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Academy Awards from the 2007-2008
season
The
80th Academy Awards
was held on February 24, 2008 hosted by Jon Stewart
Ballots were sent to 5,829 voting members of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences. Evidently, Film Prophet wasn’t one of then.
A deal was reached early February ’08 to end the writers strike, so plan
on the entire Writers Guild members and the Oscars to carry out the greatest
entertainment award show tradition.
Atonement, Film Prophet's #1 movie of '07,
received 7 nods - 2nd most behind No Country for Old Men and There Will
Be Blood's 8 apiece.
I can ramble on like I did in the previous season
with a long notes and stats section, but I won't this year. I'll keep it
really short and blunt. The main thing is that Atonement was snubbed
from directing, actor, and actress, but I'm glad to see the Golden Globe
winner for best drama got at least nominated for best picture, jeez. No
Country for Old Men has been getting way too many accolades and
precursors. Michael Clayton and Juno do not belong in best picture race
and really have no chance in winning in any best picture award category
this season (Globes, SAGs, BAFTAs, etc). I would take those two out and
include American Gangster & Into the Wild in the Oscar best picture
category. The top five performances this season in order were from
Daniel-Day Lewis, Julie Christie, Saoirse Ronan, Amy Adams, and Hal
Holbrook. Atonement will win best original score and Ratatouille will
win best animated film because Atonement has the best soundtrack to date
this decade and Ratatouille is close to being the best animated film to
date likewise. I like how the 80th Oscars are on year ’08
and I made the following predictions on the 8th of February.
Fourth Annual Coverage!
(Film Prophet's Frontrunners are in order from top to bottom in each
column)
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 |
 |
 |
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And the Oscar goes to...
No Country for Old Men |
And the Oscar goes to...
Ethan Coen & Joel Coen |
And the Oscar goes to...
Daniel Day-Lewis |
And the Oscar goes to...
Marion Cotillard |
Will Win:
No Country for Old Men |
Will Win:
Ethan Coen & Joel Coen |
Will Win:
Daniel Day-Lewis |
Will Win:
Julie Christie or
Marion Cotillard |
Should Win:
Atonement or
There Will Be Blood |
Should Win:
Paul Thomas
Anderson |
Should Win:
Daniel Day-Lewis |
Should Win:
Julie Christie |
Final Prediction:
No Country for Old Men |
Final Prediction:
Ethan Coen & Joel Coen |
Final Prediction:
Daniel Day-Lewis |
Final Prediction:
Julie Christie |
BEST PICTURE
No Country for Old Men
Atonement
There Will Be Blood
Juno
Michael Clayton |
BEST DIRECTOR
Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
(No Country for Old Men)
Paul Thomas Anderson
(There Will Be Blood)
Julian Schnabel
(The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Jason Reitman
(Juno)
Tony Gilroy
(Michael Clayton) |
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis
(There Will Be Blood)
Johnny Depp
(Sweeney Todd)
George Clooney
(Michael Clayton)
Viggo Mortensen
(Eastern Promises)
Tommy Lee Jones
(In the Valley of Elah) |
BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie
(Away from Her)
Marion Cotillard
(La vie en Rose)
Ellen Page
(Juno)
Cate Blanchett
(Elizabeth: The Golden Age)
Laura Linney
(The Savages) |
Oscar night
notes:
Film Prophet's highlights of the show:
~ Jon Stewart as the host broke the ice with the
standard opening hosting monologue with over a dozen of minutes
shuffling through the nominated films and performers and not forgetting
the writers. Jon Stewart is welcomed back as host anytime.
~ Very disappointing in the no Keira Knightley appearance as I was
mainly looking for her on the tube. Happy that James McAvoy and Saoirse
Ronan represented.
~ Uninspiring wins (which held the insipid upsets) - Elizabeth: The
Golden Age winning costume design, The Golden Compass winning visual
effects over Transformers, Sweeney Todd winning art direction… I stopped
right there.
~ The show held actress in a supporting role an hour or so later than
usual because it's usually the first award handed out on the show, but
this year it was the most open of the four acting categories... and it
was awarded to Tilda Swinton, wow. I can’t recall any great scene
she had from Michael Clayton. As a surprise nomination,
how did she win the majority of the vote out of these other amazing
performances?
~ Not a single American won one of the four acting awards.
~ List of inspiring wins - not many and that was the problem… I would
have raised the roof if Atonement won best picture. However, it only won
a single Oscar, of course for Original score.
~ Amy Adams was this year's Beyonce for the singing performances, except
it's more interesting to watch an actress at first reenact her own movie
performance on a stage.
~ ‘You Raise Me Up’ from August Rush was terrific, and luckily Johnny
Depp didn't have to sing anything from Sweeney Todd.
~ Couldn't Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam perform a song from Into the
Wild? He did after all win the Golden Globe for best original song,
despite no Oscar nomination.
~ Kevin O'Connell for sound has a total of 20 career nominations and 0
wins... wow... Greg P. Russell is 0-12… Transformers went 0-3 and The
Bourne Ultimatum went 3-0 on the night
~ The binoculars and wake-ups Oscar salute segments were silly and
funny… 'that was really a waste of time.'
~ Favorite segments: How the Academy keeps the ballots secret, and the
baby goes to... Angelina Jolie, Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen talking about
who should be Halle Berry, the Buffalo apartment mention in The Savages
clip for original screenplay.
~ There were still 10 awards to be given out and over two hours have
already gone by.
~ Random past footage of the shows winning moments to celebrate the 80th
was expected.
~ Thankfully there was an in memoriam tribute and Heath Ledger was saved
for last.
~ Congrats to the Coen brothers… it was their night.
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