A Look Ahead to Best Make Up.

Continuing with the breakdown ala dissertation style at which I’m going to examine each Oscar category, I’ve decided to be consistent and do another one today. (read my thoughts on the Animated Film category.)

Having not seen Dreamgirls (which comes out this Friday), which is nodded in 8 times in 6 of the sodding categories, it’s a bit difficult to dance with many of the categories that I want to. Still, there’s good news – my dad rented Click last night, and I managed to see Apocalypto at the weekend due to the marvels of BitTorrent. So I can delight you with the wonders of…

Best Make Up!

Here are the nominees:

Apocalypto Aldo Signoretti; Vittorio Sodano
Click Kazuhiro Tsuji; Bill Corso
Pan's Labyrinth David Martí; Montse Ribé

How I did: 67% - I correctly predicted Apocalypto and Pan’s Labyrinth, but I thought that history would repeat itself and Pirates of the Caribbean II would get nominated here – one of the few categories in which the film actually did well. Still, it’s amusing for people to be able to now say, “Oscar nominated film – Click!”

Now. The films.

I don’t really feel too strongly about make-up, to be honest, as a category. I mean, I think it’s really important that the makeup artists get recognised. But it’s not a category I follow all that deeply. I can’t even remember who won Best Make Up last year. *checks on IMDb.* Oh yeah: Narnia. OK, I did remember that. Honest. But I’m with BAFTA on this – I would much rather they had the category as Best Hair and Make Up, because even though sometimes they work separately (e.g., in capturing the Vienesse hairstyles of Marie-Antoinette with Marie’s pale cheeks), most of the time, the Art is in managing to contrast the two.
… Or maybe I just say this because I actually brush my hair every morning, whereas I don’t really bother with make up. :P

I think that was enough rambling. Now let’s see my rankings:



01. Pan’s Labyrinth
A teensy bit of this is going to be bias, I grant you. Pan’s Labyrinth is my favourite film of 2006, so naturally, I’m going to think it’s perfect in every way. But the make up was really well done, from the way the fantasy characters were painted, but really, and more pertinently, the make-upping of the people was as wonderfully done and gruesome. The alcohol bleeding into the stitching – eww – one of the most ghastly images of the year. Grade for the make up: A.

02. Apocalypto
Apocalypto was a film where I was able to give up on the plot, and follow the technical categories – art direction, make up, cinematography, etc. And although I can’t claim to be an expert on the Mayan kingdom, I was still totally convinced by the technical work on the make up; the wounds and maulings looked very realistic and grim. There was a huge crew involved in the make upping of this film, from Hair and Makeup designer, Vittorio Sodano: Makeup designer, Rossella Gregorio: Makeup supervisor, Caterina Sisto: prosthetic Makeup supervisor, Maurizio Nardi:on set Makeup supervisor, and for the large epic scale of the work, I feel that it is probably going to walk away with this award. Grade for the make up: A-.

03. Click
Heehee. Very entertaining film, though I’m sure most non-Sandler fans would probably disagree. But now that I come to think of it, doing to the old and young Adams were both great, and pretty much made up for the CGI, which wasn’t too impressive. Hate the movie all you look, but you can’t deny that the make up was pretty fun and well done. Grade for the make up: B+.

Who will win: Apocalypto.
Who deserves to win: Pan’s Labyrinth.
Who deserved to be nominated: The Devil Wears Prada – Emily looked exquisite. :)

And that’s that. Not a terribly interesting category, I’ll admit.

Tags: Apocalypto, Click, Pan's Labyrinth, films, Oscars.

By the way, it also struck me: no-one ever watches the short films that are nominated. Well, I found links to a couple of 'em online, for your viewing pleasure:

Animated:
The Danish Poet, No Time For Nuts, The Little Match Girl, Maestro,

Live Action:
One Too Many, Binta and the Great Idea, The Saviour (Part I) and The Saviour Part II

Enjoy them, and if you have any more, feel free to add 'em. :)

It's Peter Crouch's 26th birthday today.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart!

A Look Ahead at Best Animated Film.

Okay, so, for fun, I’ve decided to individually look at each Oscar category, and seeing as quite a few of the Oscar nominated films are still yet to come out in the UK, I’ll examine them as soon as I’ve seen all the films in each category. And I shall start with Best Animated Film.

Here are the nominees:

Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

How I did: 67% - I correctly predicted Cars and Happy Feet, but I tricked myself into believing that Flushed Away would get in.

So now I shall talk about it.

I’m pretty pleased with this category, though I’m generally pretty pleased with animated films. About 60% of the animated films I see make me feel all warm and fuzzy, which sadly cannot be said for cinema overall. And I really liked all three of these films. Rankings.

01. Cars
I saw this in the Summer holidays with a couple of my 8-year-old brother, and I had just as much fun as he. Visually, it’s only behind Finding Nemo in terms of Pixar – the red-sunset filled hues of the American backdrop, the careful attention to detail in livening the cars, etc. There are a wide range of fun and colourful characters, which redeem the slightly annoying main character of Owen Wilson. The usage of the ever classic tune Route 66 is genius, and Randy Newman’s cute, winsome score plays winningly throughout. My only slight foible with the movie was its script, which I must admit must be Pixar’s worst. Some of the jokes were regurgitations from ones from other Pixar films, and the dialogue was a little rusty. But children don’t notice that, and when I was watching this movie, I felt like some of my childhood had indeed been restored. A-.

02. Monster House
Heehee, now here’s the film that a teacher at my brother’s school wouldn’t allow the kids to watch because she thought it was “too scary for young children.” Well, parts of it even scared me, and I thought it was really pushing it for as PG so there you go. The animation here isn’t as good as that in Cars, but suits the film well, and the fun mixture of horror and adventure works a treat, even if most kids are likely to be disturbed a bit by it. B+.

