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Well it’s Oscar night”¦ again. In past websites and incarnations of my bull I’ve done a recap of the show after the fact but this year I thought maybe I’d try something new, a “live” recap blog. Yes, I’ll do my best to articulate my thoughts as they come to me. This will likely be boring as all get out, but you knew that was a possibility when you started reading something written by me, right? It’s on YOU!

5:27 PM PT ““ The pre-show is just ending and America’s new favorite old fart Regis (sorry Andy Rooney) is in the front row pointing out celebrities he recognizes including “Xavier” Bardem seated right next to Jack Nicholson. Jack has courtside seats to Lakers games and the Oscars every year it seems. Also of note, I missed all the fashion reporting. YAY ME!

5:30 PM PT ““ And the show begins”¦ with about the oddest opening I’ve seen yet. What appears to be a UPS trucks races through “Hollywood” dodging a variety of “classic” characters. Um”¦ huh?

5:32 PM PT ““ Jon Stewart emerges from a tube. “Tonight, welcome to the makeup sex!”

5:34 PM PT- Stewart is really in his element. Referring to the number of bleak characters and films nominated this year: “Does this town need a hug?” “All I can say is thank God for teen pregnancy.”

5:41 PM PT ““ Jennifer Garner strolls out to present the first award of the night: Best Costume Design. My pick: La Vie En Rose. The winner: Elizabeth ““ The Golden Age. 0 for 1. Crap. I mean, yay for the women in the funky glasses who gave a 3 second acceptance speech. That was classy.

5:47 PM PT ““ George Clooney is so cool he doesn’t ever need ice cubes in his drinks. Okay that was dumb, but now he’s on stage to present a 80 years of Oscar retrospective montage. Retrospective pieces like this are usually my favorite part of the show but I gotta say, this one sucks. It’s an absolute mess. I mean editing it to “My Heart Will Go On?” C’mon. Some nice moments but really not well thought out.

5:51 PM PT ““ Anne Hathaway (hubba) and Steve Carrell (stars of the upcoming Get Smart movie, hence the theme music) arrive to present the award for Best Animated Feature. My Pick: Ratatouille. Winner: Ratatouille. HA! 1 for 2. Brad Bird really does look a bit like a bird. Nice acceptance speech though.

5:56 PM PT ““ Katherine Heigl (hubba) is out to”¦ I’m sorry lost my concentration”¦ Where was I? Oh right, she’s there to present the award for Best Makeup. My Pick: La Vie En Rose. Winner: La Vie En Rose. Don’t call it a come back, I’ve been here for 30 minutes. I’m now 2 for 3. Wait! Why did Katherine have to leave the frame?! Come back!

5:59 PM PT ““ “Happy Working Song” song by Amy Adams. I love Amy Adams, but I’ll never understand having musical and dance numbers at the Oscars. Why is she on stage all by herself?

6:06 PM PT ““ Stewart: “Welcome back to the 80th Academy Awards. In case you’re wondering what we all do here during the commercial break, mostly we just sit around making catty remarks about the outfits you’re all wearing at home.”

6:07 PM PT ““ Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson presents for Best Visual Effects. My pick: Transformers. Winner: The Golden Compass. 2 for 4. First time winners, interesting. One of the winners reads a quote from Walt Disney: “It’s kinda fun to do the impossible.” Indeed.

6:10 PM PT ““ Cate Blanchett arrives to present the award for Achievement in Art Direction. My pick: Sweeney Todd. Winner: Sweeney Todd. 3 for 5. Okay, I’m back over 50%, there’s hope for me yet.

6:13 PM PT ““ A retrospective montage on the Best Supporting Actor award.

6:15 PM PT ““ Jennifer Hudson comes out to present the award for Best Supporting Actor (didn’t see that one coming). Really strong field this year. My pick: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men. Winner: Javier Bardem. 4 for 6! No big surprise, Javier was the odds on favorite. Classy acceptance speech. Right about now Regis is going, “Javier?! What’d I say?”

6:23 PM PT ““ Oscar’s salute to binoculars and periscopes. Kinda funny, kinda stupid. “Bad Dreams: An Oscar Salute.” Funnier.

6:24 PM PT ““ Keri Russell (who was fantastic in “Waitress”) introduces the nominee for Best Original Song, “Raise It Up” from August Rush in which she starred.

