It's that Oscar Time of the Year.

I love movies.

That's why I have this annual tradition of staying up to watch the oscars LIVE. You see, I must know who wins the moment they win, I can't just wait until the next morning...why...why ...that's sheer madness to me! (yes yes , I know it's pathetic but I wasn't always like this. It's taken me a few yrs to get that way lol).
Problem is, most movies that have a chance getting various awards tend to be released in the later months of the year so that they have a stronger presence in the memory of the academy members. It's simply a matter of "out of sight , out of mind". That's why I still haven't seen a lot of the movies in the awards race because they haven't been released (or have been just very recently released) in Egypt, yet. However, since The Oscars have been sucking for the past few years and you can safely predict awards based on Awards Buzz, good PR , Academy Award preferences and tendencies, previous unfair snubs by the academy and the pattern of awards handed out previously this year (eg. Golden Globes, BAFTAs..etc.) , this year I've decided to give you my very first Academy Award Predictions in the main categories even though I haven't seen half of the movies competing lol. You see, it's widely believed that a lot of Academy members don't see all the movies before voting (as indicated sometimes by who wins), so let's see how good a guesser I am ;) :


Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Nominees:

1-Leonardo Di Caprio: Blood Diamond.
2-Ryan Gosling: Half Nelson
3-Forest Whitaker: The last King of Scotland
4-Peter O' Toole : Venus
5-Will Smith : The Pursuit of Happyness

Who will win: Forest Whitaker. His only real competition is Leo who gave a ferocious , fantastic performance and although I know bad accents have never really stood in the way of awards,Leo's accent was just heinous which annoyed me till the end of the movie.

Who deserves to win: Forest Whitaker. He's a fantastic actor who's been underrated for years. Check out his role in Eastwood's movie "Bird" which won him the best actor award in the Cannes film festival in 1988.

Best actress in a Leading Role:

Nominees:

1- Meryl Streep : The Devil wears Prada
2- Kate Winslet: Little Children
3- Judi Dench : Notes on a Scandal
4- Helen Mirren : The Queen
5- Penelope Cruz : Volver.

Who will win: Helen Mirren is a 100% sure bet this year. She totally dominated the awards season this year. She's sure to be making an acceptance speech tonight. Another fantastic but very underrated actress who actually deserves the recognition she's getting. And Meryl streep is not winning for a comedy mocking Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Ain't gonna happen. Kate Winslet has the record now for the youngest actor ever to recieve 5 nominations. I like her and good for her, except that I'm almost sure that she's shaved at least 5 yrs off of her age ( Lady was not 22 in Titanic nor did she look 19 in Sense & Sensibility and sure as hell doesn't look 31 now.) and I don't think she should've been nominated for Titanic.

Who deserves to win: All bow to Helen Mirren.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

Nominees:

1-Alan Arkin : Little Miss Sunshine
2- Eddie Murphy : Dreamgirls
3- Djimon Hounsou: Blood Diamond
4- Jack Earl Haley: Little Children
5- Mark Wahlberg: The Departed

Who will win: Either Eddie Murphy or Alan Arkin. More likely the former because he's won both the GG & the SAG award.
Who deserves to win: Djimon Honsou or Alan Arkin.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Nominees:

1- Jennifer Hudson: Dreamgirls
2- Rinko Kikushi: Babel
3- Adriana Baraza: Babel
4- Cate Blanchett: Notes on a Scandal
5- Abigail Breslin: Little Miss Sunshine.

Who will win: Jennifer Hudson: Buzz Buzz Buzz. Except the Academy might pull one of it's unexpected twists and give it to Rinko Kikushi. Who deserves to win: Rinko Kikushi. She was in a move with the mighty Cate Blanchett and superstar Brad Pitt and outshined them both. She also lead a lot of people to believe that she's actually mute/deaf in real life.

Best Picture:

Nominees:

1- Babel
2- The Queen
3- Little Miss Sunshine
4- Letters from Iwo Jima
5- The Departed

Who will win: This one is tricky. Babel did win best picture at the GG, however a lot of ppl have deemed it overrated. Also, Last yr was Brokeback Mountain's big year and Crash ended up winning an unexpected best picture.I think it'll be either Babel or The Queen.
Who deserves to win:The Queen.

Best Director:

Nominees:

1- Babel
2- The Queen
3- United 93
4- Letters from Iwo Jima
5- The Departed

Who will win: Again tricky. Clint Eastwood won at the GG for Letters from Iwo Jima as best foriegn film and the academy loves to kiss his ass. Martin Scorsese won at the Director's Guild Awards and GG for the Departed and Marty's been snubbed more than enough in previous years. The Queen also has a chance of winning. Since the Academy has a history of trying to make up for previous losses by one overdue award, I'll say Martin Scorcese

Who deserves to win: Marty for the win! You see, I can't get over Jon Stewart's joke last yr at the ceremony : " For those of you keeping score, Three six mafia ; one.. Martin Scorcese; zero.". Give the man an award already!!


I'll be seeing most of these movies within the next two months isa. For now , let's see how well I know how the academy thinks! Off to study till 3 a.m now before the show starts. It's being presented by Ellen DeGenres, so it's sure to bring on a few laughs.

Mmmm...coffee...and popcorn :D.