The BFCA Awards are on within an hour: Predictions/favorites/unrelenting bickering within...

They are also known as the "critics choice" awards, but when referred to as that, critics are given a terrible name (yeah, these awards aren't always up to par). I don't know much about them, but they will be on at 8 PM EST on the WB (Channel 11 near me). They often follow the worst kind of groupthink (a.k.a "let's be the biggest precursors to the Academy Awards and nominate the ones we think WILL be singled out by the Oscar, despite many being rather mediocre bait"), which is so odd because aren't they supposed to be scrutinizing folks? Nevertheless, I don't expect much from them, but my boredom has forced me to pick my favorites (most are named so by default) and make some arbitrary predictions. None of the top ten are in my top 10 (Brokeback might be my #10, actually), so I will rate the Best Pic nominees that I have seen (damnit, I really need to go check out King Kong and Munich sometime soon). So here I go:

Bold = predicted winner
*** = the most deserving
@@@ = if I could drop one nominee...

BEST PICTURE:
***Brokeback Mountain (B+)
Capote (B-)
Cinderella Man (C)
The Constant Gardener (B)
Crash (C)
Good Night, and Good Luck. (B-)
King Kong
@@@ Memoirs of a Geisha (D)
Munich
Walk the Line (C+)

BEST ACTOR:
@@@ Russell Crowe – “Cinderella Man”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – “Capote”
Terrence Howard – “Hustle & Flow”
***Heath Ledger – “Brokeback Mountain”
Joaquin Phoenix – “Walk the Line”
David Strathairn – “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

PSH, Ledger and Strathairn are all on the same level, so it was a difficult choice. Damnit, where the hell is Jeff Daniels!?!!? If he were nominated, he would be my sure winner.

BEST ACTRESS:
***Joan Allen – “The Upside of Anger”
Judi Dench - “Mrs. Henderson Presents”
Felicity Huffman – “Transamerica”
Keira Knightley – “Pride & Prejudice”
@@@ Charlize Theron – “North Country”
Reese Witherspoon – “Walk the Line”

Meh.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
George Clooney – “Syriana”
Kevin Costner – “The Upside of Anger”
Matt Dillon – “Crash”
Paul Giamatti – “Cinderella Man”
*** Jake Gyllenhaal – “Brokeback Mountain”
@@@ Terrence Howard – “Crash”

Let me echo the "meh."

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Amy Adams – “Junebug”
Maria Bello – “A History of Violence”
Catherine Keener – “Capote”
@@@Frances McDormand – “North Country”
Rachel Weisz – “The Constant Gardener”
***Michelle Williams – “Brokeback Mountain”

Probably the only category that has over two worthy contenders.

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE:
Crash
***Good Night, and Good Luck.
Rent
Syriana
@@@Sin City

By default.

BEST DIRECTOR:
***George Clooney – “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
@@@Paul Haggis – “Crash”
@@@Ron Howard – “Cinderella Man”
Peter Jackson – “King Kong”
Ang Lee – “Brokeback Mountain”
Steven Spielberg – “Munich”

Yeah, I really need to see King Kong and Munich, because I am not happy at all with my "favorite" here. Although I do have a weakspot for that pinko commie.

BEST WRITER:
*******Noah Baumbach – “The Squid and the Whale”
George Clooney and Grant Heslov – “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
Dan Futterman – “Capote”
@@@Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco – “Crash”
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana – “Brokeback Mountain”

Probably the only one in this whole damn award show that I am genuinely rooting for.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
@@@“Chicken Little”
“Corpse Bride”
“Howl’s Moving Castle”
“Madagascar”
*****“Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”

Oh wait, I really want this to win, also. As for the others, I have only seen Corpse Bride, which was rather drab. I couldn't even tolerate Chicken Little's insufferable trailers, so it has to go.

BEST YOUNG ACTOR:
Jesse Eisenberg – “The Squid and the Whale”
Alex Etel – “Millions”
@@@Freddie Highmore – “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”
***Owen Kline – “The Squid and the Whale”
Daniel Radcliffe – “Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire”

Wishful predicting, perhaps; either of the Squid's kids would be fine.

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS:
Flora Cross – “Bee Season”
Dakota Fanning – “War of the Worlds”
Georgie Henley – “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe”
Q'Orianka Kilcher – “The New World”
@@@Emma Watson – “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”

Eww. Don't make me choose.

BEST COMEDY MOVIE:
***The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Mrs. Henderson Presents
The Producers
@@@The Wedding Crashers

I am really mad I missed Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. I am really glad I missed The Prodcuers.

BEST FAMILY FILM (LIVE ACTION):
@@@Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Dreamer
@@@Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

I've only seen Charlie and Harry, and neither are good.

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION:
Into the West
*******No Direction Home
Rome
Warm Springs

The Dylan doc, even though I have only seen half.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Cache
@@@Kung Fu Hustle
Oldboy
Paradise Now
***2046

I'll accept Caché winning. As long as it isn't either Hustle or Oldboy.

BEST SONG:
“Hustle & Flow” – Terrence Howard – “Hustle & Flow”
“A Love That Will Never Grow Old” – Emmylou Harris – “Brokeback Mountain”
“Same in Any Language” – I Nine – “Elizabethtown”
“Seasons of Love” – Tracie Thoms, Jesse L. Martin and Cast – “Rent”
“Travelin’ Thru” – Dolly Parton – “Transamerica”

Fuck if I know.

BEST SOUNDTRACK:
Elizabethtown
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Producers
Rent
Walk the Line

If I cared, I'd actually waste my time using the *'s @'s and the bold function.

BEST COMPOSER:
James Horner – “The New World”
***Gustavo Santaolalla – “Brokeback Mountain”
@@@John Williams – “Memoirs of a Geisha”
Nancy Wilson – “Elizabethtown”

But damn, they should have turned the volume down on Brokeback's score a bit.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Enron – The Smartest Guys in the Room (B)
***Grizzly Man (B+)
@@@Mad Hot Ballroom (C+)
@@@March of the Penguins (C+)
Murderball (B+)

Yeah...

Wow, in the end I realize just how extremely apathetic I am about this whole awards show (and season, in general). Where is the awards passion?!? It's going to be a lugubrious two months for any lover of film.

(Next entry will have updates with Junk e-mail, my reason to dislike the new year, French snobs, English snobs, Frivolous fabric (the Muppets!), Waiting for Godot (err -- I mean Guffman), and Transvestites who talk like Mrs. Doubtfire.)