Pre-amble
This post details my picks for the Oscars... sort of. I didn't limit myself to those movies nominated for Oscars, so I guess it's more like my picks for favourite movies of the year with the traditional Oscar categories in mind.
Since I know nobody wants to read another column about Oscar picks, I decided to present them in a unique way. That unique way is chronological order. Yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense, just SLOW DOWN I WAS ABOUT TO EXPLAIN OKAY. Basically, I've listed all the movies I've seen this year, and then made my pick in each of 7 categories (best picture, actor, actress, supporting actor/actress, screenplay and music) after watching each movie. So, for example, since the first 2008 movie I watched was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel is up there for best actor for the first couple of movies - until Christian Bale unseated him.
I picked the categories I did because they're the categories for which I have some kind of opinion. I don't have best director up there, because I really have no idea how to evaluate that category. I have a feeling I'd end up just going with my pick for best picture, or best screenplay, or some combination of the two. Anyway, I don't want to get into a whole discussion about my inability to critique directing. Similar reasons apply for my choices to exclude lesser-cared-about categories such as best cinematography, best editing, etc. and why I only did best screenplay and best music rather than splitting those up like the Oscars do.
I should note that I haven't seen every movie made this year - there appear to be 22 on my list. Notably, I haven't seen The Reader or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and I'm also missing a bunch of the not-terribly-popular-but-nominated-for-best-actress films: Changeling, Rachel Getting Married and Frozen River.
Okay, get to it Dave. Here's the spreadsheet. The films are listed in chronological order of viewing: Forgetting Sarah Marshall first, Doubt last. Yellow cells are points at which I changed my mind.
Some Meaningless Stats
Movies that made me change my mind the most:
5 categories: The Dark Knight
2 categories: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Iron Man, WALL-E, Milk, In Bruges
Big Winners (well, I only had 7 categories, so there really weren't any big winners. Anyway...):
2 wins: In Bruges
1 win: Revolutionary Road, The Dark Knight, Doubt, Happy-Go-Lucky, Slumdog Millionaire
Categories listed by number of changes:
6: Best Supporting Actress
5: Best Actor
4: Best Picture
3: Best Screenplay
2: Best Actress, Best Music
1: Best Supporting Actor
Miscellaneous Categories
- Most Awesome Opening Sequence: The Wrestler
- Best Timing: Milk
- Biggest Crimes Against Humanity: Kate Winslet not getting nominated for Revolutionary Road, though I guess her nomination for The Reader sort of encompasses that; WALL-E not getting nominated for best picture; Robert Downey Jr. not getting nominated for Iron Man. Even though I picked Colin Farrell for best actor, and he also didn't get nominated, I'm much angrier about Robert Downey Jr.'s non-nomination, because I don't really expect the academy to pay attention to films like In Bruges, whereas Iron Man was one of the biggest Hollywood films of the year, and the only reason I can think of that Downey didn't get nominated is that you're not allowed to nominate dudes from comic book movies. Except Heath Ledger got nominated. So you're only allowed to nominate dudes from comic book movies who are dead, I guess.
- Best Male Nudity: Jason Segel, Forgetting Sarah Marshall
- Funniest Movie: Happy-Go-Lucky
- The Philip Seymour Hoffman Award for Multiple Awesomeness: Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man and Tropic Thunder. This award could go to Kate Winslet also, but I haven't seen The Reader, so I can't really justify it.
- Hottest Chick: Evan Rachel Wood, The Wrestler
- Hottest Chick Robot: Eve, WALL-E
- Blockbuster That Was Everything I Wanted it to be: The Dark Knight
- Movies That I Saw in Theaters: The Dark Knight, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
- Movies That I Saw on an Airplane (And Wouldn't Have Watched Anywhere Else): Horton Hears a Who, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Definitely, Maybe
- Airplane Movies That Were Surprisingly Good: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
- Lamest Category: Best Actress. By no fault of its own; I just haven't seen many 2008 movies that had much of a female lead. From the movies I've seen, if I were picking nominees for the Oscars, I think I'd only want to nominate 3 actresses: Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road; Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky; and Meryl Streep, Doubt.
- Awesomest Category: Best Supporting Actor. On the contrary, I could nominate double digit dudes for best supporting actor. In addition to the ones mentioned on the spreadsheet (including Russell Brand, whose inclusion is not just there by default as opposed to most of Forgetting Sarah Marshall's nominations), I could throw in Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder, Danny McBride in Pineapple Express, Javier Bardem in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Brendan Gleeson for In Bruges
Anyway, so yeah... um.. take that Oscars, I made my picks several hours before you!
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