2007 Academy Awards predictions & wrap-up

Ok boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, tonight is the 2007 Academy Awards show for movies that were released in 2006. This is the only awards show that I ever watch. So, being the movie buff that I think I am, I'm going to give a whirl at who I think will win each award. My picks are in blue.

Once the show is over, I'll update the post with the actual *winners* and see how accurate my guesses were.

Best Picture (presenters: Jack Nicholson & Diane Keaton)
Babel
The Departed *winner*
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Best Actor (presenter: Reese Witherspoon)
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 *winner*



Best Actress (presenter: Philip Seymour Hoffman)
Penélope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen *winner*
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best Supporting Actor (presenter: Rachel Weisz)
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine *winner*
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Best Supporting Actress (presenter: George Clooney)
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls *winner*
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best Director (presenters: F.F. Coppola, G. Lucas, S. Spielberg)
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Martin Scorsese, The Departed *winner*

Best Adapted Screenplay (presenters: Tom Hanks, Hellen Mirren)
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Children of Men
The Departed *winner*
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

Best Original Screenplay (presenters: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst)
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine *winner*
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Best Animated Film (presenter: Cameron Diaz)
Cars
Happy Feet *winner*
Monster House

Best Art Direction (presenters: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig)
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth *winner*
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

Best Cinematography (presenter: Gwyneth Paltrow)
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth *winner*
The Prestige

Best Costume Design (presenters: Emily Blount, Anne Hathaway)
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette *winner*
The Queen

Best Documentary Feature (presenter: Jerry Seinfeld)
Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth *winner*
Iraq In Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

Best Documentary Short Subject (presenter: Gael Bernal)
The Blood of Yingzhou District *winner*
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands

Best Film Editing (presenter: Kate Winslet)
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed *winner*
United 93

Best Foreign Language Film (presenters: Cate Blanchett, Ken Watanabe)
After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory (Indigènes), Algeria
The Lives of Others, Germany *winner*
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada

Best Makeup (presenters: Will Ferrell, Jack Black, John C. Reilly)
Apocalypto
Click
Pan's Labyrinth *winner*

Best Original Score (presenters: Hugh Jackman, Penelope' Cruz)
Babel *winner*
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Best Original Song (presenters: Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, John Travolta)
''I Need to Wake Up,'' from An Inconvenient Truth *winner*
''Listen,'' from Dreamgirls
''Love You I Do,'' from Dreamgirls
''Our Town,'' from Cars
''Patience,'' from Dreamgirls

Best Short, Animated (presenters: Abigail Breslin, Jaden Smith)
The Danish Poet *winner*
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

Best Short, Live Action (presenters: Abigail Breslin, Jaden Smith)
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story *winner*

Best Sound Editing (presenters: Steve Carrell, Greg Kinnear)
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima *winner*
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Best Sound Mixing (presenters: James McAvoy, Jessica Biel)
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls *winner*
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Best Visual Effects (presenters: Robert Downey Jr., Naomi Watts)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest *winner*
Poseidon
Superman Returns

Special Awards
In Memoriam (presenter: Jodie Foster)
Lifetime Achievement Award (presenter: Clint Eastwood) Ennio Morrocone
Humanitarian Award (presenter: Tom Cruise) Shari Lansing

Well, the Oscars are done for another year. I guessed correctly on 11 out of 24 (46%) of the categories, which is not bad considering I did not see most of the films that were nominated.

Ellen DeGeneres did an okay job as host but nothing that, in my opinion, deserves an invite back next year. (Note to the Academy: bring back Billy Crystal or Steve Martin for next year, please? Even Chris Rock was a better host than Ellen was.)

The show once again ran past midnight on the east coast, which could have been avoided (barely) if the show had started at 8:00 instead of 8:30ish. Here's a plan for next year: show all of the red carpet entrances starting at 7:30 instead of 8 or not at all on ABC. Leave the red carpet crap to E! instead. Everyone knows that no one pays attention to the length of acceptance speech time limit, which is always blamed for why the show runs too long. I think the acceptance speeches are far more important and interesting than what people are wearing.