WILL WIN: Robert Altman for "Gosford Park"
ACTUALLY DESERVES TO WIN: Ron Howard for "A Beautiful Mind"
DESERVED A NOMINATION, BUT DIDN'T GET IT: Steven Spielberg, Baz Luhrmann, Christopher Nolan, the list goes on and on.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
And the nominees are:
Amelie (France)
Elling (Norway)
Lagaan (India)
No Man's Land (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Son of the Bride (Argentina)
This one is actually hard to predict for the first time in a couple of years. On the surface, Amelie would seem to be the clear favorite, as it won wonderful critical kudos upon its release, and did garner four other Oscar nominations. But lately, No Man's Land from Bosnia & Herzegovina has emerged as the one to beat, in its powerful story of war. It's a tough call, but I think the Academy will go for No Man's Land.
WILL WIN: No Man's Land
ACTUALLY DESERVES TO WIN: Amelie
DESERVED A NOMINATION, BUT DIDN'T GET IT: No Opinion
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
And the nominees are:
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Monsters, Inc.
Shrek
So here it is, we finally have an Oscar category just for animated feature films. Why did they nominate Jimmy Neutron when they could have nominated something truly innovative like Waking Life? This battle is clearly between Monsters, Inc. and Shrek. Even though Shrek is experiencing a backlash of sorts because of its overwhelming success (both critical, commercial, and awards thus far), I still think it will win the first new Academy Award created in over 20 years. Monsters, Inc. does have a shot, as it was more of a family film, and comes from Disney, and it could surprise us ... but Shrek has been the bigger success all around, and it should win this award.
WILL WIN: Shrek
ACTUALLY DESERVES TO WIN: Shrek
DESERVED A NOMINATION, BUT DIDN'T GET IT: Waking Life, Atlantis
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
And the nominees are:
Bruno Delbonnel for "Amelie"
Slawomir Idziak for "Black Hawk Down"
Andrew Lesnie for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
Roger Deakins for "The Man Who Wasn't There"
Donald M. McAlpine for "Moulin Rouge"
This one could be interesting. Lord of the Rings could win this one in a technical sweep, and Black Hawk Down would be a very deserving winner, but I think the Academy will go with the Coen brothers film The Man Who Wasn't There, for its gorgeous black and white cinematography. Roger Deakins is universally admired, and the cinematography in that film has been honored and discussed more than any other achievement in cinematography this past year. But if one does take it from The Man Who Wasn't There, it will be Lord of the Rings, as they do like to honor grand epics with spectacular visuals like Lord of the Rings has.
