MIDNIGHT SKETCHES

<< 76th Oscars >> My picks are italicized and the Academy's picks are underlined. Oh, as a side note, I saw very few of the nominated films. Also, why did they choose the clips they did?

BEST PICTURE: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit.
-- I would've rather had _LotR: The Two Towers_ win this but, hey, at least one of the trilogy did.
ACTOR: Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Ben Kingsley, House of Sand and Fog; Jude Law, Cold Mountain; Bill Murray, Lost in Translation; Sean Penn, Mystic River.
-- Bah! Pity award!
ACTRESS: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider; Diane Keaton, Something's Gotta Give; Samantha Morton, In America; Charlize Theron, Monster; Naomi Watts, 21 Grams.
-- I really didn't see any of these movies, but of the clips shown, she seemed to do the best.
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Alec Baldwin, The Cooler; Benicio Del Toro, 21 Grams; Djimon Hounsou, In America; Tim Robbins, Mystic River; Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai.
-- Watanabe seemed to have the most emotion in his performance. Robbins is just too... erm... stiff and monotonous in his delivery... very Luke Wilson.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog; Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April; Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River; Holly Hunter, thirteen; Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain.
-- Heh... I wanted Zellweger to win as a pity award because I liked her performance in _Bridget Jones' Diary_, which didn't win.
DIRECTOR: Fernando Meirelles, City of God; Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation; Peter Weir, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; Clint Eastwood, Mystic River.
-- Anyone who would put so much effort into hours and hours of a good film...
FOREIGN FILM: The Barbarian Invasions, Canada; Zelary, Czech Republic; The Twilight Samurai, Japan; Twin Sisters, The Netherlands; Evil, Sweden.
-- I never saw any of these so I couldn't say.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, American Splendor; Braulio Mantovani, City of God; Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Brian Helgeland, Mystic River; Gary Ross, Seabiscuit.
-- I never read the books so I couldn't say if they were good adaptions or not.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Denys Arcand, The Barbarian Invasions; Steven Knight, Dirty Pretty Things; Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds, Finding Nemo; Jim Sheridan & Naomi Sheridan & Kirsten Sheridan, In America; Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation.
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Brother Bear; Finding Nemo; The Triplets of Belleville.
ART DIRECTION: Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Last Samurai, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Seabiscuit.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: City of God, Cold Mountain, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Seabiscuit.
-- I didn't see any of these films.
SOUND MIXING: The Last Samurai, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Seabiscuit.
SOUND EDITING: Finding Nemo, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
ORIGINAL SCORE: Big Fish, Danny Elfman; Cold Mountain, Gabriel Yared; Finding Nemo, Thomas Newman; House of Sand and Fog, James Horner; The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Howard Shore.
ORIGINAL SONG: Into the West from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox; A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow from A Mighty Wind, Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole; Scarlet Tide from Cold Mountain, T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello; The Triplets of Belleville from The Triplets of Belleville, Benoit Charest and Sylvain Chomet; You Will Be My Ain True Love from Cold Mountain, Sting.
COSTUME: Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Last Samurai, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Seabiscuit.
DOC FEATURE: Balseros, Capturing the Friedmans, The Fog of War, My Architect, The Weather Underground.
DOC (SHORT SUBJECT): Asylum, Chernobyl Heart, Ferry Tales.
FILM EDITING: City of God, Cold Mountain, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Seabiscuit.
MAKEUP: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
-- The only one who really looked like he was wearing makeup in _Pirates_ was Johnny Depp. LoL.
ANIMATED SHORT FILM: Boundin', Destino, Gone Nutty, Harvie Krumpet, Nibbles.
-- _Gone Nutty_ was the one shown in theatres, right?
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket), Most (The Bridge), Squash, (A) Torzija ( 1/8A 3/8 Torsion), Two Soldiers.
VISUAL EFFECTS: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

~* March 01, 2004 @ 1:19 am *~

* Critiques? *