And the naked golden baldie goes to... (spam on subject)

[TheAmazingOopah]

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?

[Gilliatt]

Well, the only two movies in the list that I saw are Babel and The Last King of Scotland. I can tell you that I am pretty happy Babel did not win the Best Picture Award. Babel is the kind of movie that wants to deliver a message, and everything in the story serves that message. It is much more the kind of movie that wants you to think a certain way, then the kind of movie that lets you think. It is also the kind of movie were you don't have to dig deep to realize that some of the events are caricatured and unlikely to happen (like having a bunch of rich Occidentals that care more about loosing their air conditionning than about seing someone dying next to them). It was a good movie, but not that good.

As for Forest Withaker, I can't compare is performance with the one of the other nominees, but I can say that the last time I was that impressed by an actor's performance was long ago. So it is most probably very well deserved. By the way, I found The Last King of Scotland a much better movie than Babel.

[Queen_Articuno]

What I don't get is why (almost) everyone loves the (winner of the UGH! So PAINFULLY STOOPID Award) movie, Little Miss Sunshine. Maybe this is just my personal opinion, but it seems to me like America has a morbid fascination with media about dysfunctional families as of late. (Sorry for the rant, this movie just looks plain stupid to me...)

(Again, sorry for the rant...) And why the H*** did The Departed win Best Picture? Maybe I have a bias against the whole "gangsta-flick" subgenre of the crime drama. It seems awfully stupid and snobbish to me! (Plz don't ban me from the forums, I'm not usually like this. I'm just really upset right now!)

[dragon wench]

Originally Posted by Queen_Articuno

(Again, sorry for the rant...) And why the H*** did The Departed win Best Picture? Maybe I have a bias against the whole "gangsta-flick" subgenre of the crime drama. It seems awfully stupid and snobbish to me! (Plz don't ban me from the forums, I'm not usually like this. I'm just really upset right now!)

First, you won't be banned for ranting unless you are explicitly breaking forum rules in the process. Secondly "Hell" is not tripped by our filter. Finally, a good rule of thumb to follow: Do not post on the Net when you are upset, let yourself simmer down and return later

That being said, a belated welcome to Game Banshee.

[Queen_Articuno]

Oops, sorry! I was just a little peeved about that. Again, sorry!

Oh, and thank you, Dragon Wench!

[Loki[D.d.G]]

A little info. The naked golden baldie was named after some girl exclaimed when seeing it for the first time: "My, that looks just like my uncle Oscar". Hence the generic name.

If not for that, we will be hailing the Naked Golden Baldie awards every year.