03. Happy Feet
Penguins are indeed cute creatures. I really loved the usage of music in this film, and, I liked some of the penguins. Certainly one of the better Christmas films that came out last year, and the message of how it’s OK to be different was lovely. But still, a little over ambitious for an animated film, to be honest. B.



Who will win: Cars.
Who deserves to win: Cars.
Who deserved to be nominated: Flushed Away.

And that’s that. I like Animated Films. :)

Tags: Monster House, Cars, Happy Feet, animated films, Oscars.

So, I was talking to a mate today in orchestra.

Bearing in mind that he was 15, he was talking about how good Will Smith was in The Pursuit of Happyness, and I mentioned that Mr. Smith had indeed been nominated for an Oscar this week, and he recommended that Smith's clip should be when he & Jaden were in the broom closet/toilet, and someone wanted to open the door, and Smith was trying to shut it. And I agree actually, that was a poignant moment.

Thanks to http://www.piratesofthecinema.com/, I rewatched The Pursuit of Happyness this week, and I'm happy to say my grade for it went up from a C+ to a B. Sure, it was mushy, predictable and a little hard to believe, but Will Smith made it worthwhile. I'm glad he got a nomination, even if he sits just outside my 5 of the year.

What did you all make of this film?



Apart from that, I don't have anything else to say. I'm slightly tired. I also feel resentful at education, because I've been looking around at blogs - Glen's, RC's, Ali's, etc., and you guys have all done pretty extensive Golden Globe coverage. I didn't even have the time to watch the Golden Globes this year. And that makes me sad.

So, who's my hot date for the weekend?

Him? (I've chosen this picture because he just wasn't that hot in Blood Diamond, despite being excellent.)


Maybe him? (Happy 44th, by the way!!!)


More likely...


Eww. Education is such an idiot sometimes.

Random thought, by the way: Brokeback Mountain was my choice for Best Film of 2005, by far. My choice for Best of 2006, Pan's Labyrinth, has the child actress Ivana Baquero. Baquero sounds identical to the Spanish word Vaquero. Which means cowboy.

Odd.

Snow.

I will post my Oscar nomination-related thoughts later, but basically, I didn't do it immediately last night because I was in West London watching a football match.

Anyway, the coolest thing happened today when I woke up: I saw snow! Lots and lots of it. Felt like taking a few pictures:





Cough cough.

My Finalized Oscar Predictions.

Firstly, the current view from my Skyline:

Okay, I shall predict them. Note, these are my predictions and not my personal choices, which would be a whole lot different. However, in some cases, my personal HOPES may have clouded my ability to predict properly. Read ahead and see.



Best Picture
- Babel
- The Departed
- Dreamgirls
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- The Queen

There are four nominees that I’m pretty much certain about – Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls and The Queen, and one that I’m not so sure about – Letters of Iwo Jima. It’s main opposition for that much-coveted fifth spot is, of course, the overrated turd of the year, Little Miss Sunshine, which has done better than it overall in Critic’s Circles (God knows why.) But the Oscars adore the ground that Clint walks on, so I doubt they’ll ignore Letters. Another alternative would have been the laughably bad United 93, but, thankfully, that hasn’t actually done too well with SAGs, Golden Globes, etc, so, haha.

Um. As I write this, I’ve just discovered that Little Miss Sunshine won the PGA. Huh. Maybe I’m getting a little delusional.

Best Actor
- Leonardo DiCaprio, The Blood Diamond
- Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
- Peter O'Toole, Venus
- Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
- Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

I’m still not sure about this category. I saw Will Smith’s performance at the weekend, and though I considered it good, I didn’t find his best work, and I don’t think the Oscars will either. But, still. It hasn’t altogether been that strong a year for lead actors (save DiCaprio in The Departed, who was absolutely amazing), and the likely winner Forest Whitaker gave a good-but-extremely-hammy performance, which is such a shame, because I considered James McAvoy much better, and it looks like he’s going to go totally ignored.

Best Actress
- Penélope Cruz, Volver
- Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
- Helen Mirren, The Queen
- Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
- Kate Winslet, Little Children

A while back, I wrote about how I didn’t think that Streep would get nominated for Best Actress, because she just wasn’t good enough. Well, I now retract that, because I seem to be the only one who seems to think that she wasn’t good enough. If her Golden Globe win for Best Actress wasn’t enough to convince me this, then the various nominations – in BAFTA, SAG, etc, certainly seem to have done the trick.

Out of all the Oscar categories, this is the one I have the most affinity with: 2 out of my choices match those of Oscars – Cruz and Mirren, who were both sublime. I’m yet to see Notes on a Scandal, but will be there as soon as it gets released in the UK, because, having read the novel, I am now beyond excited to see how it gets transferred to screen. Meryl Streep wasn’t brilliant by her own extraordinarily high standards, but it was a good performance nonetheless, and Winslet gave a moderately good performance, I suppose.

Best Supporting Actor
- Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
- Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
- Brad Pitt, Babel
- Michael Sheen, The Queen
- Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

The idiocracy of pushing Leo in The Departed for support fully shows through here. In a perfect world, he should win this category hands down (though I’m yet to see Dreamgirls), but we’re not in a perfect world, so there. My oddest choice in predicting here would probably be to miss out Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children and Jack Nicholson in The Departed, yet include Mark Wahlberg for the same film. Well, although Haley has received his share of critic’s awards, at the end of the day, I just think that his portrayal of the disturbed paedophile will freak out Oscar voters too much. And also, I just didn’t think Nicholson was good, whereas Marky Mark was. I’m kinda hoping that Oscars are with me on that.

Best Supporting Actress
- Adriana Barraza, Babel
- Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
- Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
- Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
- Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Breslin? Blunt? Breslin? Blunt? Breslin? Blunt?

