Craig's MovieBlog

Oscar Nominations

When was the last time the leader in nominations (Dreamgirls) couldn't get nominated for Best Picture or Best Director?  Dreamgirls received 8, but 3 were for Best Song, followed by Babel with 7.

When was the last time that 9 of the 10 actor and actress nominees were NOT from one of the Best Pictures?  Let me put that another way... of the 5 Best Pictures, they only spawned 1 Actor or Actress nomination (Helen Mirren, The Queen).

When they said the field was wide open this year, I really had only thought of that in the Best Picture race, but the breadth of the field this year, the distinction between the Best Picture nominations and the rest of the nominees has never been more vast.

Are you telling me that Leo was better in Blood Diamond that he was in The Departed?

Check out the Best Actor nominees - outside of Blood Diamond, none of those movies received any other major nominations, no other actors, not best picture, no screenplay, nothing.  Just bizarre...

Does anyone else realize that Kate Winslet is about to lose her 5th Oscar nomination in 11 years?  Or that Meryl Streep is about to lose for the 12th time?  At least she has two wins... unlike Ms. Winslet.

Here we go...

BEST PICTURE
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

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

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forrest Whitaker, The Last King Of Scotland

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Borat
Children Of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes On A Scandal

The 2006 Academy Awards Tracker

I've finally gotten off my patootie, and I've compiled my annual Academy Awards tracker. 

Clearly the momentum is behind Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, and Martin Scorsese right now, but as always, while this is interesting, it doesn't always predict Oscar success.  If it did, we'd be heralding Brokeback Mountain or Sideways as Best Picture winners.  (Crash only won one pre-Oscar Best Picture.)  Note that the so-called favorite for Best Picture, Dreamgirls, has no Best Picture wins, but Jennifer Hudson is leading in the Supporting Actress category.

I love the fact that the only other Best Actor winner other than Forest Whitaker so far has been Borat.

The scoreboard currently looks like this:

Best Picture:

• Letters from Iwo Jima - 2 wins
• United 93 - 2 wins
• The Departed - 1
• Little Children - 1
• The Queen - 1

Best Director:

• Martin Scorsese, The Departed - 4 wins
• Paul Greengrass, United 93 - 2
• Stephen Frears, The Queen - 1

Best Actor

• Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland - 6 wins
• Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat - 2

Best Actress

• Helen Mirren, The Queen - 7 wins

Best Supporting Actor

• Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children - 2 wins
• Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond - 2 wins
• Michael Sheen, The Queen - 2 wins
• Mark Wahlberg, The Departed - 1

Best Supporting Actress

• Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls - 3 wins
• Catherine O'Hara, For Your Consideration - 2
• Adriana Barraza, Babel - 1
• Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson - 1
• Luminita Gheorghiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu - 1

A Statement From Roger Ebert

Read the full piece on Movie City News:

I am happy to report that despite all, I am doing well. I started physical therapy, I communicate with friends on a daily basis, I play my iPod and listen to songs with Chaz and the doctors and nurses, and I write. Don Dupree, the Executive Producer of “Ebert & Roeper” installed a plasma TV and DVD player in my room. I am going to watch Half Nelson and I hope Kevin Smith was right. I also thank my good friend Jay Leno for sitting in my chair in my absence, and, of course, thanks to Richard Roeper.

I thank all of you for your prayers, your well-wishes, your gifts, cards, e-mails and flowers. I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't tell you when, but I sure look forward to being back on the movie beat.

Kevin Smith on Ebert & Roeper

Someone get this guy a talk show.

I've gotten too old to stay up and watch Ebert & Roeper (only somewhat true) but thankfully they have a free podcast.  As you may have heard, with Roger recovering from surgery, they're doing guest fill-ins, including Jay Leno (oy) and the aforementioned Kevin Smith.

Now, I don't want anyone to permanently replace Ebert (Roeper's another story), but I would listen to Smith talk about movies every single week without a doubt.  Not only do I love his stories and his passion (listen to him talk about Half Nelson), but he slams Roeper to the ground unmercifully.

When Roeper disagrees with him, giving thumbs down to (wait for it) Step Up, Kevin Smith lets him have it:

"What happened to you as a child?"

"You're a hate tank, and a very small man with a black heart."

During their video/DVD picks of the week, they get to the Wild Things threesome scene (Denise Richards, Neve Campbell, Matt Dillon), and Smith lashes out with:

"I see you as the Matt Dillon type in that type of thing.  You're watching the movie, and you're just like 'I am Matt Dillon.'"

Finally, he closes the show with:

"I'd like to take this moment to wish Roger a quick recovery.  He is missed.  And, um, hopefully the next time you get sick, I can take over your spot."

Well, we all can dream, can't we?

UPDATE: Some of this was captured (of course) on You Tube.  Enjoy.