First off, Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for checking out the second batch of Oscar predictions.We had a TON of good comments on the last installment and things have certainly changed since then as a large group of critics finally got their first glimpse of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Stephen Daldry’s The Reader has now been seen and buzz surrounding Revolutionary Road really seems to be getting … well … buzzy.
With both Milk and Australia in theaters you can now make up your own mind on those two as I really liked Milk and really disliked Australia. I also thought I should tell you I have an exclusive interview with Darren Aronofsky, director of The Wrestler, coming up next week as he made a stop here in Seattle this past Tuesday. If you haven’t watched the trailer for that one yet do so right now. As I told Darren, the moment where the tears fall from Mickey’s eyes gets to you almost just as much as it does in the film, and I got word on where Mickey went to bring such an emotional performance at that moment. More on that next week though along with some added bits on what’s up with RoboCop, a tiny bit of news on the Noah project and word that Brad Pitt was never attached to The Fighter. However, this is about Oscar predictions, enough of the marketing pitch don’tcha think?
If you will recall, last week I only listed my top five picks, which (as expected) caused a lot of you to ask “Where’s this?” and “Where’s that?” Well, the majority of the films you asked about were on the bubble and just didn’t make the top five. That has been remedied this time around as I give you my top ten in each of the top eight Oscar categories: Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay. I also added the position I had them last week, and a few added graphics to spice things up a little.
I also paginated it giving four categories on each page, which I would like to know if it bothers you having to page through. If so, just mention it along with your comments on the rankings below.
Just like last time, I have ranked each pick 1-10 and I ask you to
- Doubt
- Che
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Gran Torino
- Last Chance Harvey
- Nothing but the Truth
- The Reader
- Revolutionary Road
- Seven Pounds
Of that bunch I will be seeing three of them next week, just in time for me to deliver my next batch of predictions, and trust me, the ones I am seeing are three of the TOP contenders and I am hoping a screener of Che will be arriving soon and I will have a review of the Michelle Williams’ starrer Wendy and Lucy coming soon as well. Williams gives a good performance, but it won’t be enough to move her into the top five.
So, with no further delay, click on the Next Page link to take a look at the predictions and
The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. You can keep up with all my Oscar coverage in my “The Contenders” section right here.
