THE LAW’S OSCAR OPINION -- 2007 --

The Law gives the rundown on who should win and who will win at the 2007 Oscars. Listen up, fools!


Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:

* Leonardo DiCaprio in “Blood Diamond”
* Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson”
* Peter O’Toole in “Venus”
* Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happyness”
* Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland”

(Forest Whitaker. An overweight, overlooked, colored actor that has been due for some recognition. The academy loves these kinds of performances and this kind of nominee. Almost a sure thing.)


Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:

* Alan Arkin in “Little Miss Sunshine”
* Jackie Earle Haley in “Little Children”
* Djimon Hounsou in “Blood Diamond”
* Eddie Murphy in “Dreamgirls”
* Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed”

(Eddie Murphy should and will probably win. Again, he is another actor that has been busting his ass for years on the comedy circuit and will finally get some recognition from the academy and will give a great acceptance speech.)


Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

* Penélope Cruz in “Volver”
* Judi Dench in “Notes on a Scandal”
* Helen Mirren in “The Queen”
* Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada”
* Kate Winslet in “Little Children”

(You gotta love a mature woman who can really act and Helen Mirren takes the cake in that area. Penelope Cruz could pull an upset, but highly unlikely since she is colored and in a Spanish film. Hey, don’t get mad, I just tell it like it is.)


Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:

* Adriana Barraza in “Babel”
* Cate Blanchett in “Notes on a Scandal”
* Abigail Breslin in “Little Miss Sunshine”
* Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls”
* Rinko Kikuchi in “Babel”

(Jennifer Hudson will probably gobble up this category just based on all the hype and cinderella-story crap that has been circulating. I personally, being Asian and heterosexual, would like to see the sexy Rinko Kikuchi take this one since she gave a bare-it-all performance in Babel.)


Best Animated Feature Film of the Year:

* “Cars” John Lasseter
* “Happy Feet” George Miller
* “Monster House” Gil Kenan

(Cars for sure! If you saw the feature on the making of Cars on the DVD with John Lasseter, you will know why.)


Achievement in Art Direction:

* “Dreamgirls”
* “The Good Shepherd”
* “Pan’s Labyrinth”
* “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
* “The Prestige”

(Pan’s Labyrinth. Are you kidding me? There is no doubt. If it loses, that would be a tragedy and horrible mistake.)


Achievement in Cinematography:

* “The Black Dahlia”
* “Children of Men”
* “The Illusionist”
* “Pan’s Labyrinth”
* “The Prestige”

(Pan’s Labyrinth. It is practically like watching a fairy tale come to life in scary detail.)


Achievement in Costume Design:

* “Curse of the Golden Flower”
* “The Devil Wears Prada”
* “Dreamgirls”
* “Marie Antoinette”
* “The Queen”

(Curse of the Golden Flower -- just because they did a fantastic job of showing Gong Li’s hot cleavage. Knowing the academy though, it will probably be Dreamgirls. I hate Dreamgirls!)


Achievement in Directing:

* “Babel” Alejandro González Iñárritu
* “The Departed” Martin Scorsese
* “Letters from Iwo Jima” Clint Eastwood
* “The Queen” Stephen Frears
* “United 93” Paul Greengrass

(Martin Scorsese. Not because he was the best director out of the bunch this year, but because he has been the best all through the years and he is fuckin’ Martin Scorsese and he deserves an Oscar.)


Best Documentary Feature:

* “Deliver Us from Evil”
* “An Inconvenient Truth”
* “Iraq in Fragments”
* “Jesus Camp”
* “My Country, My Country”

(I vote for Mr. Al Gore. Save our planet and entertain us at the same time. Cheers!)


Best Documentary Short Subject:

* “The Blood of Yingzhou District”
* “Recycled Life”
* “Rehearsing a Dream”
* “Two Hands”

(I have no idea. So I will pick... Two Hands.)


Achievement in Film Editing:

* “Babel”
* “Blood Diamond”
* “Children of Men”
* “The Departed”
* “United 93”

(Babel. Hey, Babel has to win something on Oscar night.)


Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:

* “After the Wedding”
Denmark
* “Days of Glory (Indigènes)”
Algeria
* “The Lives of Others”
Germany
* “Pan’s Labyrinth”
Mexico
* “Water”
Canada

(Pan’s Labyrinth is the best thing to come out of Mexico since tacos and cheap labor.)


Achievement in Makeup:

* “Apocalypto”
* “Click”
* “Pan’s Labyrinth”

(Pan’s Labyrinth. Magic, I tells ya, magic!)


Achievement in Music (Original score):

* “Babel” Gustavo Santaolalla
* “The Good German” Thomas Newman
* “Notes on a Scandal” Philip Glass
* “Pan’s Labyrinth” Javier Navarrete
* “The Queen” Alexandre Desplat

(I pick Philip Glass because he might be related to Kenny G, but I think the academy will pick Gustavo Santaolalla.)


Achievement in Music (Original song):

* “I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth”
* “Listen” from “Dreamgirls”
* “Love You I Do” from “Dreamgirls”
* “Our Town” from “Cars”
* “Patience” from “Dreamgirls”

(Please don’t let anything from Dreamgirls win, please! It is already bad enough that they wasted 3 nominations, please don’t let them win. I personally wanted to see Chris Cornell from Casino Royale take this one, but he kind of didn’t get nominated, so I am going with Cars just because John Mayer and Sheryl Crow are also on the Soundtrack.)


Best Animated Short Film:

* “The Danish Poet”
* “Lifted”
* “The Little Matchgirl”
* “Maestro”
* “No Time for Nuts”

(The Little Matchgirl. No comment.)


Best Live Action Short Film:

* “Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)”
* “Éramos Pocos
* “Helmer & Son”
* “The Saviour”
* “West Bank Story”

(Helmer and Son. Again, no comment.)


Achievement in Sound Editing:

* “Apocalypto”
* “Flags of Our Fathers”
* “Letters from Iwo Jima”
* “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”

(Letters from Iwo Jima because it has a bunch of nice war sounds and Clint Eastwood’s films never go home empty handed.)


Achievement in Sound Mixing:

* “Apocalypto”
* “Blood Diamond”
* “Dreamgirls”
* “Flags of Our Fathers”
* “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”

(Flags of Our Fathers. Please read the above.)


Achievement in Visual Effects:

* “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
* “Poseidon”
* “Superman Returns”

(Superman Returns all the way! I love Superman, whoo-hoo!)


Adapted Screenplay:

* “Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer
Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines & Todd Phillips
* “Children of Men”
Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
* “The Departed”
Screenplay by William Monahan
* “Little Children”
Screenplay by Todd Field & Tom Perrotta
* “Notes on a Scandal”
Screenplay by Patrick Marber

(The Departed because it was based on Asian material and because it was actually fun. Plus Departed needs to rack up its award count.)


Original Screenplay:

* “Babel”
Written by Guillermo Arriaga
* “Letters from Iwo Jima”
Screenplay by Iris Yamashita
Story by Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis
* “Little Miss Sunshine”
Written by Michael Arndt
* “Pan’s Labyrinth”
Written by Guillermo del Toro
* “The Queen”
Written by Peter Morgan

(The category says Original, so I am going with Pan’s Labyrinth although I think the academy is going to sell out and pick Babel because the story is so non-linear and so 1990s.)


Best Motion Picture of the Year:

* “Babel”
* “The Departed”
* “Letters from Iwo Jima”
* “Little Miss Sunshine”
* “The Queen”

(The Departed because I want to see Scorsese kick ass and I want to see him thank some Asians -- but unfortunately I think the winner will be either Babel or The Queen.)