6:28 PM PT ““ Owen Wilson arrives to present the award for Best Live Action Short Film. My pick: The Tonto Woman. Winner: Le Mozart Des Pickpockets. 4 for 7. I had no shot really, that clip from The Tonto Woman looked terrible.

6:31 PM PT ““ Jerry Seinfeld’s bee from Bee Movie (a film that was not nominated) presents a short clip on bees in cinema. Kinda cute, kinda stupid. The bee also presents the award for Best Animated Short Film. My pick: Peter & The Wolf. I’m in real trouble here. Winner: Peter & The Wolf. HA! 5 for 8. Totally pulled that one out of my ass.

6:34 PM PT ““ A retrospective on Best Supporting Actress. Now, these are retrospectives are on the winners receiving the award and no footage of the performances that won them the award. I guess this year it’s all about remembering the award and not the work.

6:35 PM PT- Alan Arkin comes out to present the award. My pick: Cate Blanchett for I’m Not There. Winner: Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton. Wow, first surprise of the night? She was great in Michael Clayton. Of course, now I’m 5 for 9. This is payback for Peter & The Wolf.

6:40 PM PT ““ Sidney Poitier reflects on the experience of winning an Academy Award. Now that was kinda cool. Not amazing, but at least somewhat interesting. So far these retrospectives are really terrible. I’m not impressed by any of them.

6:44 PM PT ““ Pregnant Jessica Alba comes out to talk about the Nerd Oscars (I mean the Scientific and Technical Awards). I wish they would televise those awards.

6:45 PM PT ““ Josh Brolin and James McAvoy present the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Seems a bit of a conflict of to have Brolin up there given that No Country For Old Men is nominated. Brolin and Nicholson joke about Brolin’s terrible Nicholson impression. When in trouble, bounce a joke off of Jack. I suppose that’s really why he sits in the front row. On to the award. My Pick: No Country For Old Men. Winner: No Country For Old Men. 6 for 10. Back in the saddle again”¦

6:50 PM PT ““ Finally! Something interesting! A short, behind the scenes piece about the nomination and award process. This is actually kinda funny and informative! And Michael Bay’s only chance of getting on the show!

6:52 PM PT ““ Miley Cyrus comes out to introduce the 3rd nominated song, “That’s How You Know” from Enchanted. Bathroom break time!

7:00 PM PT ““ “And the baby goes to”¦” Jon Stewart is on fire.

7:01 PM PT ““ Dame Judi Densch and Halle Berry ““ oh wait it’s actually Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen riffing on who’s gives off a more Halle Berry vibe. Funny. The award is for Best Sound Editing. My Pick: Ratatouille. Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum. 6 for 11. I really suck at this. I mean I’m amazingly bad. It’s only dumb luck I got 6 right. My two year old niece could do a better job of picking winners than me at this point.

7:05 PM PT ““ Rogen and Hill back at it again. The award is Achievement in Sound Mixing. My pick: Transformers. Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum. 6 for 12. Man, it’s like Jason Bourne came into my living room and kicked me in the balls.

7:08 PM PT ““ Best Actress winners montage. Guess what’s coming next!!!

7:09 PM PT ““ Forrest Whitaker presents the award for Best Actress. My pick: Ellen Page for Juno. I’m sorry Ellen, at the rate I’m going, it’s not looking good for you. Winner: Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose. Come here Ellen, let me console you (she doesn’t look that upset, actually). I’m now 6 for 13, including missing the past 3 winners.

7:18 PM PT ““ Back from commercials and Jon Stewart playing Wii on the big screen. Hysterical. Colin Farrell comes out to introduce the 4th nominated song, “Falling Slowly” from Once (this was my pick, by the way. So it clearly hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell.) This is a beautiful song, I’m off to iTunes.

7:22 PM PT ““ Jack Nicholson earns his seat by presenting a retrospective on the Best Picture winners. Wow, I can’t believe they ran through them all. This might be the best montage of the night. Is it just me or do the winners from the last 10 years or so been less than memorable?

7:28 PM PT ““ Renee Zellweger presents the award for Best Editing. My pick (sigh): No Country For Old Men. Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum (third win). I’m an embarrassing 6 for 14.

7:31 PM PT ““ Nicole Kidman presents an honorary award to legendary production designer Robert Boyle (who is 98!!!). He was 18 when the Oscars started. This guy has done some amazing work. While I’m quite familiar with the films he’s worked on, I’m embarrassed to say I had no idea it was him.

