A good year for Oscar

I'm looking over the Oscar nominations, and for the first time in a while I'm not too disappointed. I haven't yet seen Brokeback Mountain or Munich, but I am certain those two best picture spots could have gone to a lot worse. They overlooked the best film of the year that I've seen, Junebug, as well as two of my other favorites (Syriana, The Constant Gardener) but they did well to nominate Capote, Crash, and Good Night and Good Luck. On the up side, there were nominations of some sort for all of those films overlooked for best picture. How George Clooney is a supporting actor in Syriana I don't know, but he is nominated for just that.

Realistically, one of the best pic noms should have been ousted in the Directing category, because Fernando Meirelles deserved a nomination for his amazing work on The Constant Gardener. His directing was the key to the film's success. There's quite a lot of talent coming from south america and mexico these days.

I also think that Christopher Nolan deserved a nod for his work on the mainstream Batman Begins. He elevated the Batman franchise well above anywhere I thought it could go. Good work.

The lead actor category is really going to be tough this year. I have seen 4 of the 5 nominated performances and they were all excellent. I would probably vote for Philip Seymour Hoffman, with David Straitharn being my second choice. Joaqin Phoenix did a great job, a very technical marvel, but the former two had more textured performances.

Clooney must win for Syriana, because he was the soul of the film and did an excellent job. It really seems like a lead actor role. It would be pretty exciting if he won best supporting actor AND best director. He's done some great work this year.

I have seen only one of the lead actress performances, by Reese Witherspoon, and though she did a good job, I can't imagine that she is the most worthy. It seems iffy that enough people have seen Transamerica, so I'm predicting a win for Charlize Theron again.

As far as supporting actress, as much as Rachel Weisz mesmerized us in The Constant Gardener, the correct pick is Amy Adams. Some people seem doubtful that she can win, but the academy has a long history of picking the underdog in supporting actress.

It really is unfortunate that Nick Park and Hayao Miyazaki are up against each other for animated film. They are both deserving as many oscars as they can get, but only one can win. My guess is that it will be Nick Park, if one of those two wins. More likely they will pick Corpse Bride, a totally unworthy choice.