[Jesse and Jim will be making their picks for every Oscar. To participate in this year's ObscureCraft Oscar Pool,
email your own picks to craftj2@gmail.com. The rules are here. Part one is here. Part two is here. Part three is here.]Jim's takeBest Original Song
Nominees: Almost There
(The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman), Down in New Orleans (The
Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman), Loin de Paname (Paris 36,
Reinhardt Wagner & Frank Thomas), Take It All (Nine, Maury Yeston),
The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) (Ryan Bingham and T Bone
Burnett)
Alright. I didn't see the Princess and the Frog
movie, but I see that Randy Newman did the music. "Princess and a
Frog.... they're in love... almost there.... princess and the frog,
they're walking down the street, but one's hoppin' not so much as
walking down in New Orleans..." That's how those songs go in my mind.
Not winners. Loin de Paname? I don't trust anything with lyrics by The
Big Hurt. That leaves the song from Nine and the song from Crazy Heart.
I saw Crazy Heart this weekend. It's awesome. The song is awesome. And
I'll eat my shoe, Werner Herzog style, if it doesn't win this one.
Pick: The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)
Jesse's take
Would you like to be in the room when T-Bone loses? T-Bone!
T-Bone! T-Bone! T-Bone! T-Bone does not like to lose, especially to
Randy Newman (or, as I like to call him, Coco the Monkey).
Pick: The Weary Kind
Achievement in Film Editing
Nominees: Avatar, District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
This
is a two horse race, and I have to admit I'm torn between The Hurt
Locker and Basterds. Not because I think this should actually be a
contest: Inglourious Basterds should, must, has to win this right? Find
me two better sequences in film this year than the opening scene in the
French farmhouse and the showdown in the basement bar.
On the other
hand, The Hurt Locker is getting buzz, and sometimes you just can't
fight buzz, Jim. But I want to fight it. I want to fight the buzz.
Pick: Inglourious Basterds
Jim's take
Basterds has the win in my heart for editing. In my heart, mind you.
This is another technical award and I expect Cameron's blue movie to
steamroll through things this year, slaughtering smurfs along the way.
Pick: Avatar
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Nominees: District 9, An Education, In the Loop, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Up in the Air
An interesting field. One of the nominees actually
tells you it's an adapted screenplay in its title! The last movie to do
so? Adaptation.
That said, I'm going to hop on
the Jason Reitman train for this award. Up in the Air wins it, if only
for letting us know that the moon is 250,000 miles from the Earth. Oh,
and because it was a really well written film, with snappy dialogue,
funny moments, and some heart and all that jazz. But mainly for that.
And Sam Elliot.
Pick: Up In The Air
Jesse's take
Here's why you are wrong, and why P: BOTN'P'BS wins: because the
Academy loves to be seen as "hip" and "with it" (see
Mafia, Three 6).
P: BOTN'P'BS (or, as I'm going to be calling it from now own, Token)
wins.
Pick: Token
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Nominees: The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The Messenger, A Serious Man, Up
A
strong category, with three Best Picture nominees, plus the Coen
Brothers and that movie where Woody Harrelson has a
ridiculous
mustache.
In fact, this category looks alot like the 2007 field, when the
nominees were Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, Michael Clayton,
Ratatouille, and The Savages. Check out these analogies:
Up = Ratatouille (Pixar animated films)
The
Messenger/A Serious Man = Lars and the Real Girl/The Savages (probably
fine movies you'll completely forget about as soon as the show is over
that never had a real shot of winning)
The Hurt Locker = Michael Clayton
Inglourious Basterds = Juno
I'm right, right? Geez, I sure am going all with QT, aren't I?
Pick: Inglourious Basterds
Jim's take
Historically, this category gives the awards to those who deserve it:
Milk, Juno, Eternal Sunshine, Lost in Translation, Talk to Her, Gosford
Park, and Almost Famous, Fargo, The Usual Suspects, and Pulp Fiction
just to rattle off some winners in recent memory. Before I looked this
up, I was certain that QT had never won one before -- to the point that
this is the second time I'm writing my take on this category. I don't
see The Hurt Locker winning this one -- it doesn't seem like a
screenplay type of movie (not that I've seen it). The Messenger? Can I
make that joke about the Joan of Arc movie with Mila Jilovovich again?
I can? Good. Consider it made. The Coens aren't contending this year,
sorry guys, A Serious Man is no Fargo or No Country for Old Men (not
that I've seen A Serious Man, I haven't -- this is a theme for me this year). Up? It's a
freaking cartoon, it'll win best animated, but not screenplay.
That leaves us with QT. Wow. Go Quentin! I love it when
movies give you instructions during the end. "This might just be my
masterpiece" is up there with "I'm FINISHED!" as far as final lines of
movies go, in my mind. So there you have it, we're in agreement.
Pick: Inglorious Basterds
Foreign Language Film
Nominees: Ajami -
Israel, The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada) - Peru, A Prophet (Un
Prophete) - France, The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) -
Argentina, The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band)
I've only heard of one of these films. It's from
Germany. It's not about the Holocaust. I don't care. It's going to win.
Go Germany! Go Go Go!
Pick: The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band) - Germany
Jesse's take
I hadn't heard of any of these foreign film nominees until we started
doing these Oscar picks, when I noted DAS WEISSE BAND!!! had gotten a
cinematography nod. Speaking of bands, don't all these movies also make
awesome band names? If I was an emo teenage boy, I would totally sit in
my room listening to The Milk of Sorrow while painting my fingernails
black and thinking about how much I hated my stupid dad who DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ME!!! *cuts himself*
Pick: Das Weisse Band