7:35 PM PT ““ Sharp as a tack, Robert Boyle comes out to a standing ovation: “That’s the great part about getting old. I don’t recommend the other part.” Ha! This is my favorite moment of the night.

7:42 PM PT ““ Penelope Cruz presents the award for Best Foreign Language Film. My pick (and sure loser): The Counterfeiters. Winner: The Counterfeiters. Well okay I’m now 7 for 15 but that’s a pick I stole from Entertainment Weekly. I mean I’ll take it but I’m not proud of it.

7:44 PM PT ““ Patrick Dempsey introduces the 5th nominated song, “So Close” from Enchanted. Another bathroom break!

7:48 PM PT ““ John Travolta hams his way on to the stage so he can present the winner for Best Original Song. My Pick: “Falling Slowly” from Once. Winner: “Falling Slowly”. Fantastic. 8 for 16 and I’m back at .500. It’s a beautiful song (update from iTunes, it’s not available by itself, you have to spend $10 for the whole album”¦ which is probably a good idea). The orchestra plays before Market Irglova can give her thanks.

7:56 PM PT ““ After the break, Jon Stewart brings Marketa Irglova back on stage to say her thank yous, which she didn’t get to do before due to time constraints. Wow, classy moment and an awards first. And she fucking NAILS it.

7:58 PM PT ““ “Our next presenter is talented and beautiful. Apparently that’s what it takes to get ahead in this town”. Cameron Diaz presents the award for Best Cinematography. Will my streak continue?! My pick: Robert Elswitt for There Will Be Blood. Winner Robert Elswitt for There Will Be Blood. Someone must’ve cued the rally monkey! I’ve snagged the last 3 and stand at 9 for 17.

8:01 PM PT ““ Hillary Swank introduces the In Memoriam montage. This year they added the dates (February 1st 2007 to January 31st 2008). The house remains dark and silent as ABC cuts to a goofy GMC commercial.

8:08 PM PT ““ Amy Adams presents the award for Best Original Score. My pick: Dario Marianelli for Atonement. Winner: Dario Marianelli for Atonement. I am, dare I say, en fuego. 4 in a row and now standing at 10 for 18.

8:11 PM PT ““ Tom Hanks introduces six soldiers live from Baghdad who present the award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). My pick: Salim Baba. Winner: Freeheld. I got cocky and fate struck me down. Now 10 for 19.

8:15 PM PT ““ Tom Hanks presents the award for Best Documentary Feature. My pick: No End In Sight. Winner: Taxi to the Dark Side. I’m shocked (and now 10 for 20). I’m really surprised by this as No End in Sight was an amazing film (forget documentary) and Taxi To The Dark Side is a goofy title. But admittedly I’ve never seen and now I’ll have to check it out.

8:19 PM PT – Only four awards left as the show approaches the 3 hour mark. You know the real reason the awards show is often so long? The 5 minute commercial breaks.

8:23 PM PT ““ (4 minutes later!) Harrison Ford arrives to present the award for Best Original Screenplay. My Pick: Diablo Cody for Juno. Winner: Diablo Cody. 11 for 21. (be humble, be humble, be humble). Diablo Cody gives a very touching acceptance speech.

8:26 PM PT – ANOTHER COMMERCIAL! 4 minutes of commercial. 3 minutes of show.

8:29 PM PT ““ Montage of Best Actor award presentations. Let me guess what’s comin’ up”¦

8:30 PM PT ““ The always classy Helen Mirren presents the award for Best Actor. My pick (and virtually everyone else’s): Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood. Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis. Day-Lewis bows before Helen Mirren. For those still keeping score, I’m at 12 for 22.

8:40 PM PT ““ Montage of Best Director award presentations.

8:42 PM PT ““ The great Martin Scorsese presents the award for Best Director. My pick: Joel & Ethan Coen for No Country For Old Men. Winner: Joel & Ethan Coen. 13 for 23.

8:44 PM PT ““ Denzel Washington presents the 80th award for Best Picture. My pick: No Country For Old Men. Winner: No Country For Old Men. I finish the night 14 for 24. Terrible.

Well that about wraps it up. I thought Jon Stewart did a phenomenal job as host but many of the montages and additional pieces seemed rushed, whether that be because of the limited time frame provided by the writer’s strike or poor production overall I don’t know.

Thanks again for reading my bull.

