Three films are nominated for best visual effects: the Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, and War of the Worlds. A year ago, I would have assumed Revenge of the Sith to be a lock for best visual effects, but it didn’t make the cut. Both Chronicles of Narnia and War of the World had contributions from George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. To make my pick, I consulted the awards list for the Visual Effects Society(VES) Awards. Two of the three pictures nominated in this category were also nominated by VES: Chronicles of Narnia and King Kong. So, I…
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It’s not the sexiest category, but it’s got teeth. After all, good music is the backbone of any film. In the past, the winner of the original score category has often followed two trends: match up wth the eventual Best Picture winner, or (imagine this!) reward the actual best original score. Let’s take the second part first. I’ve listened to all five nominated scores. Believe me, this is not an especially easy task. Tower Records is not exactly overflowing with CDs featuring the instrumental music of The Constant Gardener. Anyways…three of the five nominated scores are fairly bland. Pride and…
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When picking Oscars, bluffing your way through the picks in one category can be the difference between office glory and defeat. One category that I often do not pay much attention to when making my picks is Short Film (Live Action). This year I decided to try and learn about the films before Oscar night. Below I present information on each film and predict a winner.

Ausreisser (The Runaway)
When the six-year-old son he never knew he had shows up on his doorstep one morning, a novice father tries to find the boy’s absent mother.This is…
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