(Insert Hilarious There Will Be Blood Pun and/or Quote Here)

I feel sad inside. The Oscars are this Sunday (obviously, the whole world lets us know this), and I don't know what to think anymore. There has been this constant battle in the pop culture ether between the artsy snobs who only reluctantly admit to watching the Oscars every year like it's a disease you cannot circumvent getting and those who joyously watch the Oscars to see all the pretty clothes that celebrities wear (and don't forget the atrocious outfits!). Either way, it seems no one watches these things anymore simply because they love movies and it's fun to have an official year-end round-up to root for your favorite movies of the year...or your most favorite in a group of losers, depending on the year. Well we here at Blogulator would like to forget all the extraneous reasons why people actually watch the Oscars and just focus on the movies, because that's what we love, and as much indie cred you may have, you have to admit that the nominees this year are a hell of a lot better than they have been in the recent past. Let's take a look at our predictions and hopefuls for Sunday night, as tabulated by the Blogulator staff:

[Best Picture] What Will Win: No Country for Old Men - it's taken mostly all previous Best Picture awards, with the only exception being the biggest precursor award - the Golden Globe. However, the Golden Globe Drama winner hasn't matched up with the Best Picture Oscar since 2003's Lord of the Borings sweepfest. Let's just hope Atonement doesn't come from behind and make me cry like I did when Crash won in 2005. What Should Win: Most of our writers are tending to agree that No Country for Old Men will rightfully take the big honor home, even though in our Top Ten list, There Will Be Blood beat it out. Qualler reflects by explaining, "The more I think about it, the more perfect, consice, and profound No Country was. Although Blood was amazing, at the end of the day it didn't haunt me as much as NC did." It seems Lady Amy and I are the only ones holding out hope that Blood surprises everyone and gets its due for having a more deeply textured and emotional final act than No Country.

[Best Director] Who Will Win: It's nearly unanimous that the Coen Bros. will get their long overdue dual directing award this year for No Country, after creating a series of masterpieces like Fargo and Barton Fink. DoktorPeace makes a fair point, however, in saying that Julian Schnabel might unwittingly nab it for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, due to "voters splitting ballots for Country and There Will - wait, are the Oscars voted on or consulted at a table?" Who Should Win: Here's where the Paul Thomas Anderson devotees show their true colors. While some might like No Country overall better than Blood, I think it's safe to say that the sheer power and aesthetic that the Magnolia director brought to the oil epic was more affecting than the more understated (but equally notable) work of the Coen Bros.

[Best Actor] Who Will Win: I've never seen what was so special about Daniel Day-Lewis until I saw There Will Be Blood. Without a doubt, and the tally of the Blogulator writers hopefully can confirm this, people will remember this character more than any other from the cinema of 2007. Lady Amy gives the smarmy power of the way-more Hollywood George Clooney the benefit of the doubt, however, and is predicting an upset. Who Should Win: I believe both Sean and DoktorPeace validate my point (also echoed by this post's subject line) by using only quotes from Daniel Plainview to back up their reasoning for why Day-Lewis should win ("DRAAAAAAIIIIIIIIINAGE!" and ""I'm an oil man, and this is my son HW," respectively). It's too bad the milkshake quote is already uncool for quoting - who knew an early 19th century oil baron would be the new Borat? Ooh but Viggo Mortenson really hasn't gotten enough love for Eastern Promises, thanks for pointing that out too Doktor (though he seems to be only excited about seeing Viggo's nether regions).

[Best Actress] Who Will Win: It's a split vote between either Julie Christie for Away From Her, playing an Alzheimer's patient, or Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth 2: Electric Boogaloo. Regardless, Sean is completely correct in eloquently saying the winner will most assuredly be, "Some old lady." For the record, Away From Her was actually a pretty good (albeit a big bummer) movie, that should probably only be watched if you're totally okay with being depressed for a couple hours. Who Should Win: Blogulator contributors seem to be reluctant in saying it, because honestly none of the nominees are anything to drop your pants over, but most of us really dug Ellen Page in Juno (this writer will keep his comments to himself), despite the fact that it's annoying when young people win awards over people who have been acting for year and years.

