Comments on the 2007 Academy Award nominations

Be advised, I am not addressing all the nomination categories; but rather only the ones I feel compelled to.

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”

I never saw Little Children, and I thought Mark Wahlberg was only above average in Departed. I loved Alan Arkin as the vulgar old man in Sunshine. Djimon Hounsou was good, but you have to do more than just scream bloody-murder in order to win. I think Eddie Murphy gave an outstanding performance and deserves his first Oscar. Then hopefully he’ll get offered better roles than the usual lame-ass comedy.

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”

I haven’t seen Notes yet, but I will. I don’t think young Abigail Breslin deserves to be nominated.  The two Babel actresses did very well, but I’m going to have to vote for new-comer Jennifer Hudson who’s character was dominating throughout the entire film (unlike in Babel). I hope she has a wonderful career on Broadway so she can utilize her singing abilities.

Original screenplay:

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Written by Guillermo Arriaga  

“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Warner Bros.) Screenplay by Iris Yamashita

“Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight) Written by Michael Arndt  

“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse) Written by Guillermo del Toro  

“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada) Written by Peter Morgan

I’m still not all that impressed with Babel. They are trailing on the coat-tails of last years’ big winner Crash, by employing an ensemble cast with several short stories. It looked to me like nothing more than a great exercise in acting and directing, whereas the writing left me flat. I’d have to say the same about Sunshine – it was the acting that carried that film. The other three would have made for a very interesting read. But I found The Queen to be the most compelling. Except for the performance of Helen Mirren, the acting did not keep up with the writing on this film.

Adapted screenplay:

“Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (20th Century Fox) 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” (Universal) Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby  

“The Departed” (Warner Bros.) Screenplay by William Monahan  

“Little Children” (New Line) Screenplay by Todd Field & Tom Perrotta  

“Notes on a Scandal” (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Patrick Marber

I must admit, I’ve only seen Children of Men and The Departed. Based on that, I must support Children of Men, because it reminded me very much of the popular TV show, The Outer Limits, which was an example of writing carrying the show’s success.

Achievement  in art direction:

“Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount) Art Direction: John Myhre
Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh  

“The Good Shepherd” (Universal) Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins  

“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse) Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta  

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (Buena Vista) Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs: Set Decoration: Cheryl Carasik  

“The Prestige” (Buena Vista) Art Direction: Nathan Crowley;
Set Decoration: Julie Ochipinti  

I’m not really sure why Shepherd and Prestige are on this list. Dreamgirls was well done and deserves a nomination; as does Pan. But Pirates required great art and set direction throughout nearly the entire film. I’m rooting for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Achievement in cinematography:

“The Black Dahlia” (Universal) Vilmos Zsigmond  

“Children of Men” (Universal) Emmanuel Lubezki  

“The Illusionist” (Yari Film Group) Dick Pope  

“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse) Guillermo Navarro  

“The Prestige” (Buena Vista) Wally Pfister  

I’ve watched all these films, and I don’t really see a clear a winner. Most of these films don’t deserve to be nominated for an Academy Award in cinematography. I guess we didn’t have any films with spectacular panoramic views or mysterious and intriguing lighting. But wait, how about this for a whole new list of nominees: Apocolypto; Pirates of the Caribbean; Flags of Our Fathers; Letters from Iwo Jima; V for Vendetta, or Babel (for being filmed in three continents). I will pick Pan’s Labyrinth by default (the best of the not so great).

Achievement in film editing:

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise  

“Blood Diamond” (Warner Bros.) Steven Rosenblum  

“Children of Men” (Universal) Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón  

“The Departed” (Warner Bros.) Thelma Schoonmaker  

“United 93” (Universal) Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson

I don’t think the film editing of Babel was that great. As you watch each short story, there are gaps within every scene, which is fine for telling the story, but it didn’t appear to be that challenging to create. I will select United 93, because it must have been difficult to splice and synchronize the movements and verbiage of several actors performing at the same time, in so very many chaotic scenes.

Achievement in makeup:  

“Apocalypto” (Buena Vista) Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano  

“Click” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso  

“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse) David Martí and Montse Ribé

Click doesn’t deserve to be on this list. Pan was very good and merits a nomination, but I was most impressed with Apocalypto (the most over-looked film of the year).

Achievement in visual effects:  

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (Buena Vista) John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall  

“Poseidon” (Warner Bros.) Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chas Jarrett and John Frazier  

“Superman Returns” (Warner Bros.) Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover and Jon Thum

Poseidon was okay, Superman was good, but Pirates of the Caribbean was better. The computer graphics in Pirates looked real. The monsters and characters were a splendid treat to watch.

Best animated feature film of the year:

“Cars” (Buena Vista) John Lasseter

“Happy Feet”  (Warner Bros.) George Miller

“Monster House” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Gil Kenan  

After I saw Cars, I didn’t bother to go see another animated film during the year, because I just knew that it was the best of 2006. I am very impressed with so many aspects of this film; the writing, the music, the animation and attention to detail. Good film!

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”

I haven’t seen Half Nelson or Venus yet. But Forrest Whitaker was outstanding in Last King and I hope he wins. Leonardo DiCaprio took another step toward, and is close, to winning his first Oscar but it won’t be this year. Will Smith is a welcomed and refreshing new member of the crowd.

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”

The Queen is the only film on this list that I’ve seen, and I thought Helen Mirren did an outstanding job.

Achievement in directing:

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Alejandro González Iñárritu  

“The Departed” (Warner Bros.) Martin Scorsese  

“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood  

“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada) Stephen Frears  

“United 93” (Universal and StudioCanal) Paul Greengrass

Martin Scorsese is the front-runner in this category, but I don’t think it was the best job. He had several very good actors with which to work and all the scenes were carefully structured. Both The Queen and United 93 are average in this category. Clint Eastwood did a marvelous job with both Letters and Flags of Our Fathers, but he won’t win because he already has two best director Oscars – Unforgiven & Million Dollar Baby. This is probably the only aspect of Babel that I truly appreciate, because Alejandro González Iñárritu had to film in three continents with an array of settings – the Sonora desert between San Diego and Mexico; the city-scape of Tokyo; the barren countryside of Morocco. Plus, I think Iñárritu did a wonderful job of capturing and displaying the essence of his story. You could have watched this film without sound and still totally understood what was going on.

Best motion picture of the year:

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) An Anonymous Content/Zeta Film/Central Films Production; Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik and Steve Golin, Producers  

“The Departed” (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. Pictures Production; Graham King, Producer  

“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Warner Bros.) A DreamWorks Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures Production; Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz, Producers  

“Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight) A Big Beach/Bona Fide Production; David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub, Producers  

“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada) A Granada Production; Andy Harries, Christine Langan and Tracey Seaward, Producers

Each of these films displays good work in various categories. Babel for directing and acting; The Departed for acting; Letters from Iwo Jima for filming, directing and writing; Little Miss Sunshine for acting; The Queen for writing. But I don’t think that Babel and Little Miss Sunshine deserve to be nominated for best picture – let alone win. Plus, two of my favorite films this year aren’t even on this list, Flags of Our Fathers and Dreamgirls. After careful consideration, I’d have to select Letters from Iwo Jima because there are more high quality aspects in this film than any of the others. It was compelling; the filming and acting were a pleasure to watch, and gives good tribute to a tragic situation. Sounds like Flags of Our Fathers, doesn’t it?

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