I'm taking advantage of my sick day to get this out of the way.

You can call this years Oscar nominations Surprise City. There are still a lot of movies that I have not yet seen so I won't do a commentary on who's going to win or not. But I will do a quick commentary after each nomination on how I see things possibly shaping up.

Let's get to it!!!

Best Picture

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Mystic River
Seabiscuit

Commentary: The most glaring thing here is no "Cold Mountain." My friends and I saw "Cold Mountain" as a sure thing in this category. It really has everything that you look for in a Best Picture nominated movie: big, well acted, epic, fine direction. "Lord of the Rings" is the clear front runner here. It's about as much of a front runner as "Chicago" was last year, and "Schindler's List" was a few years ago. I'd say that it's a for sure thing.


Best Director

City of God
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Mystic River

Commentary: I absolutely must see "City of God." I do not have one clue as to what it's about, but it's gotten a whole slew of nominations. I'd see that as the one surprise here. That and Anthony Minghella not getting a nomination. I still think that Peter Jackson is a sure thing though. The juggling act that he had to do to get all three movies made. I mean, let's be completely honest here, ONE of those movies would be hard to make. He made THREE at one time. Peter Jackson has it in the bag. But there are always surprises.

Best Actress

Keisha Castle-Hughes, Whale Rider
Diane Keaton, Something’s Gotta Give
Samantha Morton, In America
Charlize Theron, Monster
Naomi Watts, 21 Grams

Commentary: I cannot state enough how excited I am that Keisha Castle-Hughes got a nomination for "Whale Rider." Anyone who has seen her performance knows exactly what I'm talking about. It's not only a great performance, it's the single greatest child acting performance that I've ever seen. The other big surprise is NO NICOLE KIDMAN??? She's like Oscar gold. Most surprising. Of all the races this Oscar season, the Best Actress category is going to be the tightest. There is no front runner, and I'm sure that each of the performances is equally desserving. The only two that I've seen though are Diane Keaton and Keisha Knight Hughes. Time to get myself to the cineplex.

Best Actor

Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Ben Kingsley, House of Sand and Fog
Jude Law, Cold Mountain
Bill Murray, Lost in Translation
Sean Penn, Mystic River

Commentary: Edward Scissorhands, Gandhi, Giggolo Joe, Peter Venkman, and Spiccoli all going at it. This is anothe tight race. Each actor in their own way desserves this award. I have to see the front runners as Sean Penn and Bill Murray though. But a surprise would not surprise me. Sometimes two actors will split the vote and the underdog wins it.

Best Supporting Actor

Alec Baldwin, The Cooler
Benicio Del Toro, 21 Grams
Djimon Hounsou, In America
Tim Robbins, Mystic River
Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai

Commentary: Haven't seen any of the nominated actors but there are no real surprises here. This was the easiest to predict.

Best Supporting Actress

Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog
Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April
Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River
Holly Hunter, Thirteen
Renée Zellweger, Cold Mountain

Commentary: Ditto my Best Supporting Actor commentary.

Best Original Screenplay

The Barbarian Invasions
Dirty Pretty Things
Finding Nemo
In America
Lost in Translation

Commentary: "Finding Nemo" is probably the big surprise here. Although it could be the spoiler, I wouldn't bet on it. I think that Sofia Coppola has this award locked up. We'll see though. I've heard nothing but good things about "In America."

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Splendor
City of God
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Mystic River
Seabiscuit

Commentary: What the hell is "City of God?" I must see this movie now. This is another tough one to predict. I wouldn't be surprised to see "American Splendor" pull it out. Screenplay awards are usually where the "indie" movies shine. (Pulp Fiction, Usual Suspects)

Best Cinematography

City of God
Cold Mountain
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Seabiscuit

Commentary: Bob Richardson of "Kill Bill" was robbed. ROBBED. He did things with a camera that I've never seen done before. Oh well. Should I just close my eyes and point to a nominated film to see what's going to win? I'll hold off judgment until I've seen more movies.

Best Editing

City of God
Cold Mountain
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Seabiscuit

Commentary: WTF is "City of God?" Must...see...movie. No clear cut winners here. I'm still surprised that "Kill Bill" didn't get an editing award. Oh well.

Visual Effects

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Commentary: An army of walking skeleton pirates and ghost ships were impressive, but come on...LOTR has this locked up with Gollum alone. If LOTR had nothing but Gollum and the other actors, it'd win. But when you add to the fact that there were battle scenes with participants numbering in the hundreds of thousands...LOTR has this locked up in the same way that GW Bush has Texas locked up.

Best Original Song

“Into the West,” The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
“A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow,” A Mighty Wind
“Scarlet Tide,” Cold Mountain
“The Triplets of Belleville,” The Triplets of Belleville
“You Will Be My Ain True Love,” Cold Mountain

Commentary: I wanted Eddie Vedder to get a nomination for his "Man of the Hour" from "Big Fish." Oh well. I WANT "A Mighty Wind" to win. I think it's the best song of these nominated.

Best Original Score

Big Fish
Cold Mountain
Finding Nemo
House of Sand and Fog
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Commentary: LOTR has it bagged if you ask me. It was the perfect score to a perfect epic. It's memorable in the same ways that the Original Star Wars scores were memorable. Give it to LOTR.

As you can see, I left off a slew of other nominations. After perusing them, I really couldn't see any kind of commentary that I could add that would make your time worth while. As the Oscars get closer, and I have more of the nominated films under my belt, I'll do a "who should win...who will win" type of post. Until then, have a great Tuesday.

matt out