2007 OSCAR NOMINATIONS

[Vic Sage]

Oscars will be held at the Kodak Theater on Feb. 25.

PICTURE
"Babel" Steve Golin, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik, producers; Anonymous Content Production/Una Producción De Zeta Film/Central Films Production; Paramount Pictures/Paramount Vantage (Paramount Vantage)
"The Departed" Brad Grey, Graham King, Brad Pitt, Martin Scorsese, producers; Vertigo Entertainment/Plan B Entertainment/Warner Bros. Pictures (Warner Bros.)
"Letters from Iwo Jima" Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Steven Spielberg, producers; Malpaso Productions (Warner Bros.)
"Little Miss Sunshine" Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, producers; Big Beach/Bonafide Productions (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
"The Queen" Andy Harries, Christine Langan, Tracey Seaward, producers; A Granada production (Miramax)

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

ACTRESS
Penélope Cruz, "Volver"
Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"
Kate Winslet, "Little Children"

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

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

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

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Babel" Guillermo Arriaga
"Letters from Iwo Jima" Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis
"Little Miss Sunshine" Michael Arndt
"Pan's Labyrinth" Guillermo del Toro
"The Queen" Peter Morgan

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer, Todd Phillips
"Children of Men" David Arata, Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Fergus, Timothy J. Sexton, Hawk Ostby
"The Departed" Wiliam Monahan
"Little Children" Todd Field, Tom Perrotta
"Notes on a Scandal" Patrick Marber

ANIMATED FEATURE
"Cars" John Lasseter, Joe Ranft (Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studio; Buena Vista Pictures Distribution)
"Happy Feet" George Miller (Kingdom Pictures, LLC; Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures)
"Monster House" Gil Kenan (Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing)

ORIGINAL SONG
"I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth," music and lyric by Melissa Etheridge (Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
"Listen" from "Dreamgirls," music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler; lyric by Anne Preven (DreamWorks and Paramount)
"Love You I Do" from "Dreamgirls," music by Henry Krieger; lyric by Siedah Garrett (DreamWorks and Paramount)
"Our Town" from "Cars," music and lyric by Randy Newman (Buena Vista)
"Patience" from "Dreamgirls," music by Henry Krieger; lyric by Willie Reale (DreamWorks and Paramount)

SCORE
“Babel�

[Guest Edgy DC]

Wasn't Venus released like yesterday?

Thirty years is a long wait, so it'll be exciting to see Jackie Earl Haley get the statue he is sitll owed from The Bad News Bears

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I guess I'm going to have to go and watch Babel now.

I had been avoiding it. My sister-in-law really loved it, which leads me to believe that it's crap. But with that many major nominations, I'll give it a try.

I was happy to see Little Miss Sunshine do nicely with the nominations.

Eddie Murphy was fabulous in Dreamgirls. It was a role that required a lot from him - comedy, drama, and channeling James Brown. He's the favorite to win Best Supporting Actor, and rightfully so (even though the guy from Little Children turned in a creepily haunting performance).

It would be hysterical if Borat won Best Adapted Screenplay. I doubt that will happen, but it would be a real laugh.

[Vic Sage]

adapted from what?
the spontaneous utterances of morons?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I was also surprised that Borat was in the "adapted" category. I guess it's because it's based on a character he played on Da Ali G Show.

I'm wondering why Letters from Iwo Jima isn't in the foreign language category. Isn't it just about entirely in Japanese? (I'm really looking forward to seeing that one, by the way.)

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Jackie Earle Fuckin' Haley! Wow!

[Frayed Knot]

"Eddie Murphy was fabulous in Dreamgirls ... He's the favorite to win Best Supporting Actor"

Nah, Alan Arkin is.
Always bet on the old guy to beat the young guy, particularly in Supporting awards.




"I was also surprised that Borat was in the "adapted" category. I guess it's because it's based on a character he played on Da Ali G Show."

Yup. It's considered adapted even if you adapt it from yourself.
Billy Bob Thorton had this a few years back with 'Slingblade' which he extrapolated from a stand-up piece he had been doing.




"Jackie Earle Fuckin' Haley! Wow!"

He plays a child molester.

[metirish]

Peter O'Toole was on Charlie rose last week,he can still tell a great yarn about past exploits with Richard Harris and Richard Burton,he also told Rose that for the past 40+ years he has done theater work every one of those years.....

[Guest Edgy DC]

For the past 30 he's done Richard Harris stories.

[Guest sharpie]

I'm wondering why Letters from Iwo Jima isn't in the foreign language category. Isn't it just about entirely in Japanese?

Foreign films are nominated by countries. For instance, Spain gets to put one film forward as does China, etc. US doesn't get a vote, I think. Waht is also weird about that category is the excellent Water which is shot in India and in Hindi is a Canadian film.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Frayed Knot wrote: "Eddie Murphy was fabulous in Dreamgirls ... He's the favorite to win Best Supporting Actor" Nah, Alan Arkin is. Always bet on the old guy to beat the young guy, particularly in Supporting awards.

Kudos FK - you called it!

[Frayed Knot]

That one was a gimme.
The mistake people make in trying to predict these things is that they actually see the movies and then base their guesses on who they think did the best job.

WRONG!!
The sentimental choice, the politically correct one, or the whose-turn-it-is method always work better.




btw, How do you suppose all the privite jets that were used to bring the stars to the show fits in with the "Greening of the Oscars" campaign?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

No doubt there were 75 Hummer limos out front with their engines idling the whole show.

This show is awful and Jackie Earle got screwed.

Not for nothin' but if "Breaking Away" came out in 2006 it'd beat every film nominated like Team Italia beat Dave Stoller.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Considering the forgettable Kramer vs. Kramer won in 1979, I'm going to guess Breaking Away gets a pump into it's spokes and comes home bruised and forlorn just about every year.

Justin Henry, the moppet from Kramer, got nominated as best supporting actor as well, and Paul Dooley didn't. I hope Paul gave the kid what for on the set of 16 Candles.







Everybody cheats. I just didn't know.

[Farmer Ted]

Kelly Leak got no props. Loved the scarf.