–Brett Deacon was voted least likely to win an Academy Award in high school, but was in fact voted most likely to write an Oscar blog, a good 10 years before anyone knew what a blog was

A bit of a disclaimer: If you use this list to cheat on your office pool and then lose, don’t blame me. I don’t need that kind of pressure. These are my best educated guesses. I haven’t seen every film nominated this year, though I have seen all five best picture nominees. And like a hypocrite, I will also be cheating (but at least referencing my source). So if you do use my picks you are hereby required to pay me a royalty (as for the sources I copied off of, let me deal with that).

And on with the picks (my picks in italics):

Best animated feature film

• “Persepolis” – Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
• * “Ratatouille” – Brad Bird
• “Surf’s Up” – Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Comments: Why is “Surf’s Up” nominated? How did that one sneak past the goalkeeper? Anyway, Ratatouille is the easy pick here being the most popular of the films (though don’t be too surprised if “Persepolis” pulls off an upset).

Achievement in Art Direction

• “American Gangster” – Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
• “Atonement” – Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• “The Golden Compass” – Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
• * “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” – Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
• “There Will Be Blood” – Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Comments: “Sweeney Todd” has to win somewhere and this is its best shot.

Achievement in Costume Design

• “Across the Universe” – Albert Wolsky
• “Atonement” – Jacqueline Durran
• “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” – Alexandra Byrne
• * “La Vie en Rose” – Marit Allen
• “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” – Colleen Atwood

Comments: Tough category as all films are period pieces (period films often being a shoo-in for this award). Still, never forget that the overall quality of the film can overshadow the contributions of any individual area and that applies here. I’m going with “La Vie en Rose”.

Best Documentary Feature

• * “No End in Sight” – Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience” – Richard E. Robbins
• “Sicko” – Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara
• “Taxi to the Dark Side” – Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
• “War/Dance” – Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

Comments: Do you remember when “Hoop Dreams” wasn’t nominated for best documentary deature 14 years ago (and judging by the looks on your faces you probably don’t)? Everyone went apeshit like it was a national tragedy and the Academy reworked its nomination process for this category. Well, there’s another glaring omission this year. There are four films here about the war in Iraq and one film about our ridiculous healthcare system. All relevant issues but none of them were as thrilling as “In The Shadow of The Moon” (a film I talked about in last week’s blog). Still, “No End In Sight” was a refreshingly bipartisan take on the war in Iraq and should be the clear winner.

Best Documentary (Short subject)

• “Freeheld” A Lieutenant Films Production: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
• “La Corona (The Crown)” A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production: Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
• * “Salim Baba” A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production: Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
• “Sari’s Mother” (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production: James Longley

Comments: Haven’t seen any of these. Entertainment Weekly says “Freeheld” and “Sari’s Mother” are strong contenders. Coin flipping “¦ tails! “Salim Baba” is my pick.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

• “Beaufort” Israel
• * “The Counterfeiters” Austria
• “Katyn” Poland
• “Mongol” Kazakhstan
• “12” Russia

Comments: This is where I cheat. I haven’t seen any of these films. Entertainment Weekly says “The Counterfeiters” is a shoo-in. I’m sold.

Achievement in Makeup

• * “La Vie en Rose” – Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
• “Norbit” – Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
• “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” – Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Comments: Here’s where you go with the best reviewed film. I don’t think Academy voters can in good conscience make “Norbit” an Academy Award-winning film no matter how good Rick Baker is.

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

• *”Atonement” – Dario Marianelli
• “The Kite Runner” – Alberto Iglesias
• “Michael Clayton” – James Newton Howard
• “Ratatouille” – Michael Giacchino
• “3:10 to Yuma” – Marco Beltrami

Comments: Johnny Greenwood’s haunting score for “There Will Be Blood” should’ve been nominated (and would far and away be my choice). But it wasn’t, so my pick is “Atonement” as the score was one of the few memorable things about that movie.

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

• * “Falling Slowly” from “Once” – Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
• “Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted” – Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
• “Raise It Up” from “August Rush” – Music and Lyric by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas
• “So Close” from “Enchanted” – Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
• “That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted” – Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Comments: I haven’t seen “Once” or “Enchanted” but I’m going to play the “split-the-vote” card (the belief that 3 nominations from one film will cancel each other out) and pick “Falling Slowly” from “Once” to win.

