Well folks, some of this stuff just plain makes me sick. While other things make me happy as can be.... typical Oscar stuff. ARGH!!! Well, here I go....
Best Picture
Saving Private Ryan
Shakespeare in Love
Life Is Beautiful
The Thin Red Line
Elizabeth
Alright... First off, in my opinion, ELIZABETH just has no place in this group. You're dealing with a movie that didn't pick up director or screenwriting noms, and for me while being a film about one of the most powerful females in the scope of history, she was portrayed as a bit of a whiny type. Ho hum. Then LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL... well personally I like the film. I think it's a real good movie, and it's nomination for BEST FOREIGN FILM is absolutely on the dot perfection, and it should win that hands down, but... In my opinion, A SIMPLE PLAN, GODS AND MONSTERS and PLEASANTVILLE are all far more deserving. And in a pinch... I'd go with GODS AND MONSTERS and PLEASANTVILLE over ELIZABETH and LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL... My prediction... SAVING PRIVATE RYAN will win, I wish THE THIN RED LINE would win and I'd puke if ELIZABETH won...
Actor in a Leading Role
Roberto Benigni in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Tom Hanks in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
Ian McKellen in GODS AND MONSTERS
Nick Nolte in AFFLICTION
Edward Norton in AMERICAN HISTORY X
I'm pretty pleased with this list. I see Nick Nolte's nom being a reward for not only his work in AFFLICTION, but also for his role in THE THIN RED LINE. I'm pleased as punch to see Edward Norton nominated as I figured he'd be left out in the cold for that role. My prediction... Ian McKellen for GODS & MONSTERS, he's also my wish to win, and I wouldn't really puke if any of them win... though I might get stomach cramps if Tom Hanks wins for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, cause he'll win next year for THE GREEN MILE, and the year after that for THE CASTAWAY. Too bad Jeff Bridges wasn't nominated for THE BIG LEBOWSKI or Johnny Depp for FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS!!!
Actor in a Supporting Role
James Coburn in AFFLICTION
Robert Duvall in A CIVIL ACTION
Ed Harris in THE TRUMAN SHOW
Geoffrey Rush in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Billy Bob Thornton in A SIMPLE PLAN
James Coburn is nominated for an Academy Award! Where the hell did that come from? That's just too cool. Man, that would just be too weird to think of Coburn as an Academy Award Winning actor... but we won't have to worry about that because Prediction: Billy Bob will win, I want Billy Bob to win, and I'll puke if Geoffrey Rush wins (because he is just not in that film very much, and if he were nominated for Elizabeth I might understand it, cause he was great in that film!) And I must say that instead of James Coburn, Robert Duvall and Geoffrey Rush, I think I would have picked BENICIO DEL TORO for FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, EVAN ADAMS in SMOKE SIGNALS and VING RHAMES for OUT OF SIGHT. Personally I'm happy that Bill Murray wasn't nominated cause well, I thought he was better in Ghostbusters, Scrooged and Caddyshack any day of the week.
Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett in ELIZABETH
Fernanda Montenegro in CENTRAL STATION
Gwyneth Paltrow in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Meryl Streep in ONE TRUE THING
Emily Watson in HILARY AND JACKIE
Well here's the 800lb gorilla of a puke. I'm grabbing my bucket and heaving away cause Cate Blanchett is gonna win dammit! No matter how much I wish and hope that Gwyneth Paltrow will win.... It won't do a bit of good cause the wicked witch of the east is gonna win dammit. Raaaaallllllllpppppph!!!!
I wish we had seen Christina Ricci nominated for THE OPPOSITE OF SEX, but there was just no way the conservative academy would have gone that route. Or Jennifer Lopez for OUT OF SIGHT, but nope. I think personally in the list they have Fernanda Montenegro was the best actress... Actress in a Supporting Role
Kathy Bates in PRIMARY COLORS
Brenda Blethyn in LITTLE VOICE
Judi Dench in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Rachel Griffiths in HILARY AND JACKIE
Lynn Redgrave in GODS AND MONSTERS
I haven't seen LITTLE VOICE, but I loved Brenda Blethyn in SECRETS AND LIES a couple years back, so I'll take it on an act of faith that she's worthy of the nom... But LYNN REDGRAVE is who will win this one. EXCEPT that I have never in my life correctly picked the Supporting Actress role correctly. I predict that in a shocking strange bizarro announcement Maria Pitillo from GODZILLA will win. It'll shock the world, just like they do every year!
