Feb 24th, 2007
Pre-Oscar Party recap and my Oscar predictions/picks…
We had our pre-Oscar party at the library today. Over 60 people attended so it was a great turnout! We had popcorn, candy, and drinks and it really seemed like people enjoyed the event. After starting things off with a little Oscar trivia (2 lucky winners went away with a nice Thousand Oaks Library bag stuffed with candy), we got to the main event, which was the screening of some 2005 Academy Award nominated short films. I think the audience enjoyed most of the films, but the one that actually received some applause was the winner for best animated short film, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation. Both before and after the event, many people came up to me and told me how happy they were that the library was putting on this event. I was asked repeatedly about future film programs at the library, so I know people are looking forward to seeing more interesting films at the library. I now know that there is definitely a community of movie lovers in Thousand Oaks. We even had an influx of Oscar contest submissions today, many of them probably coming from people here for the screening. I think there were around 25-30 new ballots submitted today. I’m anxious to see who wins the prizes. Maybe I can get the winners to pose for a quick pic and post it here 
So, I’ve been thinking about this year’s Oscars and I think I pretty much have my predictions and personal picks decided for most of the major categories. I wish I could comment on some of the other categories like editing and cinematography, but I haven’t seen enough of the nominees in those categories so I’ll just stick to the ones where I’ve actually seen a good number of the nominees.
Best Actor
- Will win: Forest Whitaker
- Should win: Forest Whitaker
I’ve been a fan of Whitaker for a long time (a personal favorite is his role in Ghost Dog) and he’s amazing in The Last King of Scotland.
Best Actress
- Will win: Helen Mirren
- Should win: Helen Mirren
Mirren made you forget that you were actually watching an actress playing a role. And to do that while playing a real person who’s still alive is even more impressive.
Best Supporting Actor
- Will win: Eddie Murphy
- Should win: Mark Wahlberg
Murphy was good in Dreamgirls, but can an Oscar really go to the man who just made Norbit?! Mark Wahlberg stole every scene he was in and he did it while sharing the screen with the best of the best. On a side note, I heard Djimon Hounsou was terrific in Blood Diamond, but I could not get myself to go see that movie because of Leonardo’s accent. When I first saw the trailer to that movie, I knew immediately that I would not pay money to see it the second Leonardo started speaking.
Best Supporting Actress
- Will win: Jennifer Hudson
- Should win: Rinko Kikuchi
Everyone’s talking about Hudson and I’m not sure why. I’ll admit that she was good, but most of her “acting” in the movie was simply standing there and singing, which she did on “American Idol.” Kikuchi was absolutely haunting in her role and I think she deserves the Oscar.
Best Director
- Will win: Martin Scorcese
- Should win: Paul Greengrass
I will be happy to see Scorcese win it because I love his movies, but I’m not sure Departed was much a departure (sorry) for him. I wish he would tackle different types of stories…like Kundun, which is one of his best films in my opinion. As for Greengrass, I’ve loved every film he has made, including one that’s on my all-time best films list, Bloody Sunday. He probably won’t win it this year, but I think he’ll win one sooner rather than later.
Best Film
- Will win: The Departed
- Should win: Babel
This is a difficult category to pick. I haven’t seen Letters from Iwo Jima, but I have seen the other four nominees. I liked all of them, but I especially found Babel powerful in its storytelling and filmmaking. It definitely kept my attention during them movie and it stayed with me afterwards.
