Milkduds

2005 Oscar Picks

The Academy Award nominations were released this morning, and here are my picks for each category. I will preceed this with the disclaimer that I haven’t seen hardly any of these movies and these are not my votes, but predictions to what I think will win.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Leonardo DiCaprio - THE AVIATOR

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Clive Owen - CLOSER

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Natalie Portman - CLOSER

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
THE INCREDIBLES

ART DIRECTION
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE AVIATOR

COSTUME DESIGN
LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

DIRECTING
THE AVIATOR

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
SUPER SIZE ME

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
AUTISM IS A WORLD

FILM EDITING
THE AVIATOR

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
THE SEA INSIDE

MAKEUP
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

MUSIC (SCORE)
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

MUSIC (SONG)
“Learn To Be Lonely” - THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

BEST PICTURE
THE AVIATOR

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
GOPHER BROKE

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT

SOUND EDITING
SPIDER-MAN 2

SOUND MIXING
THE AVIATOR

VISUAL EFFECTS
SPIDER-MAN 2

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
SIDEWAYS

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
THE AVIATOR

Obviously, I think The Aviator will take home most of them, so I’m hedging my bets.

Add comment January 25th, 2005

Get Shorty (9/10)

Yes, I know this is a 10 year old movie, but after I saw the trailer for Be Cool and saw that it was basically the sequal to Get Shorty, I had to push it to the top of my Netflix queue. Get Shorty is about a movie-loving mobster named Chili Palmer (John Travolta) that goes from Miami to Vegas to LA to collect a debt from a guy, but gets caught up in the movie business.

I don’t know, maybe I was in a really good mood or something, but I just LOVED this movie. It has a very original story and great acting, cinematography, directing, and screenplay. I’m not in the entertainment business, but I’d like to think I’ve seen enough good and bad movies to know when I see something good. This movie is really funny - just the story in general is funny, but there also a lot of little things that made me laugh too. Like, the fact that this mobster has to drive around Hollywood meeting high-powered producers, actors, and other mobsters in a Oldsmobile Silhouette (the Cadillac of mini vans). And to make it even funnier and to exaggerate how superficial Hollywood is, everyone in the end is driving one to copy Chili. Now, I haven’t seen every movie that John Travolta’s been in, but I’ve seen a lot, and I can’t remember a better role he’s played or a better movie he’s been in outside of Pulp Fiction. It was also nice to see some of James Gandolfini’s earlier work, which I thought he did very well in.

The only negative to watching this movie was that, at the end I was thinking, “Why don’t they make movies like this anymore?” But, thankfully, Be Cool will come out soon and, hopefully, it will be every bit as good.

Add comment January 25th, 2005