2007 Academy Award Forecast

I hope to be attending an Oscar get-together this coming Sunday ... the first I've attended in my entire life. I've had a friend or two over in the past to my home to watch and laugh and jeer and get disgusted, surprised or generally yawn with predictable outcomes. But, mostly, I have watched this ceremony alone and took inventory of the awards ... I have a clipboard with data going back years. The Oscar event is always entertaining to me ... it never bores. I hear others bemoan the dreary affair claiming they went to bed, turned the channel during a strange symbolic dance number or never-ending clip montage or just did not care to watch. I'd never miss and haven't. At the home I've been invited to, we are supposedly being given ballots of a sort and will predict the winners and then see who comes closest. I've been told there is a point system with higher pointage being given to the top 5 awards. There is even a cash prize involved. The amount is yet to be determined, but I don't think it will exceed $5 ... I believe most of the people attending are quite ... bereft of funds. For some reason I am a bit nervous ... I don't know why exactly, but it may involve my watching this in a foreign environment with several people I don't know. Plus, the absence of comfort in my own sphere of viewing the show. I'm not saying I will not be comfortable, that is to be determined, but I'm referring to the enclosed serenity of sitting in that chair in my most comfortable clothes with my clipboard and just concentrating on every minute of this Hollywood sideshow. Well, maybe it will be fun ... it will be different from my usual ritual. But, let me now predict who I think will win ... not who I think SHOULD win, but who I feel the Academy will annoint for reasons only known to their fevered brains:

Best Picture: JUNO

Best Director: JOEL and ETHAN COEN

Best Actor: DANIEL DAY-LEWIS

Best Actress: JULIE CHRISTIE

Best Supporting Actor: JAVIER BARDEM

Best Supporting Actress: TILDA SWINTON

Best Adapted Screenplay: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Original Screenplay: JUNO

Best Animated Feature: RATATOUILLE

Best Art Direction: THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Best Cinematography: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Sound Mixing: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Sound Editing; NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Original Score: ATONEMENT

Best Original Song: "FALLING SLOWLY" from ONCE

Best Costumes: ATONEMENT

Best Documentary Feature: NO END IN SIGHT

Best Film Editing: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Makeup: LA VIE EN ROSE

Best Visual Effects: THE GOLDEN COMPASS

Best Foreign Language Film: THE COUNTERFEITERS - Austria

I'm predicting the feel-good movie of the year to win ... why? Because last year the Academy gave the award to THE DEPARTED, a tale of murder and a real downer ... I don't think they will repeat it again with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Every film nominated is a descent into sadness, except JUNO and I think it will upset the entire award pundits' predictions. At first I thought it may be ATONEMENT that would capture the gold, but it has no acting nominees ... a rareity for a film to win the Best Picture Award and no Film Editing Award, which I understand is a sign for a potential winner. Well, we shall see Sunday night.