| And the naked golden baldie goes to... (spam on subject) Last night the Oscars were handed out, and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by the outcome. You always have critics forecasting who will win what in the weeks before the ceremony, and the general prediction that came out of that was quite varying from the actual outcome: there's no Best Picture for Babel; no Best Supporting Actor for Eddie Murphy; no Best Animated Feature for Cars; no Best Song for any of the Dreamgirls songs, to name the most prominent surprises.
Now I haven't seen any of the nominated pictures yet, but I'm still pleased by the outcome, since the Academy Awards are normally known for their predictability, and it would've been a lot more predictable if the more dramatic, emotion-drive Babel had won, instead of the crime-driven, more brutal The Departed. Babel would probably have deserved the prize as well, but then again, I can't really say since I haven't seen anything yet (though I probably will see The Departed later on this week)
Here's the whole list of the most important categories: Best Picture
Babel The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen Actor in a Leading Role
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Schotland Best Actress in a Leading Role
Pénelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children Best Actor in a Supporting Role Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Hayley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu - Babel Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Clint Eastwood - Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass - United 93 Best Foreign Language Picture
Efter brylluppet (After the Wedding) - Denmark
Indigènes (Days of Glory) - Algeria Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) - Germany
El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) - Mexico
Water - Canada Best Documentary
Deliver Us From Evil An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Children of Men The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal Best Score Babel
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen Best Song An Inconvenient Truth - I Need to Wake Up
Dreamgirls - Listen
Dreamgirls - Love You I Do
Cars - Our Town
Dreamgirls - Patience Best Animated Feature
Cars Happy Feet
Monster House
I can only say that I am pleased that the outcome wasn't that extremely predictable this year, but can't really judge if these results are "deserving". So I was wondering: what are your thoughts on this one? Satisfaction? Or disagreement? In which case: who do you think should have won?
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