Oscar Fever...Catch It!

The 80th Academy Awards are coming up this Sunday and I could not care less. So many of my favorite flicks have never won Oscar's and so many that have won I consider to be worthless crapfests. When it looked like the writer's strike was going to put the keibosh on the entire thing I wasn't the least bit fazed. So the only thing I'm looking forward to this year is watching Jon Stewart's hosting outtakes on The Daily Show.

That said, I now present my Oscar predictions for 2008! But James, you're saying, why make predictions when you just admitted that you don't give a damn? Two reasons: 1) wine makes me think that I'm smarter than I am and 2) in a pool at work last year I shot the moon, going 8 for 8 and netting myself a cool $100. Full disclosure: I've been pretty busy lately and with Netflix and a DVR keeping me stocked with movies I haven't seen a single film in the eight catagories I'm selecting from. Now my methodology, while finely honed, is less than scientific:

• Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"-this guy makes a movie about every 5 years but he always delivers a monster perfomance.
• Best Actress: Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Years"-playing Elizabeth I is always a good way to win an Oscar (plus the only other name I recognized was the little chick in "Juno").
• Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymore Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War"-in my opinion one of the best actors of his generation.
• Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton"-I hear she's due, so what the hell.
• Best Foreign Language Film: "Mongol"-Kazakhstan scores after "Borat" made them look like a country full of Eastern European rubes.
• Best Animated Film: "Ratatouille"-I saw a lot of commercials for this one, plus it's fun to say.
• Best Director: The Coen Brothers for "No Country For Old Men"-I like a lot of their stuff and I always pull for sibling directing teams because I just imagine them fighting all the time.
• Best Film: "No Country For Old Men"-I've heard this film kicks ass, all the buzz says it's virtually a lock and Javier Bardem totally looks like Nick Cage wearing a fake nose.

So there they are, chosen absent one shred of expertise or credibility. I don't know if I'll be in a pool again this year but if I get more than six of these right I'm going to Vegas for the 2009 awards. Enjoy the show.

[Update: So I only went 5 for 8 this year. One of my sisters tells me that if I had seen "No Country For Old Men" that I would definitely have chosen Javier Bardem as Best Supporting Actor. The other 2 were really just shots in the dark. I guess I'll take the money I was going to take to Vegas to actually see some of these flicks instead.]