this year's oscar picks

Best Makeup:
I think Norbit will take it. What's better than hearing: "From the producers of the Oscar-winning Norbit"

Original Song:
Obviously I'm pulling for "Falling Slowly" from Once. If anybody in the academy saw this movie, then it's a shoe-in. Unfortunately, maybe they didn't watch the film since strangely this was all Once was nominated for. Of course all the votes for Enchanted may cancel each other out. What's up with having three nominees for the same movie anyway?

Original Score:
I didn't see it, but I heard that the score for Atonement is truly unique (hmm. so maybe that means it won't win).

Sound Editing:
I'll have to say The Bourne Ultimatum because I totally liked the movie despite the shaky visuals. It must have been the crazy sound that presented so much busy background noise of a half dozen cities, but was still crisp and straightforward.

Sound Mixing:
Perhaps this is the wrong category to say this, but I may as well. I love the voice work in Ratatouille because I couldn't tell which big-name actors were doing the voices. The characters were presented instead of the actors.

Film Editing:
No Country for Old Men. Such distinct moods were created perfectly through the elite timing of this movie.

Costume Design:
Sweeny Todd. Really just a guess. I never saw it.

Art Direction:
Sweeny Todd.

Live Action Short Film:
Le Mozart des Pickpockets. Cleverest title.

Animated Short Film:
Meme les Pigeons Vont au Paradis. Longest title

Visual Effects:
The Golden Compass. I didn't see it, but Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers just weren't fun to look at.

Adapted Screenplay:
No Country for Old Men. I didn't read the original book, but I'm amazed to hear from people that some of the writing flourishes used by the Coens in this movie actually improved upon the book and not the other way around.

Original Screenplay:
I don't think I realized how much depth this story had until today when Maria and I had a 45-minute conversation about the emotion and motivation of the characters in Juno.

Cinematography:
No Country for Old Men. Bleak story but beautiful images.

Foreign Language Film:
The Counterfeiters. Sounds pretty cool.

Animated Feature:
I'll go ahead and say that I think Persepolis should win for keeping traditional two-dimensional animation in the game by having its own very unique original style.

Documentary Short:
Salim Baba. Could I even watch this movie if I wanted to?

Documentary Feature:
I liked Sicko, but I have a feeling the well-organized and thorough No End in Sight will take it.

Director:
Joel and Ethan will probably win, but the academy may not like making the award a shared one. Personally I like what Julian Schnabel did with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I really liked the juxtaposition of the protagonist's visual limitation with the broadness of his memories. Also, one thing we forget about directors is that they are directly in charge of actors' performances. The women in this movie did a wonderful job of evoking far more than sympathy.

Supporting Actress:
Cate Blanchett will probably win, but my vote goes to Tilda Swinton for her one of a kind portrayal of villain in the midst of a breakdown in Michael Clayton.

Supporting Actor:
Javier Bardem will win for bringing us the scariest villain since Darth Vader, but again I really liked a Michael Clayton performance. Tom Wilkinson played not only a guy who was off his meds, but a guy fully exposing his entire persona.

Actress:
Marion Cotillard. I heard she was pretty good.

Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis will win, because the whole point of There Will Be Blood was to frame it around him and then turn him loose. The experiment was a success.

Picture:
No Country for Old Men. Mostly for editing. Mostly for the wonderful, evil villain. Mostly for taking something and improving on it. Mostly for every aspect of film coming together perfectly. I didn't really like the ending, though.