Jerry’s Blog–Because Wit Happens

Less than one week to the Oscars.  I haven’t missed one in 40+ years, I don’t think.

Last year I had some considerable success in my predictions (that was pre-blog, so you’ll just have to take my word for it).  Here I am, going out on a limb with my predictions (bet your 401-K on these!):

Best Picture:  THE DEPARTED.  When Three Six Mafia won an Oscar for “Best Song” last year, it clinched a victory for Martin Scorsese this year.  Host Jon Stewart set this up by saying something along the lines of “If you’re keeping score–that’s Three Six Mafia, one; Martin Scorsese, zero…”   I think the Academy will get their noses out of the cocaine long enough to put a check mark by Scorsese’s name, muttering, “Yeah, that whole Three Six Mafia thing we did was pretty funny last year, but really–Marty’s long past due…” 

Best Director: MARTIN SCORSESE, for the reasons discussed above.  They rarely split the awards between Best Picture and Best Director.  I would have liked to have seen Paul Greengrass’s UNITED 93 get more recognition–I’d say it was perhaps my favorite movie of the year.

Best Actor: I haven’t seen Peter O’Toole’s performance, nor Will Smith’s.  The smart money’s on FOREST WHITAKER, though, so I’ll go with that.

Best Actress: The only performance I’ve seen is Streep’s in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (not enough guns and grenades in these “chick flicks” to suit me…).  Again, the smart money is on HELEN MIRREN for THE QUEEN, and I do have a strange Oedipal crush on her so she gets my vote.

Best Supporting Actor: I’ve seen every one of these performances.  But I’m not going with consensus favorite Eddie Murphy–I’m picking Djimon Hounsou for his performance in BLOOD DIAMOND.

Best Supporting Actress:  This is the tough one.  Lots of good performances.  I love Cate Blanchett, but didn’t see NOTES ON A SCANDAL yet.  Jennifer Hudson won the Golden Globe and seems the consensus choice and I did think she was good in DREAMGIRLS–not to mention I liked her on American Idol.  Nevertheless, the two performances I saw that made my jaw drop and think, “Man, that gal is good!” were Abigail Breslin, the little girl in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, and my ultimate choice: ADRIANA BARRAZA for BABEL.  She’s my dark horse pick of the year..

Adapted Screenplay: I know we’d all like to see Sacha Baron Cohen and friends win for BORAT, but the award, I believe, will go to CHILDREN OF MEN.  (I haven’t seen LITTLE CHILDREN yet).

Original Screenplay: Michael Arndt, for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.  No question about it.

Cinematography: CHILDREN OF MEN–what a fascinating and beautifully-made film!

Animated Feature:  CARS is the only one I’ve seen, but I’ll go with HAPPY FEET.

Best Foreign Language Film: I’ll go with the only one I’ve seen: PAN’S LABYRINTH.

Documentary Feature: Al Gore’s AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.  You should watch it!

Film Editing/Original Score:  Not real confident in these categories, so I’m going to pass.  I have no idea what the Best Song nominees are and don’t particularly care–not after last year.  (Sorry, Three Six Mafia…)