And I Am Telling You That Dreamgirls Did Not Get Nominated for Best Picture
So here’s what I predicted would get nominated for an Oscar.
And here’s what actually got nominated.
I shot a little over 77 percent.
I nailed the Best Supporting Actress category, which really just means the Academy matched SAG nod for nod.
Two surprises in the Best Supporting Actor category. One, Leo ain’t as I hot as I thought (and Djimon is hotter, God bless ‘im) and two, someone handled Marky Mark’s campaign better than Jack’s, even though a successful Jack campaign usually need only involve mentioning that Jack was in a film that year.
Why Borat got a Best Adapted Screenplay nod is beyond me*, but since Sacha didn’t get the Best Actor love, I guess I’ll take it. Don’t know why I didn’t see Marber’s Notes nod coming a mile away, but I wish Reitman’s Smoking screenplay could have made it in. Also, glad to be right about Children (of Men, not Little). Wasn’t actually 100 percent sure that would happen.
*{Actually, I do have a theory about that. The Writer’s Guild is in the midst of trying to recruit all reality television writers into their fold so that if they go on strike, the networks can’t just rely on reality programming to get them through the crunch. Giving a “reality-based” movie like Borat a screenplay nod reinforces the message that reality TV needs writers, too.}
I was equally surprised by the Original Screenplay nods. First of all, isn’t Letters From Iwo Jima (which I expected to get snubbed for Adapted) based on Picture Letters From Commander in Chief by Tadamichi Kuribayashi and Tsuyoko Yoshido? It’s right there on the poster! Second of all, my dream of Two Guys Named Guillermo and a Best Original Screenplay Nod came true.
Best Actress - replace Beyonce with Kate Winslet. I don’t think anyone’s going to have a problem with that. Beyonce’s going to perform, in all likelihood, anyway when she sings one of the three songs nominated from Dreamgirls. This also means - wait for it - that Eddie Murphy is probably going to sing at the Oscars as well (he’s one of the leads on “Patience”). Nice.
Best Actor is a bittersweet category for me for two reasons. One, this is the first year in a while I didn’t nail it (but I still did 4 out of 5 so I’m not exactly complaining). Two, replace Sacha Baron Cohen, who did a better job than anyone else nominated, with Ryan Gosling who did an outstanding job that I thought would be overlooked (even with SAG love). I’m a big Gosling fan (though I have not been able to bring myself to watch The Notebook) ever since The Believer (for which he was reeeaaaalllly overlooked), so I’m comforted to see him get recognized, even though it may be at Sacha’s expense.
Eastwood and Greengrass are the surprises in Directing. Overall, I underestimated Letters, and this is just one example. Greengrass totally earned this nod, which evaded him when the DGA nods dropped. And if United is to receive but only two nods (Directing and Editing) at least they’re the two for which it is most deserving.
And, of course, the big story: Dreamgirls, after getting nods from the PGA, SAG and DGA (not to mention multiple Golden Globe nods) and getting more Academy nods than any other picture, gets completely overlooked for Sound Editing. I mean seriously, both Flags of Our Fathers AND Letters From Iwo Jima get nods in that category but there’s no room for a musical?
Oh, and it didn’t get a Best Picture nod. So, how’s by you?
