oscar musings

Well, it looks like The Departed will finally procure Martin Scorcese that long-overdue oscar (best director and hopefully, for best picture too). i say it's about bloody time. let's give the man his due and then move on. i know, some folks don't consder The Departed his best work, but hey it's a whole lot better than most films i had to sit through this year. the best, as far as i'm concerned.

and it's not just consuelo de bobo either, because let's face it there has been a passel of noteworthy films that have cropped up by december (e.g., a photo finish for Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, a companion to his earlier WWII film, Flags of our Fathers).

other films that have been touted as 2007 oscar best picture contenders include Little Miss Sunshine, Dreamgirls, Letters from Iwo Jima, Babel, The Queen, Children of Men, United 93, Pan's Labyrinth (which will most likely be relegated to the foreign film category, along with Volver [Spanish] and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto [Yukatek]).

based on the latest count, The Departed has been voted as best picture by film critics from Florida, Chicago and Las Vegas, as well as Southeastern Film Critics, Satellite, Broadcast Flm Critics. i expect it will win at golden globes as well. Scorcese also got the nod as best director from most of these outfits and other organizations besides. many pundits are already betting that 2007 will finally be scorcese's year. well, i hope so.

as for acting awards, i'm not too interested about the outcome this year. we might as well hand those gleaming statuettes to helen mirren (The Queen) and Forrest Whitakker (the Last King of Scotland)  – their names are practically written on them. my, it looks like 2007 is the year for royalty too. i'm hoping mark wahlberg (Sgt. Dignam in The Departed) will get nominated for best supporting actor, although i'm not holding my breath for this.