[Best Supporting Actor and Actress] Who Will Win: No one is spending any time contemplating whether anyone will touch Javier Bardem, probably for fear of getting eaten by his scary face and haircut. The supporting actress category is a little tougher, but we're thinking it'll either go to Amy Ryan or Cate Blanchett (the Boys Don't Cry syndrome). What's worse than the cross-dressing attraction though, is what Lady Amy and Brigitte are fearful of, as Brigitte explains why Saorsie Ronan might walk away with it: "because the academy loves showing actors that even a little child can do their job, and do it well enough to win the most prestigious of awards." Who Should Win: No one has nor ever will play so crazy that he must be sane like Tom Wilkinson; too bad it won't happen. I'm still working on getting the rest of the Blogulator crew on seeing Gone Baby Gone so they'll jump on the Amy Ryan bandwagon with me (those "The Wire" fans will surely crossover), but for now, they would be totally fine with Cate Blanchett getting the prize for her work in a very unconventional movie, as far as the Oscars are concerned anyway.

[Best Original and Adapted Screenplay] Who Will Win: The only categories where we are all in full agreement - former Minnesotan Diablo Cody will make an edgy and/or quirky comment when she wins for her Juno script and the Coen Bros. will humbly walk away with the statue for their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country. Though I'm feeling more Atonement butterflies in my gut and worrying that might sneak up up and away. Who Should Win: Qualler sums it up best, even if he does like Juno, by saying, "I didn't find Juno's dialogue as gaggifying as most of the blog-world currently does, but I do think Tony Gilroy's smart script for Michael Clayton (save for the Grisham-like conclusion) does slightly out-do Diablo Cody's coming of age story that seemed to make less sense as it got closer to the finish." And with the exception of me loving those Blood quotables, everyone else is rooting for the Coen Bros. as well, and they'll get it (and I'll celebrate too - those choreographed sequences in between the bits of dialogue were written flawlessly).

[The Rest] As long as Surf's Up doesn't win, we'll be happy with the heartwarming Ratatouille or the visually stunning Persepolis winning for Best Animated Feature. It's a toss up between Blood and No Country once again for Cinematography and Art Direction - I think we'll all be okay with either, as they're both flawless in their own ways, though again with the Atonement! Grrr! Brigitte references a longtime pet peeve of Qualler's and mine when she notes "old clothes" will dominate both Costume and Make-Up and therefore, the results are rendered moot, though this was one of the redeeming factors of Sweeney Todd. Four out of the five films up for Best Documentary in some way attack the Bush administration, and that is soooo 2004, so we couldn't care less, but we would not be surprised if Michael Moore wins for Sicko because as Brigitte aptly notices, "the fat men just keep getting fatter. " A whopping zero of the films up for Best Foreign Language Film have been released in the Midwest, so we have no clue - I'm rooting for the only non-war film, 12. Finally, you can see Brigitte's post about the short films up for awards, which we were lucky enough to see and let's hope for the love of crap that Once beats out the 34 songs from Enchanted that are up for Best Original Song. Man we love Once so hard. Oh and Best Original Score? At least Lady Amy voted for this with me (show the instrumental music some love, people!) and we're both going for James Newton Howard's beautifully electronic score for Michael Clayton. And then cue the predictable Atonement cringe...quite possibly ruined the use of the typewriter in instrumental music...balls, I hope I didn't jinx the whole damn night with my pessimism. Have fun at the Oscars, everyone! And if you miss them, fret not, Qualler will have a special surprise for you Monday morning...[EDIT--Qualler will be liveblogging the Oscars, so if you want to feel like you're watching the ceremony with the Blogulator, just check in here throughout the broadcast Sunday night!]

P.S. Still counting down those best songs of 2007 here...

This entry was posted by chris, on Thursday, February 21, 2008. You can leave your response.