Best Animated Short Film

• “I Met the Walrus” A Kids & Explosions Production: Josh Raskin
• “Madame Tutli-Putli” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
• “Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)” (Premium Films) A BUF Compagnie Production Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
• “My Love (Moya Lyubov)” (Channel One Russia) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production Alexander Petrov
• * “Peter & the Wolf” (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Comments: I haven’t seen any of these films, but I know the story of Peter & The Wolf so that’s my pick.

Best Live Action Short Film

• “At Night” A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production: Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
• “Il Supplente (The Substitute)” (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production: Andrea Jublin
• “Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)” (Premium Films) A Karé Production: Philippe Pollet-Villard
• “Tanghi Argentini” (Premium Films) An Another Dimension of an Idea Production: Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
• *”The Tonto Woman” A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production: Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

Comments: I like the title “The Tonto Woman”. No idea what it means. I’ll pick it (this is how people lose at the track)

Achievement in Sound Editing

• “The Bourne Ultimatum” – Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
• “No Country for Old Men” – Skip Lievsay
• *”Ratatouille” – Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
• “There Will Be Blood” – Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood
• “Transformers” – Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Comments: I always say that there’s nothing more difficult than creating sound for an animated film because all sounds have to be imagined and created. I’m going with “Ratatouille”.

Achievement in Sound Mixing

• “The Bourne Ultimatum” – Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
• “No Country for Old Men” – Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
• “Ratatouille” – Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
• “3:10 to Yuma” – Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
• * “Transformers” – Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Comments: Kevin O’Connell has been nominated 20 times and has never won. He is the Susan Lucci of this category. It’s his time.

Achievement in Visual Effects

• “The Golden Compass” – Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
• “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” – John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
• * “Transformers” – Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

Comments: You can’t say many good things about “Transformers”, but one thing you can say is that the special effects were indeed amazing. Bit of useless trivia: Nominee and ILM wonderboy John Knoll co-created Photoshop.

Achievement in Film Editing

• “The Bourne Ultimatum” – Christopher Rouse
• “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” – Juliette Welfling
• “Into the Wild” – Jay Cassidy
• * “No Country for Old Men” – Roderick Jaynes
• “There Will Be Blood” – Dylan Tichenor

Comments: I’m going with Roderick Jaynes and I hope he makes an appearance. (There is no Roderick Jaynes, he is a figment of the Coen Brothers’ imagination.)

Achievement in Cinematography

• “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” – Roger Deakins
• “Atonement” – Seamus McGarvey
• “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” – Janusz Kaminski
• “No Country for Old Men” – Roger Deakins
• *”There Will Be Blood” – Robert Elswit

Comments: Tough choices here. I’ve heard there’s a lot of sentiment for Janusz Kaminski’s work on “The Diving Bell and The Butterfly”. “Atonement” has that one amazing five-minute tracking shot going for it, so that’s a possibility. And then you have Roger Deakins nominated twice. All that considered, I’m going to go with Robert Elswit’s work on “There Will Be Blood”.

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

• * Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There”
• Ruby Dee in “American Gangster”
• Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement”
• Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone”
• Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton”

Comments: Wide open field. Ruby Dee has never won and could be a legacy pick. Cate Blanchett and Amy Ryan gave stand-out performances in films that weren’t otherwise nominated. I’m going with Blanchett based on popularity, though I think Amy Ryan is probably more deserving.

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

• Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
• * Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men”
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War”
• Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild”
• Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton”

Comments: Second easiest pick of the night, Javier Bardem’s hitman character Anton is a performance for the ages. The only other performance that can match him is Daniel Day-Lewis’s, and he’s in another category.

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

• Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”
• Julie Christie in “Away from Her”
• Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose”
• Laura Linney in “The Savages”
• * Ellen Page in “Juno”

Comments: Tough call. I’m going with Ellen Page because she really carries that film. Plus, I think Julie Christie and Marion Cotillard could steal votes from each other.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

• George Clooney in “Michael Clayton”
• * Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood”
• Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
• Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah”
• Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises”

Comments: Easiest pick of the night. Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance drinks every other performance’s milkshake.

Adapted Screenplay

• “Atonement”, Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
• “Away from Her”, Written by Sarah Polley
• “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
• * “No Country for Old Men”, Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “There Will Be Blood”, Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Comments: I really want to think Sarah Polley can win this, but in the end, it’ll probably be “No Country For Old Men”.

