Commentary - Since my top two favorites from 2006, Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men did not get nominated, I went with number three in The Departed. It was an excellent crime drama, and definitely one of my all-time favorites (there were some great movies in 2006), and although it seemed like an uh-oh we screwed up Marty year, I'm still happy it won, and it would have gotten my vote.
Best Director
Academy Winner/My Pick - Martin Scorsese "The Departed"
Commentary - This should have been his third Academy Award, and he would have deserved all three, had he been properly rewarded. This was a nice consolation prize either way.
Best Actor
Academy Winner - Forest Whitaker "The Last King of Scotland"
My Pick - Peter O'Toole "Venus"
Commentary - Forest Whitaker was incredible in The Last King of Scotland, and was easily the winner, despite the fact that he probably should have won for Best Supporting Actor instead. However, knowing how many times Peter O'Toole had lost at the Oscars, my heart probably would have overtaken my brain, and he would have gotten my vote.
Best Actress
Academy Winner/My Pick - Helen Mirren "The Queen"
Commentary - All hail the Queen! Mirren nailed her role as Elizabeth II, and raised what would have been decent TV movie to Oscar material.
Best Supporting Actor
Academy Winner - Alan Arkin "Little Miss Sunshine"
My Pick - Eddie Murphy "Dreamgirls"
Commentary - I liked Alan Arkin, but Eddie Murphy's transformation into Jimmy was not only the best of his career, but was one of the best parts of Dreamgirls.
Best Supporting Actress
Academy Winner/My Pick - Jennifer Hudson "Dreamgirls"
Commentary - Say what you will, but Jennifer Hudson blew me away in Dreamgirls. Maybe it was her emotion, her incredible voice, or her devastated appeal to all those that kept her down. Either way, she won me over.
Best Animated Feature
Academy Winner - Happy Feet
My Pick - Cars
Commentary - I thought Happy Feet was long and convulted, and while Cars is the weakest entry into the Pixar arsenal, I still would have voted for it.
Academy Winner/My Pick - Michael Arndt "Little Miss Sunshine"
Commentary - I was going back and forth between this and Pan's Labyrinth, but I stuck with the Academy's winner, because Little Miss Sunshine had the better story, whereas Pan's Labyrinth was more stylish and a directorial feat.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Academy Winner - William Monahan "The Departed"
My Pick - Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby "Children of Men"
Commentary - I like the departed, but I thought the script for the underappreciated Children of Men was much better, and it deserves some sort of award for being one of the most powerful and well-made movies of the last ten years.
Best Documentary Feature
Academy Winner/My Pick - An Inconvienent Truth
Commentary - I know some people hate Al Gore, don't believe in global warming, and think that it is all liberal propaganda. But whether you like it or not, I still suggest you see this funny, informational, and entertaining documentary.
Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Winner - The Lives of Others
My Pick - Pan's Labyrinth
Commentary - This one had two great choices, but I find it weird that for all the Pan's Labyrinth love from the Academy that it couldn't win this award. It was my favorite of the two, although the decision was a tough one as The Lives of Others is also incredible.
No comments:
Post a Comment