My Oscar Predictions

The 81st Academy Awards 2009:

Best Picture:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ****
Frost/Nixon*
Milk**
The Reader***
Slumdog Millionaire ****

My thought:Honestly I want The Curious case of Benjamin Button to win this coveted award, but the critics and bookies favour Slumdog Millionaire to win. Slumdog Millionaire is in no way the best film of this year.

Best Director
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ***
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire ****
Stephen Daldry - The Reader ***
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon *
Gus Van Sant – Milk **

My thought:I feel The Curious case of Benjamin Button again deserves this award, but in reality, today night either The Slumdog Millionaire or the Reader will win this award.

Best Actor:
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor ***
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon **
Sean Penn – Milk ***
Brad Pitt – The Curious case of Benjamin Button *
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler ****

My thought:Tough decision here. Considering the high graphics involved in the Curious case of Benjamin, people consider Mickey Rourke or Sean Penn to win this award for their extraordinarily natural performances. But Richard Jenkins and Frank also have some chances of winning. I think Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke would win this award.

Best Actress:
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married ****
Angelina Jolie - Changeling **
Melissa Leo – Frozen River **
Meryl Streep – Doubt **
Kate Winslet – The Reader ***

My thought:Though Anne Hathway and Kate Winslet have strong chances of winning, Meryl Streep could be a pleasant surprise.

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin – Milk *
Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder **
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt *
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight *****
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road ***

My thought:It’s a sin to even discuss this award with other names. Heath Ledger should’ve been nominated for the Best actor award. But alas, the Selection committee went blind while nominating. My apologies to the others in this category who have performed very well.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – Doubt *
Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona ***
Viola Davis – Doubt ****
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button **
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler ***

My thought:Lots of doubt in this category. I meant Amy and Viola. Viola is a better option than Amy for sure. But as a whole, Marisa and Penelope also have good chances of winning with no room for Taraji P.Henson.

Best Original Screenplay
WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter **
Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh ***
Frozen River – Courtney Hunt *
In Bruges – Martin McDonagh ***
Milk – Dustin Lance Black ****

My thought:Just because of last year’s controversy of not nominating Ratatouille in this category, its not a clever decision of nominating Wall-E for original Screenplay on hopes of Wall-E winning it. It is a good movie, but not worth being awarded the best screenplay for 2008. Milk has strong chances of winning followed by In Bruges or Happy-Go-Lucky, then the rest.

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth and Robin Swicord ***
Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan *
The Reader – David Hare ****
Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy ****
Doubt – John Patrick Shanley **

My thought:Its clearly Slumdog Millionaire having the most chances of winning this award, followed by The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Reader.

Best Animated Feature:
Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard **
Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson ***
WALL-E – Andrew Stanton *****

My thought: Wall-E is the clear winner in this category with the best animation ever in World Cinema. Though as a film, Kung Fu Panda is the best, this being a animation category, Wall-E is the clear winner.

Best Cinematography:
Changeling – Tom Stern *
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Claudio Miranda ***
The Dark Knight – Wally Pfister *****
The Reader – Chris Menges, Roger Deakins ***
Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle ****

My thought:THE DARK KNIGHT is the movie with outstanding Cinematography in 2008.

Best Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall ***
The Dark Knight – Lee Smith *****
Frost/Nixon – Mike Hill, Daniel P. Hanley **
Milk – Elliot Graham **
Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens ****

My thought:This is a tough decision again. All these fllms nominated are set to have great editing, though The Dark Knight again is the movie with the highest eligibility of winning though Slumdog Millionaire is the next choice.

Best Makeup:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Greg Cannom ****
The Dark Knight – John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan ***
Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Mike Elizalde, Thom Floutz ****

My thought:Well, The Curious Case and and Hellboy are equal contenders for this award with Dark Knight having less chances of winning this award.

Best Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat **
Defiance - James Newton Howard **
Milk - Danny Elfman *
Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman *****
WALL-E - Thomas Newman ***

My thought:Wow, look at this list! All of the greatest composers in one list. Though it looks like a tough decision, A.R Rahman’s Slumdog Millionaire is the obvious choice for this award. Not one film here has a diversity in music. Unlike Slumdog Millionaire which has beautiful scores from rap to classical all in one album. If Slumdog Millionaire is not awarded for this, that means this year the focus was not on the Best Musical Score for 2008, but on something else.

Best Original Song
"Down to Earth" from WALL-E – Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman (music), Peter Gabriel (lyrics) **
"Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman (music), Gulzar (lyrics) ****
"O Saya" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman and M.I.A. *****

My thought:Slumdog Millionaire again. If Wall-E is awarded for this, it’s a disgrace to 2008’s music. Even Wrestler could’ve beena strong contender for this award, but not Wall-E for god’s sake.

Best Sound Editing
The Dark Knight – Richard King ***
Iron Man – Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes *
Slumdog Millionaire – Tom Sayers ****
WALL-E – Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood ****
Wanted – Wylie Stateman *

My thought:Tough decision again. But Wall-E might be a surprise winner for this category. But there are more chances for Wall-E followed by Slumdog Millionaire/The Dark Knight.

Best Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight – Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick Slumdog Millionaire – Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
WALL-E – Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt Wanted – Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

My thought:I seriously have no idea. Hahahaha

All the best for all the nominees and my regards to all the winners. You have won for your outstanding work , being the best among all in the respective categories (maybe not for some). Anyways, I hope we have equally good films as in 2008 to contend for next years’ Oscars.