5 Questions About This Year's Oscars
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Can "Little Miss Sunshine" win Best Picture?
This year's best picture race has no clear front runner, however, "Little Miss Sunshine" stands in sharp contrast to the other four nominees. "Babel", "The Departed", "Letters from Iwo Jima", and "The Queen" are all somber films filled with existential themes and depressive musings, whereas "Little Miss Sunshine" is a light-hearted family comedy that has been described as intelligent version of "National Lampoon's Family Vacation." The last comedy to win Best Picture was "Shakespeare In Love" which upset "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998. "Babel" took home the Golden Globe for best dramatic film and is the top challenger to "Little Miss Sunshine". Like last year's winner "Crash":, "Babel" features multiple narratives and deals with global themes such as inter-cultural communication. However, "Little Miss Sunshine's" optimistic spirit is infections and don't be surprised if on Oscar night the little independent film that could walks away with Oscar's statuette.
Is This Martin Scorsese's year?
Scorsese, like Hitchcock before him, is one of the most prolific directors of all time never to win an Academy Award. His nomination for "The Departed" once again has people asking is this the year Scorsese will finally get his due and take home the one accolade that is missing from his mantle piece. While I would love to see Scorsese win for "The Departed", one of the year's most well made and entertaining films, I would not be surprised if the Academy once again over looks Scorsese in favor of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the director of the multi-narrative film "Babel" and winner of the Golden Globe for Best Director. Scorsese's career won't be defined if he never wins an Oscar - his canon of work speaks for itself - but it would be nice if the Academy would give him his due so this would stop being an issue every year. Inarritu is a talented director who will be around for a long time so why not award Scorsese while he is still in top form?
Are Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker deserving frontrunners for Best Actress and Best Actor?
The past two best actor trophies went to actors who played historical figures (Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles and Philip Seymour Hoffman in as Truman Capote) and last year's best actress Oscar went to Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. Bringing historical figures to life onscreen cannot be an easy task, but the Academy's penchance for awarding these performers with statuettes instead of recgonizing actors and actresses playing original characters is making these races the easiest to predict. Ryan Gossling's performance as an inner city teacher addicted to crack is one of the year's best, but he doesn't stand a chance against Whitaker the same way Heath Ledger didn't stand a chance against Hoffman in last year's race. Penelope Cruz owned the screen in "Volver" but all indications point to Helen Mirren winning for her dull portrayal of Queen Elizabeth. Predictability is the Academy's Achiles heel, and hopefully this year's Oscars will shake things up in the Best Actor/Best Actress categories and keep things interesting.
What is this year's biggest Oscar snub?
It's a toss up between "Dreamgirls", which took home the most nominations of any film but failed to earn a Best Picture nom, and "Volver", Pedro Almodovar's critically acclaimed film that was not nominated for Best Foreign language film. Both films are deserving and the fact that "Dreamgirls" was ovelooked for "The Queen", the year's most overrated film, is a definite snub. The fact that Steve Carrell did not receive a best supporting actor nomination also demonstrates how the Academy still does not understand how to recognize comedic genius.
Will Ellen be a good host?
Predicting the quality of an Oscar host is not an easy task. Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, and David Letterman all received poor reviews their first time up whereas Billy Crystal and Steve Martin excel each year they serve as host. Ellen is one of Hollywood's funniest comedians and her combination of humor and warmth might make her an excellent host. Hollywood's stars don't like being skewered too harshly (see Chris Rock's rant about Jude Law) and hopefully Ellen understands this. Her recent success on her talk show has me believing that she will ace her audience and be a host to remember.
This year's best picture race has no clear front runner, however, "Little Miss Sunshine" stands in sharp contrast to the other four nominees. "Babel", "The Departed", "Letters from Iwo Jima", and "The Queen" are all somber films filled with existential themes and depressive musings, whereas "Little Miss Sunshine" is a light-hearted family comedy that has been described as intelligent version of "National Lampoon's Family Vacation." The last comedy to win Best Picture was "Shakespeare In Love" which upset "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998. "Babel" took home the Golden Globe for best dramatic film and is the top challenger to "Little Miss Sunshine". Like last year's winner "Crash":, "Babel" features multiple narratives and deals with global themes such as inter-cultural communication. However, "Little Miss Sunshine's" optimistic spirit is infections and don't be surprised if on Oscar night the little independent film that could walks away with Oscar's statuette.
Is This Martin Scorsese's year?
Scorsese, like Hitchcock before him, is one of the most prolific directors of all time never to win an Academy Award. His nomination for "The Departed" once again has people asking is this the year Scorsese will finally get his due and take home the one accolade that is missing from his mantle piece. While I would love to see Scorsese win for "The Departed", one of the year's most well made and entertaining films, I would not be surprised if the Academy once again over looks Scorsese in favor of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the director of the multi-narrative film "Babel" and winner of the Golden Globe for Best Director. Scorsese's career won't be defined if he never wins an Oscar - his canon of work speaks for itself - but it would be nice if the Academy would give him his due so this would stop being an issue every year. Inarritu is a talented director who will be around for a long time so why not award Scorsese while he is still in top form?
Are Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker deserving frontrunners for Best Actress and Best Actor?
The past two best actor trophies went to actors who played historical figures (Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles and Philip Seymour Hoffman in as Truman Capote) and last year's best actress Oscar went to Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. Bringing historical figures to life onscreen cannot be an easy task, but the Academy's penchance for awarding these performers with statuettes instead of recgonizing actors and actresses playing original characters is making these races the easiest to predict. Ryan Gossling's performance as an inner city teacher addicted to crack is one of the year's best, but he doesn't stand a chance against Whitaker the same way Heath Ledger didn't stand a chance against Hoffman in last year's race. Penelope Cruz owned the screen in "Volver" but all indications point to Helen Mirren winning for her dull portrayal of Queen Elizabeth. Predictability is the Academy's Achiles heel, and hopefully this year's Oscars will shake things up in the Best Actor/Best Actress categories and keep things interesting.
What is this year's biggest Oscar snub?
It's a toss up between "Dreamgirls", which took home the most nominations of any film but failed to earn a Best Picture nom, and "Volver", Pedro Almodovar's critically acclaimed film that was not nominated for Best Foreign language film. Both films are deserving and the fact that "Dreamgirls" was ovelooked for "The Queen", the year's most overrated film, is a definite snub. The fact that Steve Carrell did not receive a best supporting actor nomination also demonstrates how the Academy still does not understand how to recognize comedic genius.
Will Ellen be a good host?
Predicting the quality of an Oscar host is not an easy task. Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, and David Letterman all received poor reviews their first time up whereas Billy Crystal and Steve Martin excel each year they serve as host. Ellen is one of Hollywood's funniest comedians and her combination of humor and warmth might make her an excellent host. Hollywood's stars don't like being skewered too harshly (see Chris Rock's rant about Jude Law) and hopefully Ellen understands this. Her recent success on her talk show has me believing that she will ace her audience and be a host to remember.
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