Oscars

No End in Sight*

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience*

Sicko*

Taxi to the Dark Side*

War Dance*

Will win: Obviously I’m going entirely on buzz here, since I haven’t seen any of these movies. The three I’ve heard of are No End in Sight, about Iraq; Sicko, Michael Moore’s critique of the U.S. healthcare system; and Taxi to the Dark Side, about the United States’ mistreatment of prisoners of war. Of the three, I think No End in Sight has received the best overall press (it has a whopping score of 89 on Metacritic), and after Moore’s antics three years ago, I doubt voters want him back on the stage.

Should win: Not nearly as important as …

Should NOT win: Obviously, I haven’t seen Sicko, and it’s entirely possible that it’s a perfectly respectable, well-made documentary. (I kind of doubt it, but it’s possible.) But I will never root for Michael Moore to win anything in his life. His self-aggrandizing speech at the Oscars three years ago, when he won for Fahrenheit 911, solidified his standing as the most obnoxious, egotistical prick working in cinema today. What an asshole. Read More

The Bourne Ultimatum – Karen M. Baker, Per Hallberg

No Country for Old Men – Skip Lievsay

Ratatouille – Randy Thom, Michael Silvers

There Will Be Blood – Matthew Wood

Transformers – Mike Hopkins, Ethan Van der Ryn

Will win: As Luke Wilson said in Anchorman, this is getting to be ri-god-damn-diculous. I’ve always been suspicious that the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories are really just the same award handed out two different times, almost like if the NFL gave out two honors, one for Best Offensive Lineman and the second for Best Fat Guy Who Protects the Quarterback. Well this year, of the five nominations for Sound Mixing, four of them are also selected for Sound Editing. Doesn’t that seem a little shady to people? Isn’t it the slightest bit possible that some voters look at these two categories and think to themselves, “Fuck it, what’s the difference?”? Read More

Persepolis

Ratatouille

Surf’s Up*

Will win: I’m trying to think if there’s ever been more of a sure thing at the Oscars – hell, in the history of awards show, or just any competition in the world in which a winner was determined through some sort of judgment or contest – than Ratatouille winning this category. I guess maybe Death. Death is more certain than Ratatouille. But not by much. Read More