Art Direction
ELIZABETH (Lucy Richardson)
PLEASANTVILLE (Dianne Wager)
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (Tom Brown, Ricky Eyres, Chris Seagers, Mark Tanner, Alan Tomkins)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (Steve Lawrence)
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (Tomas Voth, Christian Wintter)
Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love will cancel each other out, so that the classical looking thingees will nix out. Pot holes and destroyed buildings and gore just won't win. And as much as I love PLEASANTVILLE.... WHAT DREAMS MAY COME was the art directed film of the decade. It was a 90 million dollar painting brought to life. Gorgeous, lush and stunningly conceived and executed. The winner will be and should be WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, and I'll puke if the shadow heavy art hidden ELIZABETH wins...
Cinematography
A CIVIL ACTION (Conrad L Hall)
ELIZABETH (Remi Adefarasin)
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (Janusz Kaminski)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (Richard Greatrex)
THE THIN RED LINE (John Toll)
John Toll is Camera God. Just hand it to him, don't argue and let him set up the cameras for his acceptance speech. Once again, I'll puke if ELIZABETH's underexposed non-rotated f-stop wins!
Costume Design
BELOVED (Colleen Atwood)
ELIZABETH (Alexandra Byrne)
PLEASANTVILLE (Judianna Makovsky)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (Sandy Powell)
VELVET GOLDMINE
Once again ELIZABETH and SHAKESPEARE cancel each other out, leaving PLEASANTVILLE as the winner. I'll puke if BELOVED wins and I'm angry that the video box can carry the words "Academy Award Nominated BELOVED.
Directing
Roberto Benigni LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Steven Spielberg for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
John Madden for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
Terrence Malick for THE THIN RED LINE
Peter Weir for THE TRUMAN SHOW
In a mighty kneejerk Steven Spielberg will win the award that should have gone to Sam Fuller for THE BIG RED ONE! But if by some strange act of GOD, Terrence Malick were to win, I'd leap up and shed 75 lbs of blubber dancing a gig of happiness. And everyone of them deserves it!
Documentary Feature
DANCEMAKER
THE FARM: ANGOLA, U.S.A.
THE LAST DAYS
LENNY BRUCE: SWEAR TO TELL THE TRUTH
REGRET TO INFORM
Once again the Academy has nominated 5 documentaries that noone has heard of. I'm gonna say that THE LAST DAYS will win (sounds depressing), I hope the foul mouthed Lenny Bruce wins, and I'll puke if anything wins cause it ain't THE BIG ONE!!!!
Documentary Short Subject
THE PERSONALS: Improvisations on Romance
in the Golden Years
A PLACE IN THE LAND
SUNRISE OVER TIANANMEN SQUARE
Due to the screwed up world that we live in, nobody ever gets to see the Documentary Short Subjects, but I'll pick the political SUNRISE OVER TIANANMEN SQUARE to win just cause I think that's where the Academy will vote.
Film Editing
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
OUT OF SIGHT
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (Michael Kahn)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (David Gamble)
THE THIN RED LINE (Leslie Jones, Saar Klein, Billy Weber)
OUT OF SIGHT should win if we were to see the Academy judge editing from beginning to end of the film, but the Academy will kneejerk to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN's first 30 minutes... in what really is an amazing and stunning work of combined cinematography, editing, sound, sound effects editing. But a sequence usually doesn't make a film.... though in this case apparently it does. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN will win, Out of Sight should and I can't puke because no matter what those first 30 minutes are awesome.
Foreign Language Film
CENTRAL STATION (Brazil)
CHILDREN OF HEAVEN (Iran)
THE GRANDFATHER (Spain)
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (Italy)
TANGO From Argentina (Argentina)
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL is a sure thing. It's not even funny. Though CENTRAL STATION is the stronger film in my opinion, it hasn't got a prayer of beating LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL for so many reasons it's not even funny.
