Oscar thoughts

Since Hollywood Boulevard is already shut down for the week, I don't think this post is premature. I've only seen a fraction of the movies nominated, but here are some random thoughts on what I've seen:

The Departed: I think everyone basically agrees that Martin Scorsese will finally take an Oscar home this year. But if he does win, it will be with that unspoken asterisk, as everyone seems to think "well, it's not his best work, but he deserved to finally win." Yet, I thought "The Departed" was great -- much unlike the consolation Oscars some people get. John Wayne finally won for the absolutely terrible "True Grit." Trust me, Scorsese winning for this movie isn't that bad. Also, I really like Mark Wahlberg, but his nomination for this movie is pretty weird. He is definitely in it the least of all the other heavy-hitters. Matt Damon probably should have gotten this.

The Queen: This movie was well-paced and managed to work in tons of real footage without disrupting the flow. Yes, Helen Mirren is great, but what really blew me away about this movie was how freakishly similar the guy playing Tony Blair looks to the actual Tony Blair.

Little Miss Sunshine: Unlike "Crash," this is the kind of low-budget, underdog film that I would actually like to see win something. The family in this movie has routinely been described as "dysfunctional" -- which is quite misleading. They are all misfits, yes, but they work surprisingly well together. It's got a great mix of humor and very touching moments, the standouts of which all involve Abigail Breslin. I'm officially rooting for J-Hud to take home the best supporting actress win, but if anyone else does, I hope it's Breslin. Her earnest breakdown ("Am I a loser?) made me lose it.

The Devil Wears Prada: In the few scenes where I wasn't paying attention solely to the clothes, Meryl Streep, not surprisingly, had an awesome presence. Her exhasperated facial expressions alone are worth catching.

The Last King of Scotland: I was not in any way shocked by Forest Whitaker's spot-on performance, but I was blown away by how little credit is being given to the rest of this film's cast. James McAvoy, a de-glammed Kerry Washington and a barely recognizable Gillian Anderson all do fine work, yet Whitaker is the only part of this movie people are talking about. Weird.

Dreamgirls: When I first read all the reviews, I was skeptical. The New York Times called Jennifer Hudson's performance "historic" and EW called it "grandly shattering," but until I saw it myself, I thought "how good could it be REALLY?" Let me spell it out for you: It. Is. That. Good. I've never been to a movie before in which people actually stood up and clapped in the middle of it, but people did. I sat there with my mouth open, and when her big song came to a close, simply mouthed "holy shit" to Rachel. Oh yeah, and Eddie Murphy is good too.

The Pursuit of Happyness: I love Will Smith. I was glad he did what he did with this role -- he turned in a restrained, thoughtful performance, when he could easily have made it over-the-top and thus less noteworthy. The movie itself, I thought, was not very well put together. Smith's character was so beaten down, so many times, that I felt like no amount of success he got at the end could have made up for it. Perhaps that's why it's not nominated for best picture.

That's it. I might try to squeeze in "Babel" before Sunday. Anyone interested?