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The Oscar Nominations

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Major Categories & Predictions
Minor Categories
Film Tallies
Commentary

Film Tallies:

11 Nominations:
The Aviator - Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Sound Mixing

7 Nominations:
Million Dollar Baby - Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing
Finding Neverland - Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing, Score

6 Nominations:
Ray - Picture, Director, Actor, Costume Design, Film Editing, Sound Mixing

5 Nominations:
Sideways - Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay

4 Nominations:
The Incredibles - Animated Feature, Original Screenplay, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup, Score

3 Nominations:
Hotel Rwanda - Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay
Vera Drake - Director, Actress, Original Screenplay
Spider-Man 2 - Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects
The Phantom of the Opera - Art Direction, Cinematography, Song
The Polar Express - Song, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing
The Passion of the Christ - Cinematography, Makeup, Score

2 Nominations:
Closer - Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress
Collateral - Supporting Actor, Film Editing
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Actress, Original Screenplay
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Score, Visual Effects
The Chorus - Foreign Film, Song
The Motorcycle Diaries - Adapted Screenplay, Song
The Sea Inside - Foreign Film, Makeup
Shrek 2 - Animated Feature, Song
A Very Long Engagement - Art Direction, Cinematography

1 Nomination:
As it is in Heaven - Foreign Language Film
Before Sunset - Adapted Screenplay
Being Julia - Actress
Born into Brothels - Documentary
Downfall - Foreign Language Film
House of Flying Daggers - Cinematography
I, Robot - Visual Effects
Kinsey - Supporting Actress
Maria Full of Grace - Actress
Shark Tale - Animated Feature
The Story of the Weeping Camel - Documentary
Super Size Me - Documentary
Troy - Costume Design
Tupac: Resurrection - Documentary
Twist of Faith - Documentary
The Village - Score
Yesterday - Foreign Language Film

Commentary, or Michael's Special Thoughts

Well, it was a year of independent films, a year of few surprises, a year of no clear frontrunners and few clues as of yet to who will go home with the big prizes. After I did relatively crappy predicting nominations last year, this year I was about 84% correct, getting 36 out of 43 nominations right (although if I hadn't bothered predicting the Animated Feature Film category, the percentage would've been 85). I also got a record number of three flawless categories: Best Supporting Actress, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Yes, Shark Tale stole The Polar Express's spot in their category. Other surprises included Alan Alda getting nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Aviator, Clint Eastwood elbowing out both Javier Bardem and Paul Giamatti for Best Actor, and the surprising backing of Vera Drake - it was nominated for Actress, Director and Original Screenplay. The British-made drama about a naive old woman moonlighting as an abortionist was only expected to pick up a nomination for its star, Imelda Staunton.

As far as my predictions go, I made a few deft choices, if I do say so myself. First of all, I backed Sophie Okonedo, an underdog for Best Supporting Actress, who ended up getting the nomination (much like Shroreh Aghdashloo last year). I also stuck to my guns when it came to the supporting players from Closer - even after their wins at the Golden Globes, many thought Clive Owen and Natalie Portman would be left out of the final five. Not me. I also went with a gut feeling that paid off on an Adapted Screenplay nomination for Before Sunset. I also had a funny feeling about Javier Bardem's chances for Best Actor; the man was nominated for Before Night Falls in 1999 under even worse odds, but I wasn't feeling it, so I left him out. If only I had filled his space with Clint Eastwood and not Paul Giamatti (who I still maintain is the best thing about the so-so Sideways).

Which brings me to my greatest triumph: my awesome handling powers of Finding Neverland. For a long time I wasn't so sure about it's chances to sweep the nominations like many thought it would, so seizing an opportunity I found to make sense, I put Sophie Okonedo into Kate Winslet's slot for Best Supporting Actress. The bid paid off - Winslet wasn't nominated for it. That was the only change though, which turned out to be a smart move: the film was still nominated for Picture, Adapted Screenplay, and Johnny Depp, who I almost took out.

My one fallibility in Neverland's area was keeping Marc Forster on the ballot for Directing, but then, like I said, it's the hardest category to predict. Indeed I turned out to be right, as I did my worst there, faring three out of five. I didn't anticipate Vera Drake's popularity, and Taylor Hackford of Ray always seemed like only an outside possibility.

My own personal disappointments, going beyond predictions? Like I said before, I'm annoyed Paul Giamatti didn't make the cut, and even though it was inevitable, I'm annoyed Virginia Madsen did. I found absolutely nothing special about her Sideways performance. I was also disappointed that Kinsey was only nominated in a sole category, Supporting Actress; the movie had its flaws but it would've been great to see the Screenplay or Peter Sarsgaard represented. And finally, even though no one expected In Good Company (which opened in limited release before the end of the year) to have any sort of Oscar potential, I watched it over the weekend and found it to be one of the best films of the year. It was shut out. And yet there's also plenty of things to be happy about, including Clive Owen and Natalie Portman's riveting performances being honored, Alan Alda being represented, and Eternal Sunshine being nominated not only in Screenplay but also in Best Actress.

The Oscars are scheduled for Sunday, February 27th, 2005, with host Chris Rock, which should be reason enough at least to check it out (as cool as Billy Crystal is, seeing him host for the 785th time would've been a little boring). If I had to predict at this very moment, I'd say Picture and Original Screenplay goes to the Aviator, Director goes to Eastwood, Foxx for Actor, Swank for Actress, Church for Supporting Actor, Madsen for Supporting Actress, and Million Dollar Baby for Adapted Screenplay. But that's only for now. I'm sure they'll all change by Saturday the 26th.

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