Well, here’s the thing. Abigail Breslin is young. Oscars naturally have a wariness towards young performances (though I’m still scratching my head at how Castle-Hughes could have gotten her nomination for her beyond mediocre performance in Whale Rider). But still. If Ivana Baquero, giver of best performance in a 2006 film can’t make it and the fantastic young cast of Offside aren’t getting nominated, then I simply refuse to believe that the Oscars will nominate Abigail “Cutesy” Breslin, for her lol-inducing performance in one of the worst films of the year. It would, obviously, make so much more sense to actually nominate the best female supporting performance of the year, the sublime Emily Blunt giving her best performance in a film that was about a trillion times more enjoyable – and intelligent – than Little Miss Sunshine.

Best Director
- Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
- Bill Condon, Dreamgirls
- Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
- Stephen Frears, The Queen
- Martin Scorsese, The Departed

I don’t like the idea of the five directors mirroring the five films exactly, but it did happen last year, so why not again? The only likely candidate to stop this perfect mirroring is the director of United 93, whose name I can’t be bothered to remember, because his film was just so bad.

Best Original Screenplay
- Babel
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Pan's Labyrinth
- The Queen
- Volver

Again, United 93 could make it here, instead of Pan’s Labyrinth, most likely, but something tells me that the Oscars value originality and creativity higher than pretension. But that’s just my guess.

Best Adapted Screenplay
- The Departed
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Dreamgirls
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Notes on a Scandal

The Devil Wears Prada will get in, I tell ya! That film was actually pretty witty.

Best Cinematography
- Apocalypto
- Children of Men
- Flags of Our Fathers
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Pan's Labyrinth

Best Editing
- Babel
- The Departed
- Dreamgirls
- Flags of Our Fathers
- The Queen

Okay, Editing is actually a more important category than people value it is, as, last year, one of Brokeback’s 8 nominations were not in Editing, and I think a film without a nomination in Best Editing hadn’t won Best Film since 1980. Well, yeah.

Best Art Direction
- Children of Men
- Dreamgirls
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- The Painted Veil
- Pan's Labyrinth

Best Costume Design
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Dreamgirls
- Marie-Antoinette
- The Prestige
- The Queen

Best Original Music Score
- Babel (Gustavo Santaolalla)
- The Da Vinci Code (Hans Zimmer)
- The Illusionist (Philip Glass)
- Notes on a Scandal (Philip Glass)
- The Painted Veil (Alexandre Desplat)

Some people had originally touted double nods for both Philip Glass AND Alexandre Desplat, with the latter also getting nominated for his work on The Queen, but I don’t think that’ll be the cast, as, though the score to The Queen was good, it was actually nothing special by Desplat’s standards. So the scores here are pretty much stand-alones, with only Babel as a Best Picture nominee. I do hope that The Da Vinci Code gets nominated for Score, as, though the film wasn’t fantastic (but I enjoyed it), the score was absolutely haunting and beautiful.

My biggest foible about this category is that Clint Mansell’s eerie, fantastic score to The Fountain won’t make it. Though I’m yet to see the film, one of my friends got me the OST, and I’ve listened to it at least once a day from then to now. That’s how fantastic it is.

Best Sound
- Apocalypto
- Babel
- The Departed
- Dreamgirls
- Letters from Iwo Jima

Best Sound Editing
- Apocalypto
- Superman Returns
- Pirates of the Caribbean II

Best Visual Effects
- Casino Royale
- Pirates of the Caribbean II
- Superman Returns

Best Makeup
- Apocalypto
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Best Animated Feature
- Cars
- Flushed Away
- Happy Feet

Sadistic AS exams and Racism Celebrity Big Brother.

The alleged racism on Big Brother. Firstly, yes, I know, I know. I’m a stinking, filthy hypocrite, for dissing the programme, and then proceeding to watch it. But I only started watching it on Tuesday, when I came across an article in the newspaper about how there Shilpa Shetty, the Bollywood actress on the show, was apparently being targeted by Jade “Fat Chav” Goody, Jo (from S Club 7) and that one that’s going out with Teddy Sherringham, despite looking like a barely legal schoolgirl. The whole thing's become quite political, with Blair issuing statements about the so-called "united of the UK", and David Cameron giving his usual, crappy "Who cares?" attitude that will soon serve as England's PM. It's even strained our relationship with India. So naturally, being intrigued, I decided to give it a look.

The show itself was about as interesting as watching paint dry, but I’m glad I saw it, because then I really got to see, firsthand, the disgusting treatment of Shilpa. Jade, Jo, and Danielle just reminded me of bitchy teenage girls, ganging up on the one they’re jealous of, who has everything they haven’t; looks, class, and intelligence. Jade was the shitty (pardon my French, but I’m a bit pissed off) gang leader, hurling abuse of all kinds at Shilpa, whilst Jo and Danielle flocked to her, acting like the sort of teenage girls in my school who see who’s popular, and then laugh at everything they say. It was actually sickening.

Now, I’ve heard that Channel 4 have received a huge amount of complaints, and are apparently “looking into it”, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Let’s face it, victimization brings you ratings. I mean, I just admitted myself that I only started watching CBB to see whether there was any racism. So basically, it’s likely that Shilpa’s going to continue to get bullied until a) she leaves, b) Jade leaves, or c) Jade dies. I pray to God that it’s the latter.

One more thing. Some people are claiming that there isn’t any racism going on, and it’s just “PC gone mad.” One girl in my Critical Thinking class said yesterday, “They’re not being racist, Shilpa deserves it”, though I feel inclined to point out that this is also the girl who gave me Hell throughout years 10 and 11, loudly saying “Ching Chong Chinaman” whenever I walked past her, so she obviously isn’t going to be winning a humanitarian award any time soon. Others have argued that whilst the treatment of Shilpa hasn’t been nice, people want reality TV then moan about it when they don't like the reality of how a lot of people act and think, and the reality of the fact is that there is racism in the UK.

