompasses falling in love perfectly. Can't ask for anything better than a great love story. The film releases on July 24. Count me in.

Don't Let Me Drown: The title seems to point to an episode of "Degrassi." But the film, about two teenagers also falling in love and living in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, seems to be garnering a lot of praise.

Mystery Team: Supposedly the first non-SNL sketch movie ever made (okay, that's wrong; "Napoleon Dynamite" is), but it's getting good feedback. That's good for, uh, a sketch comedy.

The Greatest: Supposedly a heartbreaking story about a family that has lost a son. Stars Pierce Brosnan.

The Clone Returns: A Japanese indie sci-fi film about a guy who dies and is resurrected as a clone of someone else. Should be a mind-bender.

Five Minutes of Heaven: Liam Neeson stars in this small political film set in Ireland. Sounds like a great indie.

Taking Chance: A horridly titled movie about a guy escorting his fallen ex-Marine friend's body back to his hometown.

Mary and Max: A claymation film about a girl who befriends an obese Jewish priest with Asperger's Syndrome. Having Asperger's myself, I can't wait to see how it is portrayed.

I'm looking forward to everything else, but these will be highlights for me. I only wish I was actually there at Sundance. Count each of these as one's I will actually see either in theaters or when they arrive on DVD. All of them.

Oscars 2009: Final Predictions

The nominations come out on Thursday (which, ironically, is also the one-year anniversary of Heath Ledger's death). So, without further adieu, my final predictions for the Oscars 2009.

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director:

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Actor:

Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress:

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire

Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Kate Winslet, The Reader

Adapted Screenplay:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay:

Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
WALL-E
The Wrestler

Best Animated Feature Film:

Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Best Art Direction:

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Costume Design:

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Best Film Editing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Makeup:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche, New York
Tropic Thunder

Best Original Score:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

Best Original Song:

"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"I Thought I'd Lost You," Bolt
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler

Best Sound Editing:

The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
WALL-E

Best Sound Mixing:

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man