Thursday, February 19, 2009

The 81st Academy Awards: Echo calls the Oscars

I get out to see quite a few movies, but I missed out on some biggies this year. Milk. Frost/Nixon. Even Slumdog Millionaire went by without me finding the time to get to a theater.

Despite this fact, I'm going to predict the big five Oscar categories as though I've seen all these films and know what the hell I'm talking about.

Best actor: This one's a toughie. Seeing as how I've seen all the movies that came out this year (some twice), I think I know an underdog success story when I see one coming. As such, Mickey Rourke will be taking home the golden statue for The Wrestler. His competition this year are a bunch of politicians and people interviewing politicians. Nobody wants to see a politician win. Give the big prize to a wrestler, though, and you might get some serious flexing or a mighty "Oh yeah!" thrown out during the acceptance speech.

Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight. I hate that Ledger's untimely death will most likely be a factor in the academy's decision, but Ledger deserves an award for this performance. He did a phenomenal job and created a character that will be remembered for years to come.

Best actress: Kate Winslet for The Reader. If anyone can make a movie about reading interesting, they deserve an award. The End.

Best supporting actress: Taraji P Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I loved Henson's portrayal of an accidental mother with a heart of gold. I also may have missed all the other films with nominees for this category. But that's neither here nor there.

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire. No, I haven't seen it. But with the amount of buzz built up behind this thing, I'll literally eat my hat*** if Slumdog doesn't take home the big prize.

Well, there you have it. My completely baseless predictions. You had better hurry and get those bets in. These are a sure thing, kiddies.

(***Will not actually eat his hat. It was a figure of speech, just like "You can't go wrong with John Leguizamo*****)

(*****You literally can't go wrong with John Leguizamo. The guy is dynamite.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

you forgot best screenplay and best director man!!
i am totally crashing your treehouse now!

-Ryan Winslett said...

I'm going to go with Slumdog Millionaire for both of those. Just a post-Oscar-night hunch.