My Little Gold Friend

Several of you had been wondering about my lack of blogging over that most important of news items from the past week: the Oscar race. My biggest hurdle in this episode of Blog was finding sincere love (or even insincere like) for most of the nominees. Part of the problem, I realize, is that I haven’t seen any of the nominated movies. But in an attempt to redeem myself in your eyes, Beloved Readers, I promise to buy at least some of them on DVD. (And if they’re really good I may even get non-pirated ones.)

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Any look at the Oscar class of 2007 obviously has to start with the Best Picture category. Since I haven’t seen a single one of these films, I have decided to base my vote on gossip from E!News. Well, “The Queen” seems more like a movie of the week than an Oscar contender so it (and all its subsequent nominations) was immediately thrown out. I’m not a fan of Westerns and therefore not a fan of Clint Eastwood, so “Iwo Jima” is also out of the running. That leaves us with “Babel” starring Brad (I cheated on my wife because all men are scum) Pitt, “The Departed,” starring Leo (I’ll always be that guy from Titanic) DiCaprio, and “Little Miss Sunshine” a feel good movie starring some kid who wishes she was Dakota Fanning.

What does all that mean? Basically that I have no particular favorite for Best Picture but if I’m forced (which you are doing) to make a selection I’ll lean toward “Sunshine.” Hey, I was ever one to cheer for the underdog.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"
Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"
Peter O'Toole, "Venus"
Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness"
Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"

This one should be a wee bit easier as I’m not going to cheer for the old guy (O’Toole), or the kid from “Titanic.” Gosling needs to put in more work to win one of these, I’m afraid. Which leaves us with the Fresh Prince and the football player from Hubby’s all-time favorite movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” I’d be happy with either one taking home the golden man.

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, "Volver"
Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"
Kate Winslet, "Little Children"

This one is a unanimous vote in the Typ0/Hubby household: Kate Winslet all the way. She’s been nominated several times before and is a terrific actress. Go Kate!!

Best Supporting
Actor Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"
Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond"
Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"
Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed"

We should get rid of the easy idiots first: Eddie Murphy is still the guy from those classic 80’s movies. Don’t get me wrong: I love watching “Coming to America” when it’s on TNT for the fourth time this week, but he’s no Oscar winner. Next we need to ditch the guy who posed in his undies and was the Mark in “Marky Mark and the Fresh Bunch.” I’ve never heard of Haley so he’s out too. Sorry! That leaves us with Alan (I’m boring) Arkin and my pick to take home the statue: Djimon Hounsou who is not only hot but a very talented actor.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, "Babel"
Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"
Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"
Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel"

Yet another category with no one for whom I wish to cast my vote. Having the American Idol reject (Hudson) win would be nice if only because it would thoroughly upset Beyonce (I’m incredibly overrated) Knowles.

Best Directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Babel"
Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima"
Stephen Frears, "The Queen"
Paul Greengrass, "United 93"

I’m going with Scorsese here. Not because I think the movie is any good but rather because this guy has been nominated and lost so many times for way better movies that he deserves to finally take home the gold.

Best Foreign Language Film
"After the Wedding" Denmark
"Days of Glory (Indigenes)" Algeria
"The Lives of Others" Germany
"Pan's Labyrinth" Mexico
"Water" Canada

How do you spell Canada? C, eh, n, eh, d, eh. Go Canada!! (Like there was ever any doubt about the way this one was going to go.)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, "Children of Men"
William Monahan, "The Departed"
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, "Little Children"
Patrick Marber, "Notes on a Scandal"

I don’t care who wins this one as long as “Borat” loses. Please it took FIVE people to write that drivel?

So that’s my rundown of a few of the Oscar categories this year. We will, I’m sure, have a wrap up for the outfits, winners, and losers after the show in February. But until then, who are your picks? What do you think was the best movie of the year? And most importantly… Which of these movies should I waste Hubby’s hard earned dollars to see?