Well, I didn’t watch it last week, when apparently things were the worst and from what I’ve seen so far, the racism is in the undercurrent that is obviously running through. When Danielle snidely said, “I think she should just f-ck off home” yesterday, I wanted to effing punch that bitch. It’s malicious comments like that that spark off the entire torrents of racism that come later. And even if there are those delusional enough to deny the racism, from Jade’s huge, pathetic rant at Shilpa yesterday, where her chavvy, idiotic rounds probably sparked off a hundred suicide attempts, and Jo and Danielle just sat there smirking and giggling, you can’t deny that there isn’t bullying. And bullying is just as bad.

Tags: racism, Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty, politics

Yet another reason to hate the movie Titanic.

Just got out of a Critical Thinking exam. My verdict?

AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I repeat:
AGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Grr.

And yes, the whole exam was on assessing the credibility of documents related to the sinking of the Titanic. Ahem.

Yes. I know I'm not meant to be here.

But I just want to say that this website is a bloody lifesaver.

Errors to Avoid on AS Critical Thinking Unit 1
In Critical Thinking, as in all exams, it is important to read the questions carefully and write down exactly what they ask for. This article outlines two common errors made by Critical Thinking students on the AS Unit 1 paper, each resulting from a failure to pay close attention to the requirements of the question. Enough marks can be lost in this way that if both errors were committed by a single candidate then that alone could drop them from an A-grade to an E.

Turning an A into an E
First, what would it take to turn an A into an E?

The Unit 1 exam for AS Critical Thinking is marked out of 80. To get an A last year, a candidate needed to score at least 51 marks. Those who scored 20-26 marks were awarded an E. To turn an A into an E, a candidate who would otherwise have scraped an A would have to lose 25 marks in this way. Here's how they could lose 26:

Error 1: Assessing Witnesses, not Documents.
Marks lost: 18
The first error involves a failure to distinguish between assessing documents and assessing sources within documents.

In Section A of the exam, candidates are likely to be asked to assess the credibility of documents. The question's structure will probably be a lot like this (but read it carefully to check!):

"Consider the credibility of Documents 1, 2, and 3. For each document make two points of assessment, each of which should: (i) identify a relevant credibility criterion; (ii) use this to assess the credibility of the document; (iii) support your assessment with reference to the text."

Each point of assessment is likely to be worth 3 marks. 3 documents x 2 points of assessment x 3 marks = 18 marks.

A good answer might look something like this:

(Answer A): "[Document 1]'s credibility is strengthened by its neutrality. It contains sources representing each side of the debate, e.g. [Witness 1] and [Witness 2]."

This (i) identifies a relevant credibility criterion (neutrality), (ii) uses it to assess the credibility of the document (saying that the document is neutral because it contains sources representing each side of the debate, strengthening its credibility), and (iii) supports this assessment with reference to the text (citing examples of witnesses from each side of the debate). Assuming that the details are correct, this would be worth 3 marks.

Another perfectly acceptable answer would be:

(Answer B): "[Document 1]'s credibility is weakened by its poor ability to see. Its author wasn't present at the event; he 'was later called to the scene by a member of the public'."

Again, this (i) identifies a relevant credibility criterion (ability to see), (ii) uses this to assess the credibility of the document (saying that the document lacks ability to see because its author wasn't present at the event, and so lacks credibility), and (iii) supports this assessment with reference to the text (quoting to show that the document's author wasn't there). Again, assuming that the details are correct, this would be worth 3 marks.

So far, so good.

Consider the following answer, though:

(Answer C): "Ability to see is poor. He wasn't present at the event; he 'was called to the scene by a member of the public'."

Answer C picks up on the same idea as Answer B. However, whereas Answer B would be worth 3 marks (assuming that the details are correct), Answer C would be worth 0.

This is because Answer C doesn't assess the credibility of Document 1. The subject of Answer C is the "He" of the second sentence, the author of the Document. It is about the person, not the document, so doesn't answer the question.

Yes, this is rather pedantic, but careful thinking requires precision; that's part of what the exam is testing.

Key point: When assessing the credibility of documents, candidates must explicitly assess the credibility of the document, not individual sources contained within it or even its author (though they may refer to the individual sources to explain their assessment of the document). If candidates begin their answers, "[Document #]'s credibility is strengthened / weakened by [criterion of credibility]… ", and then proceed to develop the point then they should be fine. If they don't, then they could miss out on 18 marks, or 22.5% of the marks for the paper.

Error 2: Misunderstanding suppositional reasoning.
Marks lost: 8
The second error involves a failure to understand what's called suppositional reasoning (although you shouldn't panic if you haven't seen it called this before).

Section B of the exam will almost certainly include a section asking students to make points of credibility about specified individual witnesses. You are likely to be asked to make two points of credibility about each of two witnesses. The question might be structured like this (but read it carefully to double-check):

"Consider [Witness 1] in [Document 2] and [Witness 2] in [Document 3]. Assess the credibility of their evidence. For each person make two points of assessment, each of which should: (i) identify a claim made; (ii) assess how this is strengthened or weakened by any relevant credibility criterion; (iii) state what you must suppose to be true in order to reach your assessment."

There will probably be 4 marks available for each point of assessment, 1 for (i) identifying a relevant claim made by the witness, 1 more for (ii) correctly applying it to the witness's claim, and a further 2 for (iii) explaining what must be assumed for the assessment to hold.

Part (iii) is the suppositional reasoning, explaining what you must suppose to be true for your reasoning to work (you will also have dealt with assumptions for Unit 2).

2 witnesses x 2 points of assessment x 2 marks for suppositional reasoning = 8 marks.

Very few students get these marks. Many simply don't attempt that part of the question, but others have a go without quite understanding what they're supposed to be doing (perhaps using the claim to support the assessment, or writing something too general such as "assuming that he's telling the truth").

