2006 Oscar Noms Are In

Hey everyone! The Oscar noms are in and sad to say I haven't seen two of the best picture nominees - Letters from Iwo Jima and Babel. Thomas and I planned to see Letters this wkend but didn't get around to it. I'm now determined to catch it next wkend. As for Babel, I have no plans to see it any time soon. Maybe I'll netflix it. Why? First I saw the horrifically annoying preview in theaters about a billion times until it drove me mad, and second I wasn't a fan of the director's other films, 21 Grams and Amores Perros. Tres depressing and much ado about nothing they both were. The only segment that looked interesting to me was the one with the Japanese girl. I must admit I'm officially off Brad Pitt these days.

Other notes of interest:

• Everyone's in an uproar that Dreamgirls did not score a best pic nod, tho it led with 8 nominations (3 for singing). I haven't seen this movie either and will be hard pressed to do so because I am not a Beyonce fan, Jamie Foxx's public persona is off-putting, and I hate the type of singing they do in the movie. However, there are such raves for Jen Hudson's performance, that I may netflix this one as well and fast forward thru the singing parts.
• Leo got a nom for Blood Diamond and not Departed. This completely baffled me because in Departed he acted circles around everyone else. Forrest Whitaker must be thanking his lucky stars. I did some research tho and found that Warner Brothers produced both films and since in the Oscars one actor can only be nominated once per category, they decided to promote him as Best Actor for Blood Diamond and Best Supporting Actor for Departed. He was clearly the lead in Departed so their strategy failed miserably and will likely result in no Oscar for Leo. Instead Mark Wahlberg got the Best Supporting nom for Departed. I must admit that he was quite good, better than Jack Nicholson or Matt Damon, so I'm fine with this.The longshot in this category is Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson, a movie I did not enjoy, but Gosling is an excellent actor so it's great that he's getting some recognition. He will also hopefully bring his rumored fiancee and my fav younger actress Rachel McAdams.
• As for Best Actress, I've seen all the films except for Volver and Little Children. It's a stretch having Meryl Streep in this category rather than Supporting. She was fabulous as always, but this role was really more of a caricature than anything else. It is likely to be a battle of the Brits with Helen Mirren coming out on top, as she's swept all awards this season. I preferred Dench's performance in Notes on a Scandal though. She scared the bejeesus out of Cyd and me.
• Finally, the most pleasant surprise for me was the number of noms received by my fav film of the year, Little Miss Sunshine- five in all! I would be happy if it won all five, but as they say, it's just nice to be nominated.

I'll be back closer to the awards themselves with my fearless predictions.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: 40 MPG Patriot

-sunday