Oh, for crying out loud! Does the Academy actually watch any movies other than PR-hyped DVD screeners? Are they even aware of how good current cinema is? Will they ever stop giving knee-jerk nominations to anyone who’s spent half a year at the Royal Shakespeare Company and/or Clint Eastwood? More than usual I am saddened by the Oscar noms. It’s not that they’ve picked mediocre films: they’ve actually gone after actively bad films. On one hand, they’re easing their consciences with pretentious and portentious movies like Babel and on the other hand they’re going for stereotypical formulaic Hollywood junk like The Pursuit of Happyness, The Devil Wears Prada and Dreamgirls. Sure, some good movies are tucked away in there, but barring Ryan Gosling’s nomination, the real class is fobbed off with technical awards or ignored entirely. If the Academy had had any balls, movies like Apocalypto and Pan’s Labyrinth would have been in at the top rather than flailing around the bottom of this post. Normally I’d have a punt on who’s likely to win but frankly, I just don’t want to get inside the mind of The Academy for even a second. In the limited cases where a stand-out movie has been given a nod, I’ve put the flick in bold type. If you want to see my favourite films of 2006, you can check the drop down bar on the bottom right hand side of this screen.
Best Flick: Babel; The Departed; Letters from Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; Alexandre Desplat for The Queen.
Best Actor: Leo di Caprio for Blood Diamond; Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson; Peter O'Toole for Venus; Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness; Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland.
Best Actress: Penélope Cruz for Volver; Dame Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal; Dame Helen Mirren for Alexandre Desplat for The Queen; Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada; Kate Winslet for Little Children.
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine; Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children; Djimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond; Eddie Murphy for Dreamgirls; Mark Wahlberg for The Departed.
Best Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza for Babel; Cate Blanchett for Notes on a Scandal; Abigail Breslin for Little Miss Sunshine; Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls; Rinko Kikuchi for Babel.
Best Director: Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima; Stephen Frears for The Queen; Paul Greengrass for United 93; Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel; Martin Scorsese for The Departed.
Best Original Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga for Babel; Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis for Letters from Iwo Jima; Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine; Guillermo del Toro for Pan’s Labyrinth; and Peter Morgan for Alexandre Desplat for The Queen.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer, Todd Phillips for Borat; Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby for Children of men; William Monahan for The Departed; Todd Field, Tom Perrotta for Little Children; Patrick Marber for Notes on a Scandal.
Best Cinematographer; Vilmos Zsigmond for The Black Dahlia; Emmanuel Lubezki for Children of men; Dick Pope for The Illusionist; Guillermo Navarro for Pan’s Labyrinth; Wally Pfister for The Prestige.
Best Editor: Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrion for Babel; Steven Rosenblum for Blood Diamond; Alfonso Cuarón, Alex Rodríguez for Children of Men; Thelma Schoonmaker for The Departed; Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, Christopher Rouse for United 93.
Best Art Direction: Dreamgirls; The Good Shepherd; Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta for Pan’s Labyrinth; Pirates 2; The Prestige.
Best costume design: The Curse of the Golden Flower; The Devil Wears Prada; Dreamgirls; Marie-Antoinette; The Queen.
Best Original Score: Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel; Thomas Newman for The Good German; Philip Glass for Notes on a Scandal; Javier Navarrete for Pan’s Labyrinth; Alexandre Desplat for The Queen.
Best Original Song: Melissa Etheridge for An Inconvenient Truth; a bunch of unforgettable ballads from Dreamgirls; Randy Newman for Cars.
Best Make-up: Apocalypto; Click; Pan’s Labyrinth.
Best Sounds: Apocalypto; Blood Diamond; Dreamgirls; Flags of our Fathers; Pirates 2.
Best Sound Editing: Apocalypto; Blood Diamond; Flags of our Fathers; Letters from Iwo Jima; Pirates 2.
Best Visual Effects: Pirates 2; Poseidon; Superman Returns.
Best Animated Film: Cars; Happy Feet; Monster House.
Best Foreign Flick: Efter brylluppet; Indigènes; Pan’s Labyrinth; Das Leben der Anderen; Water.
Best Doc.: Deliver Us from Evil; An Inconvenient Truth; Iraq in Fragments; Jesus Camp; My Country My Country.
Best Flick: Babel; The Departed; Letters from Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; Alexandre Desplat for The Queen.
Best Actor: Leo di Caprio for Blood Diamond; Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson; Peter O'Toole for Venus; Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness; Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland.
Best Actress: Penélope Cruz for Volver; Dame Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal; Dame Helen Mirren for Alexandre Desplat for The Queen; Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada; Kate Winslet for Little Children.
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine; Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children; Djimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond; Eddie Murphy for Dreamgirls; Mark Wahlberg for The Departed.
Best Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza for Babel; Cate Blanchett for Notes on a Scandal; Abigail Breslin for Little Miss Sunshine; Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls; Rinko Kikuchi for Babel.
Best Director: Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima; Stephen Frears for The Queen; Paul Greengrass for United 93; Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel; Martin Scorsese for The Departed.
Best Original Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga for Babel; Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis for Letters from Iwo Jima; Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine; Guillermo del Toro for Pan’s Labyrinth; and Peter Morgan for Alexandre Desplat for The Queen.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer, Todd Phillips for Borat; Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby for Children of men; William Monahan for The Departed; Todd Field, Tom Perrotta for Little Children; Patrick Marber for Notes on a Scandal.
Best Cinematographer; Vilmos Zsigmond for The Black Dahlia; Emmanuel Lubezki for Children of men; Dick Pope for The Illusionist; Guillermo Navarro for Pan’s Labyrinth; Wally Pfister for The Prestige.
Best Editor: Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrion for Babel; Steven Rosenblum for Blood Diamond; Alfonso Cuarón, Alex Rodríguez for Children of Men; Thelma Schoonmaker for The Departed; Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, Christopher Rouse for United 93.
Best Art Direction: Dreamgirls; The Good Shepherd; Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta for Pan’s Labyrinth; Pirates 2; The Prestige.
Best costume design: The Curse of the Golden Flower; The Devil Wears Prada; Dreamgirls; Marie-Antoinette; The Queen.
Best Original Score: Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel; Thomas Newman for The Good German; Philip Glass for Notes on a Scandal; Javier Navarrete for Pan’s Labyrinth; Alexandre Desplat for The Queen.
Best Original Song: Melissa Etheridge for An Inconvenient Truth; a bunch of unforgettable ballads from Dreamgirls; Randy Newman for Cars.
Best Make-up: Apocalypto; Click; Pan’s Labyrinth.
Best Sounds: Apocalypto; Blood Diamond; Dreamgirls; Flags of our Fathers; Pirates 2.
Best Sound Editing: Apocalypto; Blood Diamond; Flags of our Fathers; Letters from Iwo Jima; Pirates 2.
Best Visual Effects: Pirates 2; Poseidon; Superman Returns.
Best Animated Film: Cars; Happy Feet; Monster House.
Best Foreign Flick: Efter brylluppet; Indigènes; Pan’s Labyrinth; Das Leben der Anderen; Water.
Best Doc.: Deliver Us from Evil; An Inconvenient Truth; Iraq in Fragments; Jesus Camp; My Country My Country.
Perhaps if it were up to you and me, no films would be made at all, thus no yucky award shows?
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