Oscar Pixxx

i just watched Ratatouille after having no interest in seeing it. I was surprised that I liked it so much. Rats in a restaurant... peace on earth.... that's what it's about.

i agree with most of your picks especially no country for old men for best pic. i liked juno much more than you apparently did but having recently watched the two of them back to back, there's no contest which is a better film. and like you i wouldn't mind if diablo didn't get a chance to speak a word sunday night.

Sorry you didn't "get" Ratoutille. Makes me think I shouldn't have passed on the opportunity to see There Will Be Blood.

Not a bad list, although as someone who counted Ratatouille, Juno and There Will Be Blood among his top ten favorite movies of the year, I think you're being a bit harsh on them. This reads a lot like The Hater from the Onion A.V. Club, actually, and we all know what a barrel of laughs she is.

I agree, I give, I think No Country For Old Men (which I loved, by the way. I just loved There Will Be Blood more) will win Best Picture. That being said, I think they'll split Best Director and Best Picture so that P.T. Anderson will win Best Director. And yes, our bet is still on. Fucker.

I think everything else we're in agreement on, except I think Cate Blanchett will win for Best Supporting Actress. Ruby Dee was in American Gangster for eleven fucking minutes, for God's sake, but you're right, she's old and black and legendary, so they might throw her a bone. This category is fucked, it's a four-way tossup. I think everybody has a good shot except for Saoirse Ronan.

David,

I liked Ratatouille too, I really did, but Best Screenplay??? Ga-wha?

Erik,

Now I didn't "get" a movie about an animated rat chef? Just stating that I think a movie is overpraised doesn't mean I didn't understand it. I'm not retarded. I think I pieced all the intricacies of Ratatouille together, believe me. And you can still see There Will Be Blood. It still exists.

Jackson,

What, are these people family members? Close friends? How can I be too harsh on them? I liked all three movies! I just didn't cream my jeans over them. Don't think they deserve all the jeans-creaming. That's all. If I said "all these movies are utterly worthless, that's one thing, but I went through a thorough dissection of what didn't work about There Will Be Blood, gave Juno a B+ despite major reservations, and I just happen to think it's hilarious that a movie about an OBESE GHOST CHEF AND A RAT WHO PULLS ON HAIR TO GUIDE COOKING is nominated for Best Screenplay. That is all.

First, I'd like to challenge you contention that "you are not retarded." Who are you fooling? All joking aside, do you think the overpraise for There Will Be Blood has spawned resentment that prevents you from being objective? That certainly happened to me with American Beauty way back when. I have not seen No Country for Old Men, but I trust your judgment that it's a better movie. I did see There Will Be Blood, however, and I thought it was better than you (apparently) give it credit for. That said, I'd agree it's not a ground-breaking masterpiece. John

Nice picks Pat, we were pretty much the same except on shorts and sound editing, although I think you enjoyed Atonement and Michael Clayton far more than myself. Blood was good but overrated, No Country however was phenomenal

Just for fun, I changed all of my picks to your own for my PredictTheOscars.com pool this year (you should do it yourself next year). Know that I say the following without resentment or really care of any kind, and that I take full responsibility for having done what I did, and that it was merely an experiment, and the prizes from that site for winning are probably not that good anyway, and even if they were I wouldn't care as I do it mostly for fun, but before I changed my answers to yours, I had correctly picked best short film (animated), best short film (live action), best makeup, and best actress.

As for the short films, is there really noplace to see them where you are? They typically will do programs comprising the nominated shorts at the Tivoli or Plaza Frontenac in the handful of weeks between the nomination announcements and the actual awards...figured if there was a way to see them here, there'd be a way to see them out there. No?

That COUNTERFEITERS movie actually does look pretty good, caught a preview for it before PERSEPOLIS a few weeks ago.

As usual, it was a night of some pretty awesome surprises and (probably) even more disappointments. I suspect we'll hear from you about it soon, though!

I think you took my Ratoutille comment too harshly, as it was mostly a joke in response to the vitriol directed at you by your lukewarm response to TWBB.

Hey Erik, "Vitriol." Isn't that a pill women take for cramps? Never makes you drowsy, never makes your urine stink: it's Vitriol!

Woman: "Before Vitriol, my cramps were so bad I threw up constantly for seven weeks! Now, I can go to indoors again! Thanks Vitriol!"

FUCKING Transformers. You couldn't take home fucking Sound Mixing? Killed my Oscar pool. More than meets the eye, my wrinkly nutsack.

I no can like this lack of posting....you are officially too busy!

Pat, I went to see "No Country For Old Men" on Saturday, 1 March at the theater in Jerseyville (hick town). When it ended, there was complete silence in the theater. Nobody moved to stand up. Nobody was clapping. Just a couple hundred heads frozen in a blank stare at the black screen as credits rolled. Finally, after about 8 seconds (which is a long time for crowd to sit still) somebody shouted, "What!?". At this, the entire theater erupted in various displays of disgust and disappointment. I thought they were gonna raid the box office and demand refunds.

As for me, I was with the crowd. I don't get it. It was like the movie opened with the story in-progress, much like the feeling you get when you flip through channels and settle for some movie you have never seen, but which has been playing awhile....you stay with it and hope that you can figure out what is going on in order to enjoy it until the end. NCFOM was just like this...except when the movie ends, that was the feeling you get when the above scenario ends with a power outtage, and you are just sitting there in the dark, wondering what the ending was.

I am too old for this shit.

Rick B-

If, for whatever reason, you check this comments section in the future, it might help to view No Country For Old Men this way. It is a film about what drives us forward. Look, most of life is driven by money, right? You get up in the morning to go to work, but why? So you can earn money to put food in your mouth and a roof over your head. All the necessities of life.

No Country For Old Men, right in the beginning, removes money from the equation. There's two million dollars up in the air. Josh Brolin's character has the money, so he doesn't need it. Javier Bardem's character doesn't care about the money, so he doesn't want it. Tommy Lee Jones' character doesn't know about the money, so he doesn't need it or want it. They represent three forms of the male archetype: Love of family, love of destruction and love of justice.

Brolin, with his simple love for his wife, dies, fades, fizzles out halfway through. Bardem, with his love only for death and violence, perseveres. There will always be the urge to kill, to occupy, to destroy. Tommy Lee Jones, at the end, talking about his dreams, represents hope. He is belief. Faith. It might be simply the thing that we lean on to keep us going, but in the grand scheme of things, isn't that the thing that life is built on? That belief that things will get better?