Original Screenplay

• * “Juno”, Written by Diablo Cody
• “Lars and the Real Girl”, Written by Nancy Oliver
• “Michael Clayton”, Written by Tony Gilroy
• “Ratatouille”, Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
• “The Savages”, Written by Tamara Jenkins

Comments: It’s Diablo Cody’s moment.

Achievement in Directing

• “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, Julian Schnabel
• “Juno”, Jason Reitman
• “Michael Clayton”, Tony Gilroy
• * “No Country for Old Men”, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
• “There Will Be Blood”, Paul Thomas Anderson

Comments: I really want to think that Jason Reitman and Paul Thomas Anderson have a shot here, but “Juno” is probably a bit too cute and “There Will Be Blood” is probably a bit too long.

Best Motion Picture of the Year

• “Atonement” (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
• “Juno” (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production) A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
• “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
• *”No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Comments: Two months ago I would’ve said that “No Country For Old Men” was a shoo-in. But lately I think that “There Will Be Blood” with its more epic scope and likability of “Juno” are going to give it a run for its money. And “Michael Clayton” was very well received criticially. However, I don’t think anything can stop “No Country For Old Men” from walking away with the night’s top prize.

And those are my picks. I’ll be keeping a running blog of the night while I sit in my jammies, munching on popcorn and chocolate-covered pretzels (you know, basically living the dream), and watching the festivities. Check back Monday!

–Brett Deacon, clearly, has no life.

Part III

Sorry for the delay. Um, my dog ate my blog.

Where I have been? I’ve been at the movies, naturally. I caught a screening of “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”, the sequel to “National Treasure” (in case you were not aware). Nicolas Cage is back as Benjamin Franklin Gates, along with his nerdy sidekick Riley Poole, on a mission to clear the Gates family name (an ancestor has been implicated in the Lincoln assassination “¦ an investigation one would’ve thought had been long over) and in the process finds the lost City of Gold. Yes, that’s a lot. Too much, you might ask? You would be asking the right question.

The key to finding the lost City of Gold (and clearing the family name – never forget that) is the President’s Book of Secrets, which as legend has it contains every secret our nation has and is for the President’s eyes only. Much like the first film Gates and company rely on a ridiculous amount of historical knowledge and even more ridiculous technology to fumble through the somewhat corny plot. The movie tries to do everything the first one did, only it comes off as stale and predictable (which the first one really wasn’t).

Of course there’s a lot of winking to the previous film. For example, at the end of “National Treaure” Riley drives off in a Ferrari, which was a throwaway joke at best. In the sequel, it’s a full-blown running gag.

Sequels are a great idea on paper. Who doesn’t want to see our heroes in more adventures? Studios like sequels because they feature built-in audiences and mark the beginning of possibly lucrative franchises. But they’re a tricky game. Every film ever made should at least be fresh, and sequels will always be compared to the previous film. Sequels almost always follow a very popular film so expectations are high. Naturally it may seem smart to just take what worked in the first film and do that again, sometimes doing exactly that again which is, in my opinion, the worst thing a sequel can do. The two Back to the Future sequels did this ad nauseum, much to their detriment. Better to let the characters grow naturally in a new story than be anchored by the last one. Of course, that doesn’t always work either. Neither Indiana Jones film is as great as Raiders of The Lost Ark and even The Godfather Part II (which some consider the best sequel ever) isn’t quite as good as the originator. But at least those are good films that stand on their own. Nodding to previous films is so lame and tired. We’ve seen that movie, show us something new.

Indiana Jones Trailer

Speaking of sequels, John McClane and John Rambo have made comebacks so why not Indiana Jones, right? In Hollywood, everything old is new again I suppose so why not dust off the ol’ fedora and trot out Henry Jones Jr for another run at fortune and glory? I’m an Indiana Jones freak and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is one of my favorite films of all time so naturally when I heard there would be a fourth Indiana Jones movie I thought, “Harrison Ford is 65 years old but so what? It’s god damn Indiana Jones!” And then I saw the trailer and I started to get worried.

Much like the James Bond series, the Indiana Jones movies were great at transporting us to exotic locales as Indiana puts his fear of snakes aside in the interest of bare-knuckled archeology. And then we get this trailer where there’s an exciting car chase “¦ in a warehouse. Yes, I realize it very well may be the warehouse which was the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, but so what? Yes, there are teases of an ancient temple in a jungle (and some bad green-screen work of a car chase in said jungle). And some of the humor is still there (though a lot of it seems to be of the aforementioned “wink wink, remember the old films?” variety), so it didn’t get me excited as I had hoped it would.

