And The Oscar Goes To....

It's only about an hour or so now before they start handing out statues, so I guess it's about time to put in some Oscar predictions.
For vanity's sake, I'll give who I think will win (thusly) and who I think should win for each category, whether they were nominated or not (denoted thusly). I won't pick any of my personal winners from movies I didn't see (sorry Forrest, maybe next time, although I'm sure your Golden Globe, SAG, DGA, PGA, WGA, and BAFTA awards will comfort you):

Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine Stranger Than Fiction

Adapted Screenplay: Borat The Departed

Achievement in Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls Blood Diamond

Achievement in Sound Editing: Letters from Iwo Jima

Achievement in Music Written for a Motion Picture Original Song:
"Listen", Dreamgirls

Achievement in Music Written for a Motion Picture Original Score:
Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
Philip Glass, The Illusionist

Achievement in Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth

Achievement in Costume Design: Dreamgirls

Achievement in Art Direction: Dreamgirls The Good Shepherd

Best Foreign Language Film: Pan's Labyrinth

Achievement in Film Editing: Babel United 93

Achievement in Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men

Achievement in Directing: Martin Scorsese, The Departed Paul Greengrass, United 93

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Happy Feet Flushed Away

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls Sergi Lopez, Pan's Labyrinth (unless The Proposition counts as a 2006 release, in which case I'd give it to John Hurt from The Proposition)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls Abagail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine (once again, if The Proposition counts as a 2006 release, I'd give it to Emily Watson from The Proposition)

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Forrest Whittaker, The Last King of Scotland Clive Owen, Children of Men

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Helen Mirren, The Queen Shu Qi, Three Times

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Little Miss Sunshine Letters From Iwo Jima and Pan's Labyrinth. It's my blog and I can do as I see fit so I'm not going to force myself to choose between the two.


and for entertainment's sake (as I've gone a little mixed media crazy here recently), here's the opening number from the 1989 Oscar telecast, widely regarded as the worst opening for any awards show ever (stars 'Snow White', Rob Lowe, Merv Griffin, and a host of others. You have to see it to believe it):