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The 4th Annual Shaking Through Grover Awards
Other Grover Awards:
2006
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2005
| 2004 |
2003 | 2002
Read
our post-Oscar reaction to the evening's
banalities.
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Posted:
January 29,
2005
By
Laurence Station
Martin Scorsese finally gets his due. He's made the right film at the
right time. Sadly, the right time is a year when there's no real
competition -- this is one of the weakest Best Picture years in recent
memory. Richard Linklater's minimal, sublime
Before Sunset
and Joshua Marston's engaging
Maria Full of Grace
apparently didn't have sturdy enough promotional campaigns championing
their causes. Regardless, it will be nice to see Marty finally break
through on the Left Coast. Respect is long overdue.
As for our ultra-low-key, broadcast-bereft Grover awards, we hitch our
cart to the remaining best option,
The Aviator. (For a
dissenting opinion,
please click
here.) Enjoy our picks, and we'll see you back here the morning
after the big event with our Post-Oscar reaction.
Listed below are the Oscar nominees, with our favored pick (who
should win) in bold text alongside the accompanying image. The
actual Oscar prediction (who will win) follows. Official winners
are highlighted in
red. |
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Best Picture |
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Best
Director |
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Who Will Win:
The Aviator |
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Who Will Win: Martin Scorsese,
The Aviator |
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Why: Just look at the competition.
Aviator may be one of Scorsese's lesser efforts, but it's still
good enough to whip this group. |
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Why: Eastwood's got one. It's Marty's turn. |
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Best
Actor |
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Best
Actress |
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Jamie Foxx,
Ray |
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Who Will Win: Jamie Foxx,
Ray |
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Who Will Win: Imelda Staunton,
Vera Drake |
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Why: Foxx did the best job
impersonating a real person. Eastwood capably inhabits the lone
fictional character on the list, but he's outclassed. |
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Why: One of our few ballsy calls.
Annette and Hilary's rematch will end in a draw, opening the door for Imelda
to snatch Oscar gold. |
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Best
Supporting Actor |
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Best
Supporting Actress |
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Who Will Win: Clive Owen,
Closer |
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Who Will Win: Virginia Madsen,
Sideways |
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Why: Owen had a meatier role than
the equally excellent Haden Church. And why is Alan Alda on this list? |
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Why: This B-movie vet gives a
great, genuinely affecting performance. Blanchett has an outside shot,
but Portman's still one or two strong performances away from earning her
statuette. |
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Best
Screenplay (Original) |
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Best
Screenplay (Adaptation) |
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Richard
Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Kim Krizan,
Before
Sunset |
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Who Will Win: John Logan,
The Aviator |
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Who Will Win: Alexander Payne and
Jim Taylor, Sideways |
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Why: Logan's part of the winning
team. Though he owes it to the army of writers who came before him on
the Hughes project to at least give thanks. |
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Why: Sideways is a smartly
crafted, dialogue-driven movie. From an Academy standpoint, Before Sunset is too unstructured
and improvisational. |
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Cinematography |
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Film
Editing |
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Who Will Win:
The Aviator,
Robert Richardson |
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Who Will Win:
The Aviator,
Thelma Schoonmaker |
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Why: The photography soars and is
the best aspect of the film. |
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Why: Aviator is brilliantly
edited. Also, it's been 25 years since Raging Bull and Thelma's
lone win. She's earned another one. |
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Visual
Effects |
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Art
Direction |
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I, Robot, John
Nelson, Andrew R. Jones, Erik Nash and Joe Letteri
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Spider-Man 2,
John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier
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Who Will Win:
Spider-Man 2,
John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier |
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Who Will Win:
The Aviator, Dante
Ferretti (Art Direction); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration) |
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Why: This is a blockbuster
category. Thus, the Oscar goes to the biggest blockbuster of the three. |
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Why: It's a great-looking film.
