The Oscars 2007: Review

After my Oscar predictions blogs of a couple of weeks ago I thought it only fair that I post a follow-up blog looking at how I did, and the quality of the show in general.

First of all, my opinion on this year's Oscars. While it certainly wasn't a vintage year in any way, shape or form, I have to say that I enjoyed this year's show. They didn't seem to drag as much as in previous years, surprising considering this was the first time I've actually watched them live, without the ability to fast forward. Ellen DeGeneres made for a very funny host, and kept things moving along at a good pace, and there were enough surprises and feel-good moments to leave me satisfied. I could have done without the acrobats (though one can't deny they were good at what they did), and as is customary the musical performances weren't exactly cutting edge (what I wouldn't give for another Elliott Smith-type moment) - if I never see Celine Dion perform again it will be much too soon, but those things aside the curtain dropped with my desire to one day be on the podium, fighting through the orchestra's attempts to cut me off, undiminished, if not heightened. And while I'm on the subject, while I accept that the show needs to be kept to a manageable timeframe, I really dislike seeing some guy, who is clearly rushing to thank everybody he wants to, being drowned out by music and ushered off the stage. Just had to get that off my chest.

Anyway, onto my not-so-stellar predictions. In my defence I made my predictions fairly early and had I waited another week I think that I may have been more accurate. But you live and learn.

As I mentioned, there were a few surprises at this year's ceremony. While I wouldn't class The Departed's snaggling of the Best Picture award, in a weak category, an out-and-out surprise, it was another year in which the favourite, Babel (the film I predicted would win), was trumped. Of course by the time this was announced it was significantly less surprising considering that Babel had failed to dominate the awards the way a Best Picture winner usually does, and in the most gratifying moment of the night, Martin Scorsese had finally won a Best Director Oscar. Let's ignore the fact that I predicted disappointment once again for Marty (to be fair to me, I did state that the best director award usually went to the director of the best picture); I was very pleased when Scorsese's name was announced and the standing ovation that ensued reminded me just why I love the movies so much.

The Departed walked away with 4 awards in total, the other two coming in the editing category (in which it tellingly beat my pick Babel), and Best Adapted Screenplay. I went out on a limb and picked Borat in the latter category, meaning that all four of The Departed's wins leave me at 0-4 in my predictions. Babel has let me down big time, so it's time to pull this back.

I think everyone must have predicted wins for Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker in the two main acting categories, so I won't boast about getting those right. Same goes for Jennifer Hudson for Best Supporting Actress. The most open of the acting categories was Best Supporting Actor, in which I gave a chance to both Eddie Murphy, my eventual pick, and the veteran Alan Arkin. In another feelgood moment it was Arkin who walked away with the Oscar, leaving my record at a not-too-healthy 3-5.

The one award Babel did win, for best original score, also cost me dearly as I predicted a sympathy win for Notes on a Scandal. Little did I know it would be Inarritu's feature picking up the sympathy vote in this one. One award for Babel has to be a big disappointment, considering that the film was even out-duked by Al Gore's global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Melissa Etheridge won Best Song for her contribution to the film, surprisingly beating all three of Dreamgirls' efforts (which obviously cancelled each other out, though I unfortunately didn't have the foresight to predict that), and the film also picked up the Best Documentary feature award. In fact, it was this film, and Gore's presence at the ceremony which provided some of the funnier moments of the night as George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio both joked about the possibility of the Democrat running for president in 2008. Gore's win in '07 however took me to 4-7.

Pan's Labyrinth was also a somewhat surprising success on the night, picking up 3 awards; cinematography, art direction, and makeup. Happily for me I predicted all three of these wins bringing my total back up to 7-7. All in all, I'd say that Pan's Labyrinth, rather than The Departed, was the biggest winner of the night as this kind of recognition will do wonders for its reputation, and subsequently its DVD sales. It could have been even better for Guillermo Del Toro's film had it not been squeezed out in the Best Foreign Language Film category by German film The Lives of Others. This win represented my biggest victory of the night also, as I predicted a German win against all the odds. Maybe it's watching all those England-Germany football matches that did it. The German cinema renaissance continues...

Okay, let's wrap this up. The best original screenplay award went to Little Miss Sunshine, not Babel as I predicted (man, that film cost me), and the costume award went to Marie Antoinette. I did say that Sofia Copolla's film deserved the award, but predicted it would go to The Queen, leaving me at 8-9.

I apparently know my sound, as I rightly predicted best sound would go to Dreamgirls, and best sound editing would go to Letters From Iwo Jima, that film's only award of the night. The final awards went to Pirates of the Caribbean for best visual effects (over my pick Poseidon), and Happy Feet for best animated feature (over Cars). This leaves my overall Oscar predictions record at an underwhelming 10-11.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, this year's Oscars were full of surprises so maybe under the circumstances batting at just under 500 isn't too bad, although I expected much better. Still, I'll be back next year, better than ever.