What you're supposed to be doing is this:

In explaining how the criterion of credibility applies, you will have given some information about the witness. You might have said that he is credible because he has expertise because of his job, or that he lacks credibility because he has a poor ability to see because the event took place in a night-club. For part (iii) of the question you must identify an assumption that you must make in order for those details to support your assessment.

For example:

"[Witness 1]'s credibility in claiming that snakes are quite safe if you treat them properly is strengthened by expertise as he works in a zoo, assuming that he doesn't work in the gift shop."

If Witness 1 worked in the gift shop, then the fact that he works at the zoo wouldn't give him expertise that would strengthen his credibility in making the claim. We must therefore assume that he doesn't to make the above point of assessment.

Similarly:

"[Witness 2]'s credibility in claiming that she didn't swear at him is weakened by poor ability to see because he was in a night-club so may not have heard what she said, assuming that there was loud music on when she spoke to him."

If there was no loud music on, then being in a night-club wouldn't make it difficult to hear what was said and so wouldn't compromise Witness 2's ability to see. We must therefore assume that there was loud music on to make the point of assessment.

Each of these answers, if the details were accurate, would be worth 4 marks.

Key point: To explain what must be assumed in order for a point of assessment about a witness to hold, consider the detail that you've given in explaining how a criterion of credibility applies to the witness's claim. Under what circumstances would this detail be true but still not support the assessment? You must assume that those circumstances don't hold.

Summary
In Critical Thinking, as in all exams, if you don't do what the questions ask you to do then you won't get many marks. The two questions outlined above are those where students have needlessly lost most marks in the past. If you are asked similar questions in your exam, then now you know exactly how to avoid making the same mistake.

Let's see if I make any of this mistakes tomorrow. Oh, and a head's up - over the next two weeks, this blog will probably magically transform into an exam/rant blog. Sorry, but that's just the way it goes.

BAFTA nominations have been announced, 2007; icky this year.

First, let me just have a little rant. HOW THE FRICK DID BRESLIN GET IN THERE AND IVANA GET OVERLOOKED?!!! Daniel Craig for Actor? Disgusting!!!! HOW DARE YOU NOMINATED 93 for DIRECTION????@ LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE SUX!!!

Anyway, here are the damned nominations, with my reactions and predictions in white.

FilmBabel - Alejandro González Iñárritu/Jon Kilik/Steve Golin
The Departed - Brad Pitt/Brad Grey/Graham King
The Last King Of Scotland - Andrea Calderwood/Lisa Bryer/Charles Steel
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen - Tracey Seaward/Christine Langan/Andy Harries

Babel, The Departed, The Queen all predictable. Nice to see BAFTA showing some variety with the nod to The Last King of Scotland, even if Little Miss Sunshine is awful.

The Alexander Korda Award For The Outstanding British Film Of The YearCasino Royale - Michael G Wilson/Barbara Broccoli/Martin Campbell/Neal Purvis/Robert Wade/Paul Haggis
The Last King Of Scotland - Andrea Calderwood/Lisa Bryer/Charles Steel/Kevin Macdonald/Peter Morgan/Jeremy Brock
Notes On A Scandal - Scott Rudin/Robert Fox/Richard Eyre/Patrick Marber
The Queen - Tracey Seaward/Christine Langan/Andy Harries/Stephen Frears/Peter Morgan
United 93 - Tim Bevan/Lloyd Levin/Paul Greengrass

So predictable.

The Carl Foreman Award For Special Achievement By A British Director, Writer Or Producer In Their First Feature FilmAndrea Arnold (Director) - Red Road
Julian Gilbey (Director) - Rollin' With The Nines
Christine Langan (Producer) - Pierrepoint
Gary Tarn (Director) - Black Sun
Paul Andrew Williams (Director) - London To Brighton

Okay, Andrea Arnold has GOT to win this. Red Road was stunning.

The David Lean Award For Achievement In Direction
Babel - Alejandro González Iñárritu
The Departed - Martin Scorsese
Little Miss Sunshine - Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris
The Queen - Stephen Frears
United 93 - Paul Greengrass

To be honest, I don't really give a cat's turd who wins this category any more. Nominating the two for Little Miss Sunshine is just a joke, the direction in that "movie" was atrocious.

Original Screenplay
Babel - Guillermo Arriaga
Little Miss Sunshine - Michael Arndt
Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo Del Toro
The Queen - Peter Morgan
United 93 - Paul Greengrass

Nice to see Pan's Labyrinth in there, thought my guess is that Babel will win.

Adapted Screenplay
Casino Royale - Neal Purvis/Robert Wade/Paul Haggis
The Departed - William Monahan
The Devil Wears Prada - Aline Brosh Mckenna
The Last King Of Scotland - Peter Morgan/Jeremy Brock
Notes On A Scandal - Patrick Marber

Casino Royale was one of the worst written films of 2006. I mean, Paul "Crash" Haggis wrote a third of it! Ugh. Anyway, nice to see Marber and McKenna getting into there, and Peter Morgan's proving that 2006 was quite his year, with nods in Adapted and Original. That is good.

Film Not In The English Language
Apocalypto - Mel Gibson/Bruce Davey
Black Book (Zwartboek) - Teun Hilte/San Fu Maltha/Jens Meurer/Paul Verhoeven
Pan's Labyrinth - Alfonso Cuarón/Bertha Navarro/Frida Torresblanco/Guillermo Del Toro
Rang De Basanti (Paint It Yellow) - Ronnie Screwvala/Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Volver - Agustín Almodóvar/Pedro Almodóvar

Right. If Pan's doesn't win this... then.. ugh.

Animated Feature Film
Cars - John Lasseter
Flushed Away - David Bowers/Sam Fell
Happy Feet - George Miller

Once again, proof that England is trying to copy America, and, once again, proof that you shouldn't do it.

Actor In A Leading Role
Daniel Craig - Casino Royale
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Departed
Richard Griffiths - The History Boys
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Forest Whitaker - The Last King Of Scotland

I am delighted about Griffith's nomination, as I'm sure you can guess, but words cannot describe my disgust at Craig getting nominated. He was bad. End of.