Makeup
ELIZABETH (unknown)
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (Lois Burwell)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (Veronica Brebner)
Ugh.... Well, think God they didn't nominate F Murray Abrahams character from STAR TREK... But I really really think that GODS AND MONSTERS should win for the AMAZING Karloff, Elsa Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, Ernst T..., Colin Clive... Twas the best makeup of the year hands down. Tis sad they didn't notice. ELIZABETH will win for that last shot of the white faced Cate... and it was a powerful makeup transformation... but.... PUKE!
Original Musical or Comedy Score
A BUG'S LIFE (Randy Newman)
MULAN
PATCH ADAMS
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (Hans Zimmer)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (Stephen Warbeck)
If anything but THE PRINCE OF EGYPT wins I'm gonna puke. I loved it's musical score, it was AWESOME. But with the exception of PATCH ADAMS I guess I could live.
Original Dramatic Score
ELIZABETH (David Hirschfelder)
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
PLEASANTVILLE (Randy Newman)
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (John Williams)
THE THIN RED LINE (Hans Zimmer)
Personally I feel that PLEASANTVILLE had the best score out of these pathetic choices. But Carter Burwell should have been nominated and should've won for GODS AND MONSTERS. And DANNY ELFMAN should've been nominated for A SIMPLE PLAN.... But hey, that's ok... cause Hans Zimmer will win for THE THIN RED LINE.... I'm guessing.
Original Song
"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from
ARMAGEDDON
"The Prayer" from QUEST FOR CAMELOT
"A Soft Place to Fall" from THE HORSE
WHISPERER
"That'll Do" from BABE: PIG IN THE CITY
"When You Believe" from THE PRINCE OF
EGYPT
I'll puke so hard and fast if THE PRAYER from QUEST FOR CAMELOT wins.... It'll hurt me bad. But WHEN YOU BELIEVE will win, but ya know... My hopes and prayers go to AEROSMITH!!! I would be soooooooo happy. You'd hear cheers from me..... AEROSMITH! AEROSMITH! AEROSMITH!
Short Film—Animated
BUNNY
THE CANTERBURY TALES
JOLLY ROGER
MORE
WHEN LIFE DEPARTS
BUNNY will win. It's an awesome animated short. With both amazing fur animation and a great GREAT little story. Go BUNNY go!!! Trust me on this, BUNNY is a winner!!!
Short Film—Live Action
CULTURE
ELECTION NIGHT (Valgaften)
HOLIDAY ROMANCE
LA CARTE POSTALE (The Postcard)
VICTOR
Ummmmm.... Ok, I haven't seen any of these, and I've seen a ton of short films this year, so I'm gonna say.... hmmmm... Uh.. LA CARTE POSTALE will win cause it sounds foreign and cultured.
Sound
ARMAGEDDON
THE MASK OF ZORRO
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (Ron Judkins)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (John Downer)
THE THIN RED LINE (Claude Letessier)
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN will grab this fast. And it deserves it.
Sound Effects Editing
ARMAGEDDON
THE MASK OF ZORRO
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
Once again SAVING PRIVATE RYAN will win... This is one of the greatest sound effect editing jobs I've ever heard.
Visual Effects
ARMAGEDDON
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (Joel Hynek,
Nick Brooks,Stu Robertson,Kevin Mack)
When in doubt go with RICK BAKER for MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. I think the work in WHAT DREAMS MAY COME trancends normal use of effects and amazes and captivates But then I would have given the award to PLEASANTVILLE cause it USED effects better than any film this year. And I think the STAR WARS EPISODE ONE trailer should just be given the award.
Screenplay—Original
BULWORTH
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (Robert Rodat; with uncredited rewrite by Frank Darabont)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard)
THE TRUMAN SHOW
I'll puke if BULWORTH wins... RALPH!!! Hmmm... Personally I'm rooting for THE TRUMAN SHOW, but SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE will win!!!
Screenplay—Adaptation
GODS AND MONSTERS (Bill Condon)
OUT OF SIGHT (Scott Frank)
PRIMARY COLORS
A SIMPLE PLAN
THE THIN RED LINE (Terrence Malick)
