Movies and shit (Fuck You Jake!!)

For the record I didn't ask Jake to do a list this year. I completely forgot. So for the moment he's a lying liar that's full of lies. But that's okay, I enjoyed his post anyway.

My problem is that I refuse to make a top ten list until I have seen all the movies I want to see. So far I haven't seen a bunch of films, including The Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, and Man on Wire. Until this quota is met I am witholding my top list in movies.

But then there is the Oscars...

There is some sort of Oscar Pool every Oscar year down here. It's the whole movie business thing. So this year, in an attempt to not suck like I did last year, I got my Oscar predictions down. THIS is stuff I do for fun...


Art Direction - Benjamin Button. The possible Spoilers are Dark Knight and The Duchess, but Benjamin Button pretty much has it. It has to win SOMETHING.

Costume Design - The Duchess. Because the Academy loves period pieces.

Makeup - God I hope Hellboy II wins. Hell, I think it's gonna win. I'm going with Hellboy II.

Music (Score) - One of those categories that The Dark Knight should have been nominated in. All the picks are pretty solid though. At the end of the day I'd have to say Benjamin Button, but Wall-E is close up there. And don't count out the amazing Slumdog Millionaire score...although it probably won't win this because it's going to win the next category...

Music (Song) - Jai Ho, from Slumdog Millionaire, is gonna win this. Wall-E is the spoiler here, but really, it's all about the credit scenes of Slumdog Millionaire. Personally I like O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire better and hope it wins, but who cares what I think?

Short, Animated - Pixar wins this category (again) with Presto. Because no one really cares about the others except for the film diehards (like me).

Short, Live Action - Nazi Germany vs. Immigration. I'll give this to New Boy, but Nazi Germany based Spielzeugland (Toyland) is neck and neck with it.

Animated Feature - Wall-E. Nothing else comes close.

Documentary Short - No idea. I'm gonna go with the popular opinion and pick The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306.

Documentary Feature - Man on Wire wins. It's the best reviewed movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes. COME ON.

Achievement in Sound Editing - Wall-E should get this, since that movie is nothing BUT sound. Nothing else did sound effects or any sort of sound related thing close to what Wall-E did.

Achievement in Sound Mixing- Wall-E again. See above. Dark Knight is a possible Spoiler though.

Achievement in Visual Effects - All these are great choices. It's a tough decision. I'll say Benjamin Button because of the absolutely astounding aging techniques used throughout the film. Iron Man is really close though, with it's photo realistic effects for robot suits.

Achievement in Editing - The Academy likes action oriented stuff in this category, stuff cut for speed and clarity in action over drama. Slumdog Millionaire and Dark Knight are neck and neck here. I'm flipping a coin. Heads was Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire it is. (No seriously, I flipped a coin).

Best Foreign Language Film - Waltz With Bashir I hope gets this. It's a popular film, and it's a huge risk taker for a lot of different reasons. I mean, it's basically an animated documentary. If two animated films wins, that'll be something. It helps that this movie has been winning all sorts of awards over the year.

Best Cinematography - Another tough category. I want Dark Knight to win, but this is between Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. I'll say Slumdog Millionaire because of some of the insane film techniques and gorgeousness of it all, but I wouldn't be surprised if the more sharp, clear, and normal Button walks away with the statue.

Best Original Screenplay - Milk should win this, but a possible spoiler is actually...Wall-E, of all things. I'm pulling for Wall-E, but it's animated. The Academy seems to hate animated things. So Milk it is.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Slumdog Millionaire, hands down. Moving on.
Supporting Actress - I think Penelope Cruz has this won. She's done good work in the last few years, she's popular, she's supposedly great in this very well reviewed film, etc. I think she's got the award. Viola Davis has a ton of hype, though, and could win this in a shocker. Personally I hope Taraji P. Henson wins this because she's the heart of Benjamin Button, but I don't think she has a chance.

Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger. Fucking DUH. Did you see The Dark Knight? It's the biggest no brainer of the night. I do like that Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Tropic Thunder though.

Actress in a Leading Role - It's between Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet. I think this is when Kate Winslet wins her first Oscar. I hear she's good in the movie, but this is more of an award for all the work she's done in the last seven years. Never count Streep out though.

Actor in a Lead Role - It's basically a coin flip between Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. I'm not flipping a coin though. I'm giving this to Rourke. Hollywood loves comeback, and his role is supposedly fucking amazing (I need to see this before sunday night). Plus he hasn't won before. It's close though. Almost too close to call. This is the category to watch.

Best Director - Danny Boyle wins. Because he's the fucking man. No, actually he wins because Slumdog's directing was spectacular and he's won every directing award ever in the past year. But really, I've always been a fan, and this makes me very happy. A distant second in this category is probably David Fincher...which also makes me happy, since he's awesome too.

Best Film - Slumdog Millionaire wins. There isn't much suspense involved. Everyone loves it, it's won every award ever, there isn't much competition.


But I'd personally pick Dark Knight over that IF IT WAS FUCKING NOMINATED.

Who watched Conan O'Brien friday night? I'm gonna miss him at 12:30. He's just great.

"There are critics that say Conan is going to have to grow up for the 11:30 show and let me assure them...that isn't going to happen."

God speed Conan.