i know that i said waay back in august that i was starting a new blog to coincide with the new adventure that i was embarking on (moving to somerville), so apologies for not totally following through on that promise. anyways, i decided, since today is oscar nominations eve, my 3rd favorite day of the year after christmas and my birthday, i would do an update, and, naturally, post my predictions for oscar nominations tomorrow. but, before i get to the good stuff, here is a quick update on life.....
....nothing exciting to report, EXCEPT, that i'm training for a half marathon. yes friends, i will be running 13.1 miles on may 24th, 2009 in boston's run to remember half marathon. i've been training since mid-november, and so far things have been going well. i'm up to about 3 miles a day, although it is somewhat frustrating that 3 miles on a treadmill is NOT the same as 3 miles outside. i'm trying to work a schedule so that i run outside at least 2 days a week, but in the winter, that often proves difficult. i will, however, keep you all posted on my progress. i'm running in a 5k next weekend with nick, katie and mike arnold, so i'm sure i'll blog about that. and now, on to what you've been waiting for....
2008 was a fairly good year for films, if i were making a top 10 list, my top films would be: Slumdog Millionaire, Wall-e, Waltz with Bashir, The Dark Knight, In Bruges, The Wrestler, Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Oscar nominations are tomorrow morning, and the following are my predictions for the top 10 categories;
Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Milk
Frost/Nixon
alt: Wall-e, The Wrestler
Four of those five appear to be locks (Slumdog, TDK, Button and Milk) and I would love to see either Wall-e or The Wrestler sneak in. other potential upsets: Revolutionary Road and The Reader. I'm all in for a Slumdog Millionaire win, it was, in my opinion, hands down the best film of the year. Yes, it had some flaws, but it's been a LONG time since I've been so swept up and taken with a movie.
Best Director
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gus Van Sant - Milk
Darren Aronofsky - The Wrestler
alt: Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon, Andrew Stanton - Wall-e
it is rare for best pic/director to match 5/5, so this is where I think The Wrestler will be recognized. There usually are a few surprises in the director race, and I think Aronofsky will be it.
Best Actor
Sean Penn - Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
alt: Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road, Colin Farrell - In Bruges
I have yet to see The Visitor (I'm going to watch it tonight), but I've heard nothing but good things about Richard Jenkins performance. However, having not seen it, I was inclined to put DiCaprio in the 5th slot, but the lack of precursor love for Revolutionary Road may not help him. Colin Farrell is a no guts, no glory prediction, he was fantastic in In Bruges.
Best Actress
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
alt: Melissa Leo - Frozen River
In all honesty, this is the category I care least about, as I feel that there are really only 3 deserving nominees, Kate, Meryl and Anne...and I'm going with Kate for the win...next...
Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
Josh Brolin - Milk
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
alt: Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road, James Franco - Milk
This is basically Heath Ledgers award to loose, although no one has won a posthumous Oscar...perhaps this is the year? Robert Downey Jr. is also pretty safe for Tropic Thunder for playing "the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!" and Dev Patel should get swept up in the Slumdog love (although his performance is really leading).
Best Supporting Actress
Kate Winslet - The Reader
Penélope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona
Marissa Tomei - The Wrestler
Viola Davis - Doubt
Amy Adams - Doubt
alt: Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This is a pretty set category, with Henson possibly getting in over Tomei. For the win- it's between Winslet and Cruz...Cruz should have won in 2006 for her fabulous performance in Volver.
Best Original Screenplay
Milk
The Wrestler
Wall-e
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Waltz with Bashir
alt: In Bruges
Best Adapted Screenplay
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
alt: Revolutionary Road
Best Animated Feature
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-e
Waltz with Bashir
Best Foreign Language Film
Everlasting Moments (Eviga Ogonblick) - Sweeden
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Der Baader Meinhof Komplex) - Germany
The Class (Entre les Murs) - France
Three Monkeys (Uc Maymun) - Turkey
Waltz with Bashir (Vals Im Bashir) - Israel
Nomination Totals
The Dark Knight and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 13
Slumdog Millionaire - 9
Milk, Frost/Nixon, Wall-e - 6
The Wrestler - 5
That is it for right now, you can bet I'll be back with an update tomorrow morning to see how well I faired, I doubt I'm going to be able to go 48/48, but we'll see...
and I promise that I will try and be a better blogger and keep my updated more frequent from now on.
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