OSCAR MANIA!!!
You may say, why the long face? Well, as an aspiring film critic, there isn’t much in the cinematic world that I find unexciting; I mean I loved Gigli and Flicka! For me, there is one event that tops everything else moviedom… The Academy Awards!!! Every year I look forward to this awards ceremony with more excitement than Britney Spears leaving her rest and rehabilitation retreat! But this year, I’m flustered because so many of the big categories have no clear winners!
My Oscar fascination is perfect for film class because we actually debate what will win Best Picture. It doesn’t work as well in Spanish Literature when I should be focusing on the trials and tribulations of Juan and all I am thinking about is Pan’s Labyrinth was robbed of about 6 nominations!
I decided that for this blog entry I would make my final predictions in the big three and let you witness my indecisiveness.
Best Picture – After United 93, Children of Men, and Pan’s Labyrinth were all snubbed, I have a lot of anger towards this category! Personally, United 93 was the best movie of last year but it was about September 11, so it was not received well by audiences so that hurt its chances. My pick for this category is The Departed because it is the highest grossing of the nominees and it has all of the buzz. The potential upsets are Little Miss Sunshine and Babel, but I would be surprised if either of them won.
Best Actress – Helen Mirren will win for The Queen. There is no way around it, unless the Academy voters decide they dislike British people; I don’t see that happening. She has seriously won all but one precursor award! There really is no one else I can see beating the awards machine that is Mirren. Because she is considered such a lock, I almost think she won’t win! Nobody besides the voters will know until Sunday!
Best Actor – This is another virtual lock. Like the royal Mirren, Forrest Whitaker has been considered a front runner in this race since early November. If Whitaker does not win, it is really anyone’s game!
There are 21 more categories, but if I ramble much more I’ll lose the rest of you! Good luck predicting and have a fun filled evening making fun of the dresses; I know I will, I’ll have started watching the pre-show around noon (7 hours before the ceremony).