"I want to thank the Academy..."

I've done it again- I've NOT watched everything I want to watch in time for the Oscars. We might be able to squeeze in one tomorrow but I don't think we'll find the time to do any more. Besides, some of them haven't even opened here yet (re: The Sea Inside). This New York Times article actually talks about Ann Arbor specifically not getting some of the Oscar movies even though they opened on the coasts before Christmas. The drawback (amongst many others) of living in a Midwestern college town...

Anyway, every year, my best friend and I cast off any semblance of maturity and dignity, and give ourselves in to the mania known as Oscar fever. We've been known to cut classes, take time off work, and basically rework our lives in a way where that 3 hours and 47 minutes is absolutely and totally sacrosanct. Until I started teaching, we even watched it together in her dorm room for four years in a row. The first year we couldn't, we were on the phone throughout the whole ceremony...

So anyway, recently, we decided to put our money where our mouths are and started wagering. There's technically no money involved- last year's wager was a latte and we haven't figured what it'll be this year. But she's a lawyer now, so she can afford to buy me a meal when I go home. Jude of course will have no part in any of this- he belives it's all rigged and that the Oscars is just a self-congratulatory gesture on Hollywood's part to remind itself of its own importance. Bah-hambug!

My predictions range from those I truly believe should win, those who will win but don't deserve to by a long shot, and others who are on my list for no other reason than my attempt at informed clairvoyance- c'mon, how many documentary short subject films do I look like I have time to watch? And was I really paying attention to the sound editing in Spiderman 2??

Best Picture: THE AVIATOR (because it has all the pedigree trappings of a winner, kind of like Chicago over The Hours which is one of the biggest travesties in Hollywood history if you ask me.)
Best Actor: Jamie Foxx
Best Actress: Annette Bening (she should win it from Hilary Swank this year who's an actress, like Renee Zellweger (*snigger*) who's only as good as the script)
Best Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman (hello, it's Morgan Freeman, although until I watched Robin Hood and The Shawshank Redemption, I thought he was just some guy in Electric Company)
Best Supporting Actress: Virginia Madsen (because they have to compensate for Paul Giamatti not getting a nomination and Sideways not winning...)
Best Director: Clint Eastwood
Best Foreign Film: THE SEA INSIDE
Best Original Screenplay: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (need I say more?)
Best Adapted Screenplay: SIDEWAYS
Best Animated Feature: THE INCREDIBLES (favorite character- Edna Mode the designer: "Pull yourself together! *whack whack*)
Best Art Direction: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Best Cinematography: A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT (because of the injustice of it not being nominated for Best Foreign Film which it should have been able to win hands down)
Best Sound: THE AVIATOR
Best Sound Effects Editing: THE INCREDIBLES
Best Editing: THE AVIATOR
Best Original Score: FINDING NEVERLAND
Best Original Song: Learn To Be Lonely (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA)
Best Costume: THE AVIATOR
Best Documentary Feature: BORN INTO BROTHELS
Best Documentary (short subject): THE CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY
Best Make-Up: LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Best Animated Short Film: LORENZO
Best Live Action Short Film: WASP
Best Visual Effects: SPIDER-MAN 2