Oscar picks and predictions for tonight!

The world smells of movies today. It’s the Oscar night, the biggest movie event of the year. I get obsessed every year and very excited to the extent that I would leave Slovakia right away and just fly over to the US to fulfill the American Dream of mine. I’ve been having an actual dream for past couple of days about writing a script and promoting it. Well, you just can tell that I am very excited and with this post, I will make my predictions for tonight since this is the first year when I saw majority of nominated movies. 

I won’t be able to watch it live, but I am staying up all night checking the backstage cameras at oscars.com along with updates and pictures of winners. It’s a shame that we no longer have the programme on TV which would have it live. I am very disappointed cuz I am a huge Oscar fan since 2004 when I first saw it live. 

So here’s my comments about movies and predicitions. 

Slumdog Millionaire 
Best picture of the year. I was totally overwhelmed… It literally took my breath away. It should get the best picture as well as the Oscar for best director and cinematography. The screenplay is wonderful, too but I am betting on The reader in this case. Music (Score) and Music (Song) for Jai Ho also should get the Oscar. I am not totally fan of the song but there is nothing better this year compared with last years Once songs performed by Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard.
Slumdog Millionaire is maybe a strongest story I’ve ever seen with an option D – it was written. You’d say such situation is improbable but in fact as you watching it you’ve got a feeling it’s all real. I’m not a fan of of Asian culture at all but this just got me. The movie leaves me speechless. 

The Reader
Second best this year for me. I totally love Kate Winslet, she’s definitely the best actress of present time. She’s been nominated 8 times if I remember well and never took the Oscar statue home. This year it’s her chance. I’ve seen many of her films since I am a huge fan and this role was the most difficult to create and she did more than well. To find humanity in such person as Hana must have been difficult. I loved the movie thoroughly and I love Kate.
So I am betting on her as the best actress, I also like the screenplay because it isn’t easy to write and isn’t easy to pick what is crucial to the movie and can’t be erased from the script.  

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This was the first Oscar nominated movie I’ve seen from all of nominated ones. After it ended, I was totally overwhelmed. It is a great film but because I watched The reader and Slumdog afterwards, this one is left behind. Brad and Cate were amazing but I don’t think Brad will take the award. But Taraji P. Henson should definitely take the award for best supporting actress. (even though I haven’t seen Doubt yet).  Also I think makeup artists and costume designers did a terrific job and should get the statue. And one Oscar for Art Direction, too. 
Even though that makes 4 Academy awards according to me out of 13 nominations, Benjamin Button will either be the biggest disappointment or the other way around. I guess these 4 Oscars would be appropriate and that’s it. But I won’t be mad if any other will conjure up.

 Milk
Great movie. I didn’t know anything about Harvey Milk prior to watching the movie. I think Sean Penn performed him in a brilliant way and therefore I hope he will get the Oscar tonight. He got his first Oscar when I first watched the show in 2004 and his speech was wonderful. I bet he will say something meaningful again if he’s there. And that’s what speeches should be about except the “thanks” part. I also think it should get the statue for best original screenplay. 

Man on Wire
Best documentary feature. The best quote that best express what the film is about “It’s impossible. Impossible. So let’s keep working on it”. It inspired me greatly and reminded me that dreams can come true with bravery and ridiculous amount of work. Thumbs up! 

So I guess I will rather write about all films I’ve seen since 2009 began tomorrow and now I’ll leave you with predictions. I am staying up all night so I might get back to writing. :) 

Best Picture – Slumdog Millionaire
Directing – Slumdog Millionaire
Actor in a leading role – Sean Penn
Actress in a leading role – Kate Winslet
Actor in a supporting role – Heath Ledger
Actress in a supporting role – Taraji P. Henson
Writing (Adapted screenplay) –  The Reader
Writing (Original screenplay) – Milk
Animated feature film – Wall-e
Short Film (Animated) – Lavatory-Lovestory (I haven’t seen)
Short Film (Live action)  - New Boy (I haven’t seen)
Foreign Language Film – Waltz with Bashir (Haven’t seen yet)
Documentary Feature – Man on Wire
Documentary short – The Witness – from the Balcony of Room 306 (haven’t seen)
Music (Score) - Slumdog Millionaire
Music (Song) - Slumdog Millionaire – Jai Ho
Art Direction – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire
Costume design –  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Film editing – Milk
Makeup - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sound Editing – Wall-e
Sound Mixing – Slumdog Millionaire
Visual Effects – The Dark Knight

 

Enjoy the night if you’re gonna watch it! :))

~ by Lenka Bliss on February 22, 2009.