After last summer’s horrible run of sequels (admitted obvious exception: Bruce Willis bringing John McClane back strong in “Live Free or Die Hard”), my pessimism is at an all-time high. And I have to be honest, the teaser for “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” did not get me jonesing.

Fool’s Gold

Here’s a movie that I hope never gets a sequel. Matthew McConaughey plays Finn, a fun-loving underwater treasure hunter who has severe problems with both responsibility and keeping his shirt on. He’s recently divorced from Tess (played by the very cute Kate Hudson), who left him most likely because of his problem with responsibility and not because he couldn’t seem to keep his shirt on. Finn enlists the help of billionaire Nigel Honeycutt and his nails-on-a-chalkboard-annoying spoiled brat daughter Gemma to fund a hunt for the Queen’s Dowry, a legendary treasure lost over 300 years ago. Unfortunately, said treasure is trapped off the coast of an island owned by a rap mogul named (and I’m not making this up) Bigg Bunny. Despite owning his own Bahamian island, Bigg Bunny can’t seem to let the thug lifestyle so he becomes the defacto heavy, refusing to let someone pull treasure off the coast of his island.

This is a really dopey movie that suffers from what I consider the “filmmaking vacation” syndrome. See, sometimes when movies go to vacation-friendly destinations like the Bahamas (as is the case here), it looks like everyone had a great time making the film but never put a whole lot into actually making a good film. The Farrelly Brothers’ remake of “The Heartbreak Kid” from last year suffers from the same problem. The obvious side effect is you wish you were at these locations, just not with these characters (and certainly not in the movie theater you’re stuck in).

“You left your shirt WHERE?”

I like all the actors from this movie. I just don’t like them IN this movie. And Donald Sutherland looks regretful that he’s even in the movie, with a “they told me this would be fun” look about him in just about every scene. Almost every character is a stereotype, from the surfer-dude-like Finn to the two gay chefs and the Paris Hilton-esque Gemma. Even Ray Winstone shows up as a crusty old treasure hunter who taught Finn everything he knows (and is now his greatest rival). And yes, you may think, “Didn’t I already see this movie when it was titled “˜Into The Blue’?” Trust me, “Into The Blue” is “The Godfather” compared to this movie.

In The Shadow of the Moon

Ah, salvation.

Just when you thought you knew everything about the Apollo missions from Ron Howard and Tom Hanks along comes “In The Shadow of The Moon”, a new documentary (“presented” by Ron Howard) about the Apollo missions featuring new interviews with 10 Apollo astronauts and newly uncovered archive footage. This is amazing stuff.

“You’ll believe man can fly.”

The astronauts who orbited and landed on the moon are the only people to have ever gazed upon the earth in its entirety with their own eyes. Imagine that. Imagine seeing the whole of everything you’ve known before in what looks like a small marble in a black sea. And the Apollo missions may have been the last time our country did something that made the rest of the world stand up in awe of our achievement.

Each of the 10 astronauts interviewed bring an amazing perspective on the events nearly 40 years later. Michael Collins stands out in particular with his humor and good-natured “aw shucks” fondness for the historic event he was a part of. You’ll laugh, you’ll cheer, you may cry. It’s a brilliant film and out on DVD now.

Roy Scheider

Venerable, salty actor Roy Scheider died last week and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it. Obviously his best known character was as Chief Martin Brody in Jaws, a man with a crippling fear of the water who moves his family out to Amity Island so his kids wouldn’t be brought up in the crime-riddled streets of New York. His character was not without faults (using a tumbler for a wine glass, for example, showed more than just a lack of etiquette) but bound by duty he was going to get that shark.

I never knew much of Roy Scheider personally, but I suspect he was a lot like that. I’ve always enjoyed his work from “The French Connection” to “Jaws” to “The Rainmaker” to “RKO 281″. He never seemed to lose the sense of play as an actor and that translated to the screen. IMDB.com lists this quote in his biography (unattributed): “The important thing is to do good work, no matter what medium you do it in.” That’s sage advice. He was an icon and he’ll be missed.

Coming up”¦

Later in the week I’ll offer up my Oscar predictions. Take them as you will, I’ve rarely won an office pool.

–Brett Deacon does not, in fact, own a dog