Best scene
Tim's pick: The Bourne Supremacy
Few spy thrillers have equaled the amount of rollicking explosiveness that this one displayed, and even fewer have come close to its visual genius. Near its conclusion, we are treated to what is quite possibly the best car chase scene ever captured on film.
Nick's pick: Team America: World Police
Hardcore puppet sex with soft-core ambience: Priceless.
Best comedic performance
Tim's pick: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Along Came Polly
How can it be that Hoffman -- primarily a dramatic actor -- stole this movie right out from under funnyman Ben Stiller's nose? His portrayal of former child actor Sandy Lyle was both pathetic and over-the-top, and I couldn't stop laughing at him.
Nick's pick: Jon Heder, Napoleon Dynamite
Who am I gonna pick for best comedic performance? "Whoever I feel like! Gosh!"
Best villian
Tim's pick: Tom Cruise, Collateral
A killer who explains his job of taking lives merely as something he does for a living. This is Vincent, Cruise's viciously shocking but unbelievably intriguing character that allowed him to shine even while playing against type.
Nick's pick: Jesse James, The Butterfly Effect
Fifteen-year old James is brilliant as Tommy Miller, the heartless, violent brat from The Butterfly Effect, even more so upon the realization that he is little Spence from As Good As It Gets aged into nightmarishly angsty pubescence.
Best new face
Tim's pick: Clive Owen, Closer
A popular British actor who made a splash in the U.S. this past year. If his callous and sinister performance in the film Closer is any indication of things to come, Owen will be around for quite some time.
Nick's pick: Peter Sarsgaard,Garden State & Kinsey
True, Sarsgaard has been acting in the independent circuit for years, but I (like most of you, I imagine) first became aware of him this year as Mark, Large's grave-digging friend in Garden State, and Clyde, a passionate young researcher in Kinsey. He'll be around for a while, I should think.
Best stretch performance
Tim's pick: Jamie Foxx, Ray
Jamie Foxx wasn't supposed to be so astounding in his take on the late Ray Charles. As a matter of fact, no one was even sure if the up and coming comic actor could even hold a movie on his own. My how he has proven everyone wrong.
Nick's pick: Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland
Depp's played outcasts, tough cops, drug addicts, but never have I seen him play someone with the heart and virtue of J.M. Barrie, a part he nails with perfect understated warmth.
Best picture
Nominees: The Aviator; Finding Neverland; Million Dollar Baby; Ray; Sideways
Nick's pick
Will and should win: Million Dollar Baby
Sideways is the Howard Dean of this year's race: peaked too early and/or was too quirky for mainstream voters. Neverland and Ray never really had a shot. The fight is definitely between The Aviator, the Howard Hughes biopic, and Million Dollar Baby, the emotionally riveting boxing saga. Aviator will win a few technical awards early on, which will make it look like it's primed for a sweep, but Baby will be this year's champion.
Tim's pick
Will win: The Aviator
Should win: Million Dollar Baby
Ultimately, the high-flying, Hollywood epic will again reign supreme in the top category. It seems so unjust that a movie as raw and genuine as Baby can't win here.
Best director
Nominees: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby; Taylor Hackford, Ray; Mike Leigh, Vera Drake; Martin Scorsese, The Aviator; Alexander Payne, Sideways
Nick's pick
Who should win: Eastwood
Who Will Win: Scorsese
I think Eastwood deserves it the most, but Scorsese's a legendary director who has never won -- Eastwood won in '92 for Unforgiven -- and a lot of people would like to see him finally get what Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas should have gotten him.
Tim's pick
Will and should win: Eastwood
Eastwood simply marveled us with his powerful tale of the American dream that he also acted in, produced and scored.
Best actor
Nominees: Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda; Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland; Leonardo Dicaprio, The Aviator; Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby; Jamie Foxx, Ray
Nick's pick
Who Should Win: Cheadle, Depp, or Foxx
Who will win: Foxx
An excellent crop of nominees this year. If forced at gunpoint, I'd probably choose Cheadle for carrying the enormity of Hotel Rwanda on his skinny shoulders, but Foxx was flawless, and Depp was a lightning rod of warmth and imagination.
Tim's pick
Will and should win: Jamie Foxx, Ray
Perhaps the surest thing in the history of the Oscars, if Foxx doesn't win, and this is an understatement, Academy voters will lose any credibility they had. In the Ray Charles bio, there was no distinguishing Foxx from Charles, a perfect performance.
Best actress
Nominees: Annette Bening, Being Julia; Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace; Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake; Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby; Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Nick's pick
Who should win: Winslet
Who will win: Swank
I'm pulling for Winslet, who was unforgettable as Clementine, a wandering, whimsical Gen-Xer in Eternal Sunshine. Swank'll win anyway though, riding the Million Dollar express to her second Oscar in five years.
Tim's pick
Will and should win: Swank
As she had done before in 1999's Boys Don't Cry, Swank again channeled her inner resilience into one of the most beautiful displays of character ever captured on film.
Best supporting actor
Nominees: Don Cheadle,
Hotel Rwanda; Johnny Depp,
Finding Neverland; Leonardo Dicaprio,
The Aviator; Clint Eastwood,
Million Dollar Baby; Jamie Foxx,
Ray
Nick's pick
Who should win: Church
Who will win: Freeman
I'll go with Church who totally effaces his Lowell-from-Wings persona as Jack, the grinning sleazeball of Sideways. Freeman wasn't bad either, of course, and I have no problem with Freeman winning.
Tim's pick
Will and should win: Freeman
He's already been nominated four times and he should already have three trophies to show for it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind settling for one well-deserved award.
Best supporting actress
Nominees: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator; Laura Linney, Kinsey; Virginia Madsen, Sideways; Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda; Natalie Portman, Closer
Nick's pick
Who should win: Okonedo
Who Will Win: Blanchett
Okonedo was the emotional bedrock of Hotel Rwanda, a movie where emotion came in spades. It's a shame Blanchett will win for hamming it up as Kate Hepburn.
Tim's pick
Will win: Blanchett
Should win: Portman
Portman took advantage of her performance, nearly hogging all of the spotlight from her more-experienced co-stars. But Blanchett has a bigger role in a grander film.
Best original screenplay
Nominees:The Aviator; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Hotel Rwanda; The Incredibles; Vera Drake
Nick's pick
Who should win: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Who will win: The Aviator
I'll be sleeping with my pajamas inside out in hopes that Eternal Sunshine will win, but the Academy's inexplicably cold on Sunshine. Look for John Logan to win for his boring Aviator script instead.
Tim's pick
Will win: The Aviator
Should win: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The early buzz has been all Aviator, but Sunshine is close behind. Still, I don't seeolder Academy members fully appreciating the mind of Charlie Kaufman at this point.
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