Actress In A Leading Role
Penélope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes On A Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children

So predictable.

Actor In A Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
James Mcavoy - The Last King Of Scotland
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
Leslie Phillips - Venus
Michael Sheen - The Queen

Delighted for James, disgusted at the rest. Here's to hoping the sexpot wins.

Actress In A Supporting Role
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Toni Collette - Little Miss Sunshine
Frances De La Tour - The History Boys
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Delighted for Emily, disgusted at the rest. Here's to hoping the classy lady wins.

The Anthony Asquith Award For Achievement In Film Music
Babel - Gustavo Santaolalla
Casino Royale - David Arnold
Dreamgirls - Henry Krieger
Happy Feet - John Powell
The Queen - Alexandre Desplat

The Da Vinci Code, Volver, Marie-Antoinette (seeing as BAFTA look at overall music and not just score), The Fountain and Perfume should all be here instead of these five. I mean, I love Desplat, but his score to The Queen was truly nothing special by his standards.

Cinematography
Babel - Rodrigo Prieto
Casino Royale - Phil Meheux
Children Of Men - Emmanuel Lubezki
Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo Navarro
United 93 - Barry Ackroyd

Decent, I suppose.

Editing
Babel - Stephen Mirrione/Douglas Crise
Casino Royale - Stuart Baird
The Departed - Thelma Schoonmaker
The Queen - Lucia Zucchetti
United 93 - Clare Douglas/Christopher Rouse/Richard Pearson

Meh. I'm surprised LMS didn't get in here; BAFTA are so in love with that piece of mediocrity.

Production Design
Casino Royale - Peter Lamont/Simon Wakefield
Children Of Men - Geoffrey Kirkland/Jim Clay/Jennifer Williams
Marie Antoinette - K K Barrett/Véronique Melery
Pan's Labyrinth - Eugenio Caballero/Pilar RevueltaPirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Rick Heinrichs/Cheryl A Carasik

Good choices.

Costume Design
The Devil Wears Prada - Patricia Field
Marie Antoinette - Milena CanoneroPan's Labyrinth - Lala Huete
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Penny Rose
The Queen - Consolata Boyle

A geniunely well chosen category.

Sound
Babel - José García/Jon Taylor/Chris Minkler/Martín Hernández
Casino Royale - Chris Munro/Eddy Joseph/Mike Prestwood Smith/Martin Cantwell/Mark Taylor
Pan's Labyrinth - Martín Hernández/Jamie Bashkt
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Christopher Boyes/George Watters Ii/ Paul Massey/Lee Orloff
United 93 - Chris Munro/Mike Prestwood Smith/Douglas Cooper/Oliver Tarney/Eddy Joseph

*nods in approval*

Achievement In Special Visual Effects
Casino Royale - Steve Begg/Chris Corbould
Children Of Men - Frazer Churchill/Tim Webber/Michael Eames/Paul Corbould
Pan's Labyrinth - Edward Irastorza/Everett Burrell
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - John Knoll/Hal Hickel/Charles Gibson
Superman Returns - Mark Stetson

Remind me, what were the special effects in Casino Royale again?

Make Up & Hair
The Devil Wears Prada - Nicki Ledermann/Angel De Angelis
Marie Antoinette - Jean-Luc Russier/Desiree Corridoni
Pan's Labyrinth*
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Ve Neill/Martin Samuel
The Queen - Daniel Phillips

Quite good choices. I love that BAFTA incorporate hair into the mix, unlike those idiots at Oscar.

Short Animation Film
Dreams And Desires - Family Ties - Les Mills/Joanna Quinn
Guy 101 - Ian Gouldstone
Peter And The Wolf - Hugh Welchman/Alan Dewhurst/Suzie Templeton

Short Film
Care - Rachel Bailey/Corinna Faith
Cubs - Lisa Williams/Tom Harper
Do Not Erase - Asitha Ameresekere
Hikikomori - Karley Duffy/Paul Wright
Kissing, Tickling And Being Bored - David Smith/Jim Mcroberts
The Orange Rising Star Award
Emily Blunt
Eva Green
Naomie Harris
Cillian Murphy
Ben Whishaw

We've talked about this. Emily to win.

BAFTA nominations come out tomorrow.

I am so, so, SO excited about this. As you may know, as a Brit, I feel a great affinity and attachment to the BAFTAs; I basically adore them. And they shouldn’t let me down this year. So here are my predictions:

Best Actress
Helen Mirren – The Queen
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Penelope Cruz - Volver

So, after much consideration (and consoling myself), I realise that even BAFTA, for all their genius, aren’t likely to nominate Baquero. Although they’re not strangers to awarding foreign performances, I think the factor working against Baquero here is her age. BAFTA aren’t too keen to nominate child performances, however brilliant (Haley for The Sixth Sense also missed the cut), and therefore, the Best Actress from BAFTA this year will be suspiciously similar to that of Oscars.

Best Actor
Cillian Murphy - The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
Peter O'Toole - Venus

I thought about having Clive Owen’s performance in there (BAFTA love him, they gave him the win for Closer in ’05), but alas, I think he’ll provide the opportunity cost for fellow Brit Cillian Murphy getting in there for his brilliant, intense performance in the otherwise dull The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Also, I considered Smith, but The Pursuit of Happyness wasn’t received too well by critics over here. And yes, Leo for the Double. Because I say so.

Best Supporting Actor
Bill Nighy - Notes On A Scandal
Brad Pitt - Babel
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
James McAvoy - The Last King of Scotland
Michael Sheen - The Queen

Three Brits, and two acclaimed performance. I think that seems about right. And the McAvoy pick might be slight wishful thinking on my part, but, then again, he DID win the Rising Star Award last year, so the BAFTAs like the cute man.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza – Babel
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Frances de la Tour - The History Boys
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi – Babel



Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Emily!! The two performances in Babel have been extremely acclaimed, and Babel’s been received OK over hee. I’m not sure about Hudson, I have her in there for the overall acclaim factor, though even if she doesn’t get the BAFTA nom, she’ll still be frontrunner.