Plus, this ties in nicely with the other technical nominations for the
night's big winner. |
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Costume Design |
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Makeup |
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Who Will Win:
The Aviator,
Sandy Powell |
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Who Will Win:
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Valli O’Reilly
and Bill Corso |
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Why: Aviator won't sweep,
but this will be another statuette added to its haul. |
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Why: Jim Carrey didn't get
nominated for his acting, but his array of visually well-designed
characters deserves the prize. |
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Sound Mixing |
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Sound
Editing |
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The Incredibles,
Randy Thom, Gary A. Rizzo and Doc Kane
- The Polar Express, Randy
Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis Sands and William B. Kaplan
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Ray, Scott Millan,
Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa
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Spider-Man 2,
Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph
Geisinger
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- The Polar Express, Randy Thom
and Dennis Leonard
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Spider-Man 2,
Paul N.J. Ottosson
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Who Will Win:
The Aviator, Tom
Fleischman and Petur Hliddal |
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Who Will Win:
Spider-Man 2,
Paul N.J. Ottosson |
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Why: Amazing sound, especially
during the aerial sequences. |
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Why: Nice work, and it's a safe
choice for the obligatory blockbuster nominee. |
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Original Song |
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Original Score |
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"Look To Your
Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)" from The Chorus (Les
Choristes), Music by Bruno Coulais, Lyric by
Christophe Barratier |
- "Accidentally In Love" from
Shrek 2, Music by
Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immergluck,
Matthew Mallery and David Bryson, Lyric by Adam Duritz and Daniel
Vickrey
- "Al Otro Lado Del Río" from
The Motorcycle Diaries, Music and Lyric by Jorge Drexler
- "Believe" from The Polar
Express, Music and Lyric by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri
- "Learn To Be Lonely" from
The Phantom of the Opera, Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyric by
Charles Hart
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Who Will Win: "Accidentally In
Love" from Shrek 2,
Music by Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immergluck,
Matthew Mallery and David Bryson, Lyric by Adam Duritz and Daniel
Vickrey |
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Who Will Win:
Finding
Neverland, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek |
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Why: This is the most well-known of
the nominees and thus the (unfortunate) likely choice. |
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Why: First-time nominee Kaczmarek
did solid work. Neverland just avoids a shutout. |
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Best
Animated Feature Film |
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Best
Foreign Language Film |
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The Chorus (Les Choristes),
France |
- As It Is in
Heaven, Sweden
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Downfall,
Germany
- The Sea
Inside, Spain
- Yesterday,
South Africa
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Who Will Win:
The Incredibles |
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Who Will Win:
The Chorus (Les Choristes), France |
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Why: Primarily because it's far and
away the best of the three. Shark Tale's nomination must be a
mistake or someone's idea of a really bad joke. |
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Why: The smart money may be on
The Sea Inside, but with lead Javier Bardem not even getting
nominated, look for this sentimental French effort to take the prize. |
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Post-Oscar Reaction: |
10 out of 20, a staggeringly average 50
percent correctly pegged. Down slightly (cough, cough) from last year’s
Rings-powered 80 percent.
Trivial & Embarrassingly Petty Observations:
- Million Dollar Baby is the
worst best picture winner since… A Beautiful Mind, not so long
ago.
- Chris Rock was straightjacketed but
still got in a few decent zingers.
- Antonio Banderas’ rendition of Oscar
winning song "Al Otro Lado Del Río" was William Shatner bad. The key
difference: Shatner’s in on the joke. Shame Beyoncé was tied up in a
costume change, as she did fine work on three of the other nominated
tunes.
- Hilary Swank’s acceptance speech
line about being a "girl from a trailer park who had a dream"
out-clichéd her character, also from a trailer park who had a dream of
being euthanized by Dirty Harry.
- Hilary Swank now has 2 more Oscars
than Martin Scorsese. What's wrong with this picture?
- Marty, when they offer you a
conciliatory lifetime achievement Oscar in a few years, tell them
you'll accept only
if they move the ceremony to Little Italy and let you direct the show.
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