In the glory days of the Academy, these two categories would frequently align with Best Picture. While some would regard this as boring, others saw it as being indicative of the presence of truly great films. After all, wouldn’t it seem logical that the best movie of the year would also be the best photographed and put together? But alas, the days of “Braveheart,” “The English Patient,” and “Titanic” have gone. In their place, we have “Babel.” Oh well. Let’s get on with the predictions.

For Best Cinematography, the nominees are…

Vilmos Zsigmond, “The Black Dahlia”
Emmanuel Lubezki…
More... | 2 Comments

And now we’re down to two. Clearly, this will be the hardest elimination to make, but ultimately, it is correct. Let’s revisit the muddled Best Picture landscape.

“The Departed” seems to be gaining traction, as a majority of internet Oscar sites are now favoring it over “Little Miss Sunshine.” The reasoning appears to be this. As we edge closer to the big day, people start to wisen up and become more serious. They begin to think to themselves, “how can a weird picture like Little Miss Sunshine, that has a young girl gyrating to the tune of ‘Super Freak’…
More... | 7 Comments

Doesn’t it seem like no matter what, the screenwriters never seem to get their ample due? Oscar handicappers, like ourselves, discuss and disect the Best Picture and acting categories to death, and year around nonetheless. But how often do we stop to spare a few words for the master scribes? After all, you wouldn’t have any movie to talk about without first the script. We’ll examine the intricacies of this year’s screenplay categories, starting with Best Original Screenplay. The nominees are:

Guillermo Ariaga, “Babel”
Iris Yamashita, “Letters From Iwo Jima”
Michael Arndt, “Little Miss Sunshine”
Guillermo del Toro, “Pan’s…
More... | 2 Comments

Providing an informed prediction for best animated short film is difficult because the films generally only show at festivals and are not officially available online. Although some industrious fans have put two of this year’s nominees – “Maestro” and “The Little Matchgirl” – on video-sharing sites, the other three films – “Lifted”, “No Time for Nuts,” and “The Danish Poet” – are harder to come by. The best resource for seeing clips of the five nominees is the Animation World Network. Out of the five shorts, “The Little Matchgirl” has the most sentimental and uplifting story. It tells the…
More... | 3 Comments

“Little Miss Sunshine” or “The Departed?”

“Pirates’” cannons or “Iwo Jima’s” bombs for sound editing?

Which “Dreamgirls’” song, if any, will take home the original song award?

Now it’s your turn to be the expert. Enter OscarFrenzy’s 1st Annual Predictions contest and you could win a terrific prize. Just click on the link on the menu bar in the upper right corner of the home page. Rules and explanations will follow.

The deadline for the contest is midnight on February 24th. Good luck!…
More... | 12 Comments

When it comes to the techs, here are two categories that have been fairly predictable over the years. Part of the reason for this is because usually only three films are nominated. This, of course, makes no sense whatsover. Why should every other category get five slots and makeup and visual effects only three? “Dreamgirls” and “The Queen” could have easily filled up two more spots this year in makeup. Anyway, let’s take a peek at this year’s makeup finalists.

“Apocalypto”
“Click”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”

In a way. this is probably the easiest and dumbest category of the year…
More... | 6 Comments

At the beginning of the month, OscarFrenzy set out to handicap the wide-open Best Picture race. We began by eliminating “The Queen,” a very good film, but seemingly one that did not possess enough passionate support to go the distance. In the time since, “The Queen” has captured the top prize at the BAFTA awards and Miramax, a studio adept at crafting winning campaigns, has launched a high profile ad campaign. So are we changing our minds now? The answer would be no.

In the long run, “The Queen” might finish higher in final balloting, but there won’t be…
More... | 5 Comments

First of all, what the heck is up with the original score category? Every year, tons of deserving and outstanding scores seem to get ignored by whoever determines the nominees. This year is no different. Clint Mansell’s “The Fountain” is an exquisite and original piece of composition. The Globes recognized it, but not the Academy. Same with Clint Eastwood’s simple, yet elegant theme to “Flags of Our Fathers” and another gem from Hans Zimmer in the form of “The Da Vinci Code.”

Oh well. We have what we have, and in this year’s Original Score category, the nominees are…
More... | 1 Comment

The documentary “Jesus Camp” is an all-access pass to the “Kids on Fire” summer camp for Evangelical Christian pre-teens. There, kids are trained to become “Christian Soldiers” on a mission to spread scorched-earth fundamentalism throughout what the organizers refer to as “this sick, old world.”

The camp’s children and adult counselors open up for the cameras with an unguarded (and often cringe-inducing) honesty. At a church service, eight-year-olds speak in tongues, their bodies vibrating, their eyes wet with ecstatic tears. Toe-heads cheerily pledge to bring the same fervor to their Christian faith that Muslim suicide bombers bring to theirs…
More... | 3 Comments