Best Foreign Film
The Child (L'Enfant)
The Page Turner (Tourneuse de pages, La)
Pan's Labyrinth (Laberinto del Fauno, El)
Volver
Zidane - A 21st Century Portrait (Zidane, un portrait du 21e siecle)

This would be the perfect lineup; whether or not BAFTA oblige, is up to them.

Best Film
Babel
The Departed
Notes On A Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

I’d really like to think that BAFTA, unlike the various brainless awards, can see Little Miss Sunshine and United 93 for what they are: turds. The Pan’s Labyrinth prediction is VERY hopeful from me, but… but… you know…

Best Director
Babel
Children Of Men
The Departed
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen



There’s always a lone director; Cuaron’s work was highly acclaimed over here.

Oh yes, and the WGA noms come out today. Random stabs in the dark:

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Children of Men," Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton
"The Departed," William Monahan
"The Devil Wears Prada," Aline Brosh McKenna
"Notes on a Scandal," Patrick Marber
"Little Children," Todd Field, Tom Perotta

Best Original Screenplay
"Babel," Guillermo Arriaga
"Little Miss Sunshine," Michael Arndt
"Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo del Toro
"The Queen," Peter Morgan
"Stranger than Fiction," Zach Helm

My Picks for the 5 Sexiest Film Characters of 2006.

01. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed
02. James McAvoy in The Last King of Scotland
03. Samuel Barnett in The History Boys
04. Ben Wishaw in Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer
05. James McAvoy in Starter for 10

And you?

Deary me, I've had a tiring day. Chelsea drew at Wycombe; fair enough. Aside from that, my eyes ache from revising, but the Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer OST is aboslutely orgasmic. I'll try and upload some of the tracks from there for your listening pleasure.

Emily Blunt to follow James McAvoy?

BAFTA have this special category for the Rising Star of the Year. This year, the 5 nominees are:

Emily Blunt
Eva Green
Naomie Harris
Cillian Murphy
Ben Whishaw

Like last year's picks, another great selection. Emily to win!!

Award/Nomination Ramblings.

So, I didn't actually give my precise comments on all of the SAG and PGA noms. Here they are, with predictions in red.

PGA
Babel NS
The Departed Good film, but not one of the top 5 of the year.
Dreamgirls NS, not sure I dare to.
Little Miss Sunshine This film is really beginning to Zummer me off. It's actually in my bottom 10 of the year, and Breslin's performance is the most annoying in a 2006 film.
The Queen Good film.

SAG
Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver Beautiful performance.
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal NS, but I really can't wait now.
Helen Mirren, The Queen How did I just know this was going to be here?
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada Ugh. Love Meryl, liked the performance, hate the overration.
Kate Winslet, Little Children Good, B- performance.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel NS
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal NS
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine Sooooo annoying, and she stole Emily's spot.
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls NS
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel NS

Er. Perhaps I should see Babel sometime son.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond Yay! (even though I haven't seen the movie, it's Leo!)
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson NS
Peter O'Toole, Venus Predictable.
Will Smith, Pursuit of Happyness I saw the advert to this movie, thought it looked cute.
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland Good performance, but James was much better.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine No. Bad.
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed Excellent, but LEAD!!!! Anyway, yeah, I have him predicted for the win, because, you know...
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children Decent enough.
Djimon Honsou, Blood Diamond Want to see this.
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls Um.
(btw, I am absolutely delighted that Nicholson didn't make it, I really hated his performance.)

Ensemble
Babel NS
Bobby NS
The Departed Nic
Dreamgirls Meh.
Little Miss Sunshine Nope. Only Collette gave a good performance in this film.It will probably win as well. yuck.

Best Supporting Actress, 2006.

This post is in participation with the Supporting Actress blogathon that is going on at StinkyLulu’s blog. Check out and join in with the fun! :0)

My pick for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a 2006 is Emily Blunt as the bitchy Emily in The Devil Wears Prada. Emily Blunt’s been an actress I’ve been noticing for a while now, from her breakout turn as wealthy towngirl Tamsin in Pawel Pawlikowski’s My Summer of Love, as well as her several TV appearances over the years. But her fantastic work in this film, where she manages to steal the show from Streep’s good-but-slightly-overhyped performance, trumps anything I’ve seen from her.

She plays Miranda Priestley’s fashion-savvy first assistant, who lives for her clothes. Her portrayal is spot-on and the blunt one-liners from Emily (ugh, crap pun alert) offers a good variation with Hathaway’s more wide-eyed, naïf. You can tell that Emily had enjoyed doing this movie, because in her performance she just totally lets her hair down and has fun, and in doing so is comedic heaven. I do love it when you can see an actor having fun with their role.

But, amazingly, she is able to bring a level of depth to the caricaturish character of Emily, by varying vitriol and desperation. She veers from Priestley-esque cattiness to genuine desperation in the short space of a few scenes, meaning that whilst we don’t adore Emily as a character, the film is simply lacking in magic when she’s not on screen.

So, FYC: Emily Blunt for Best Supporting Actress!

Notes on a Scandal.

So, I read Notes on a Scandal.

“Unputdownable” has become a bit of a cliché nowadays, but this book truly was it. After watching Ugly Betty last night (good show, America Ferreira was a delight), I got started on it, and couldn’t go to sleep until I’d finished it.

Zoë Heller’s novel tells the story of Sheba, a pottery teacher who is found out to have had an illicit affair with a 15-year-old boy, and the repercussions of her actions, as well as how it all came about. It is told from the point of view of Barbara, a History teacher working at the school at the time, who, from the start, saw Sheba as a kindred spirit.

The book is simply wonderful. Heller writes superbly, with an ironic, amusing tone, that touches upon many of the mundane events of school life, satirising practically everyone, from the “upright prig” who wears panty liners everyday of the month (women, you’re likely to get this bit more than men), to the head teacher who tries hard to get everyone to love him when he’s the most pedantic one. The description of Steven [the underage boy] and Sheba’s relationship is tense, believable and Barbara being the narrator, we also get the analytical, non-subjective side of things. Furthermore, Heller is very apt in how she captures the fickleness of young love.

The last act of the book surprised me too, but it would be giving too much away if I said anything. Suffice to say, the plot turns so that it is no longer just about Sheba, but also about Barbara, her loneliness, and a very unorthodox friendship.

Basically, I cannot wait for the film to come out now. Notes on a Scandal is the best book I’ve read of 2007 (though, admittedly, I’ve only read 2 others), and I can seriously picture Judi Dench playing Barbara with the calculated scariness that I read of. Should be good.

Other Crap
- This week, whilst walking to school, I tripped up and grazed my right knee. It really hurts.
- I'm going to a friend's birthday party tonight, and we shall be watching a movie & eating pizza. I just felt like telling you. ;P
- I'm really scared about the idea of Little Miss Sunshine getting nominated for Best Film. Damnit, it just isn't that good! Why did it get a PGA and an SAG ensemble nod, then? Ugh, I hate that movie so much!!
- However, I am relieved that United 93 is getting award season shutout. haha!

BAFTA Longlist Announced!!!

Okay, you guys should really appreciate this, because I'm cutting time off doing my English essay (which is, admittedly, 79.56% complete, but still) to show you this.

Source is Screen International. Basically, BAFTA will choose 5 from each of these 15 as their nominees:

Best Actress - Top 15:
Annette Bening - Running with Scissors
Beyonce Knowles - Dreamgirls
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Emma Thompson - Stranger than Fiction
Eva Green - Casino Royale
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Ivana Baquero - Pan's Labyrinth
Jodie Whittaker - Venus
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Juliette Binoche - Breaking And Entering
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Kirsten Dunst - Marie Antoinette
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Renee Zellweger - Miss Potter

Best Actor - Top 15:
Cillian Murphy - The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Clive Owen - Children of Men
Daniel Craig - Casino Royale
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Greg Kinnear - Little Miss Sunshine
Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
Matt Damon - The Departed
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Richard Griffiths - The History Boys
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Timothy Spall - Pierrepoint
Toby Jones - Infamous
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

Best Supporting Actor - Top 15:
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland
Bill Nighy - Notes On A Scandal
Brad Pitt - Babel
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Gael Garcia Bernal - Babel
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
James McAvoy - The Last King of Scotland
Leslie Phillips - Venus
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
Michael Caine - Children of Men
Michael Sheen - The Queen
Stanley Tucci - The Devil Wears Prada
Steve Carell - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Supporting Actress - Top 15:
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Anne Hathaway - The Devil Wears Prada
Cate Blanchett - Babel
Diane Lane - Hollywoodland
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Emily Watson - Miss Potter
Frances de la Tour - The History Boys
Helen McCrory - The Queen
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Judi Dench - Casino Royale
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Sharon Stone - Bobby
Sylvia Syms - The Queen
Toni Collette - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Foreign Film - Top 15:
36 Quai des Orfevres
Apocalypto
Black Book (Zwartboek)
The Child (L'Enfant)
The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Moartea Domnului Lazarescu)
Gabrielle
Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan Geumjassi)
Lemming
The Page Turner (Tourneuse de pages, La)
Pan's Labyrinth (Laberinto del Fauno, El)
Paradise Now
Rang De Basanti (Paint it Yellow)
Secuestro Express
Volver
Zidane - A 21st Century Portrait (Zidane, un portrait du 21e siecle)

Best Film - Top 15:
Babel
Bobby
Casino Royale
Children Of Men
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada
Flags Of Our Fathers
The History Boys
The Last King Of Scotland
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes On A Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
United 93
Volver

Best Director - Top 15:
Apocalypto
Babel
Bobby
Casino Royale
Children Of Men
The Departed
Flags Of Our Fathers
The History Boys
The Last King Of Scotland
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes On A Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
United 93
Volver

Comments/Reactions
YAY for Ivana Baquero & Emily Blunt! Yay! And some love for The History Boys, even if Stephen Campbell Moore and Samuell Barnett were snubbed. Nice to see Leo got in, but disappointed for Jennifer Ehle, especially seeing as the twatty Abigail Breslin made the final 15 and she didn't Ugh. Nice to see Eva Green in there, even if she was supporting. And not that much love for Ewwnited93, which is nice. But Daniel Craig? Eww!

Predictions

Best Actress
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Ivana Baquero - Pan's Labyrinth
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Penelope Cruz - Volver
(I know, wishful thinking alert for Ivana. But she was just so amazing! She has to get nominated, or BAFTA will get Zummered.)

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
(BAFTA love their Double nominations, Leo to get in there. BAFTA are yet to nominate Will, so this could be his year.)

Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt - Babel
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
James McAvoy - The Last King of Scotland
Michael Sheen - The Queen
(BAFTA love them some Brits.)

Best Supporting Actress - Top 15:
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Frances de la Tour - The History Boys
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
(Gooooo Emily!!!!!!!!!!)

Best Foreign Film
The Child (L'Enfant)
The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Moartea Domnului Lazarescu)
Pan's Labyrinth (Laberinto del Fauno, El)
Volver
Zidane - A 21st Century Portrait (Zidane, un portrait du 21e siecle)
(Er.)

Best Film
Babel
The Departed
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
Volver
(Excellent lineup, if it were to happen.)

Best Director
Children Of Men
The Departed
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
Volver
(Yup.)

Oooh! I'm so excited!