Kevin McCallister

Okay, here goes: BEST PICTURE The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader Slumdog Millionaire We can nix THE READER and FROST/NIXON. BUTTON wouldn't be bad, but it won't beat SLUMDOG or MILK. SLUMDOG has been getting more and more buzz lately, but somehow, I just don't think the Academy will award it here. It'll get almost everything else, but I think MILK has this one in the bag. SHOULD WIN: Slumdog Millionaire WILL WIN: Milk BEST DIRECTOR Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon Stephen Daldry, The Reader Gus Van Sant, Milk We can automatically rule out Howard and Daldry (who nominated those guys, anyway?). Fincher would be nice, but doesn't seem likely to beat out Van Sant or Boyle. If Boyle wins, he'll certainly be getting it for his best film, but Van Sant could very easily steal it. Fortunately, they both deserve it. I must note: how Chris Nolan (THE DARK KNIGHT) and Clint Eastwood (CHANGELING) were not nominated here is beyond me. SHOULD WIN: Danny Boyle or Gus Van Sant WILL WIN: Danny Boyle BEST ACTOR Richard Jenkins, The Visitor Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon Sean Penn, Milk Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler Jenkins' nomination is welcome, but he doesn't have a chance against the others. Pitt and Langella both put forth strong performances, but neither have the buzz of Rourke's or Penn's. I'd love for Rourke to get it (and he does deserve it), but we all know how much the Academy looooves Sean Penn (though Penn's performance isn't bad either). SHOULD WIN: Mickey Rourke WILL WIN: Sean Penn BEST ACTRESS Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married Angelina Jolie, Changeling Melissa Leo, Frozen River Meryl Streep, Doubt Kate Winslet, The Reader Kate is going to win. I just really wish it was for any other movie she's done but this one. ANY one. SHOULD AND WILL WIN: Kate Winslet BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Josh Brolin, Milk Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road Shannon was good, but doesn't have a shot against his competition; Downey Jr. was amusing, but he's not even in the same league as the others in this case. As good as Brolin and Hoffman were, neither of them can touch the performance we all knew was going to take it home this year. SHOULD AND WILL WIN: Heath Ledger BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Amy Adams, Doubt Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Viola Davis, Doubt Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler Tomei would be nice, but she won't get it; Davis and Henson both had strong performances, but not Oscar worthy. I hope with every fiber of my being that Cruz DOES NOT win, but the Academy has some kind of fascination with her and I can totally see them snubbing Adams. Boo! SHOULD WIN: Amy Adams WILL WIN: Penélope Cruz BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Frozen River, Courtney Hunt Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh In Bruges, Martin McDonagh Milk, Dustin Lance Black WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter Wall-E would be nice, the the Academy would never award such a choice. MILK certainly wouldn't be unexpected, but the other nominees have more writing buzz and with all the attention that IN BRUGES has gotten recently, it seems like a lock. Still, Happy Go-Lucky would be nice. SHOULD WIN: Happy Go-Lucky WILL WIN: In Bruges BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth Doubt, John Patrick Shanley Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan The Reader, David Hare Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy We can nix DOUBT and THE READER (hopefully). FROST/NIXON is good, but doesn't have the clout of BUTTON or SLUMDOG. I would love to see either of these two win, but SLUMDOG seems likely to sweep this one. SHOULD WIN: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button OR Slumdog Millionaire WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Bolt Kung Fu Panda WALL-E Is this even a contest? Please, Academy: do the right thing. SHOULD AND WILL WIN: Wall-E. BEST ART DIRECTION Changeling The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight The Duchess Revolutionary Road Really tough. THE DARK KNIGHT probably doesn't have a shot against its competition. THE DUCHESS pretty much already has a lock for costume design, but ROAD and CHANGELING are so similar that it's likely they'll split the vote. A pity, especially considering that CHANGELING'S already been snubbed on so many deserved nominations. SHOULD WIN: Changeling WILL WIN: The Duchess BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Changeling The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight The Reader Slumdog Millionaire Both THE READER and DARK KNIGHT are out. THE CHANGELING looks amazing, but doesn't have the picturesque look of BUTTON. I really think this is BB'S most deserved Oscar, but I have a feeling the Academy is going to leave this one to SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. SHOULD WIN: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire BEST COSTUME DESIGN Australia The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Duchess Milk Revolutionary Road We can rule out MILK and AUSTRALIA; BUTTON and ROAD are great, but both have very similar designs, leading them to likely split the vote. Not that it matters though, because THE DUCHESS trumps them all. SHOULD AND WILL WIN: The Duchess BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) Encounters at the End of the World The Garden Man on Wire Trouble the Water I've seen none of these, so I'm gonna take a guess based purely on synopsis. With that, I find it hard to believe any of the nominated could trump a film on KATRINA. WILL WIN: Trouble the Water BEST EDITING The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight Frost/Nixon Milk Slumdog Millionaire Very tough. FROST/NIXON is good, but not on the caliber of the others. BUTTON works, but isn't quite as tight as the rest and THE DARK KNIGHT just doesn't beat the remaining two. It really boils down to MILK Vs. SLUMDOG and as well as both of them are cut, MILK lacks the building tension that SLUMDOG has (save for maybe near the end), largely thanks to the film's editing. SHOULD AND WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire BEST MAKEUP The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight Hellboy II: The Golden Army So it's Button Vs. Joker Vs. Hellboy. All three films certainly have a chance here. Oscar politics would dictate BENJAMIN BUTTON to be the winner, but I have a feeling DARK KNIGHT and BB will split the vote, making HELLBOY victorious (and deservedly so). SHOULD AND WILL WIN: Hellboy II: The Golden Army BEST ORIGINAL SCORE The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat Defiance, James Newton Howard Milk, Danny Elfman Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman WALL-E, Thomas Newman The Academy will likely ignore Newman, Howard, and Elfman (as they always do, sadly). BUTTON has a wonderfully subtle and emotional score, but I have a sinking feeling the Academy is going to pull a "Santaolalla" and recognize SLUMDOG for perhaps the only award it doesn't deserve. SHOULD WIN: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire BEST ORIGINAL SONG ''Down to Earth,'' WALL-E ''Jai Ho,'' Slumdog Millionaire ''O Saya,'' Slumdog Millionaire SLUMDOG could very easily split the vote, shooing WALL-E in for the win. Still, I don't see how SLUMDOG doesn't have this one locked. SHOULD AND WILL WIN: "Jai Ho," Slumdog Millionaire BEST SOUND EDITING The Dark Knight Iron Man Slumdog Millionaire WALL-E Wanted The only one of these that even has a chance of taking WALL-E is IRON MAN, and even it falls short here. SHOULD AND WILL WIN: Wall-E BEST SOUND MIXING The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight Slumdog Millionaire WALL-E Wanted SLUMDOG has a dark horse chance here, though once again, I find it hard to believe that any of these could have a chance against a movie that is built entirely upon sound. SHOULD AND WILL WIN: Wall-E BEST VISUAL EFFECTS The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight Iron Man IRON MAN may not be the best of the three (in fact, it isn't), but the other two films simply don't offer as much in the way of visual effects. THE DARK KNIGHT boasts only one major sequence (two, if you count the "Bat-Sonar"), while BUTTON'S success lies more in the makeup than in the CGI. I'd love for the Academy to award this on the merit of subtlety, but it ain't gonna happen. SHOULD WIN: The Dark Knight or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button WILL WIN: Iron Man

As far as the best in terms of volume and quality: The LOTR Extended Editions The ALIEN Quadrilogy Panic Room 3-Disc Fight Club The Ultimate Bond Volumes There are also some films that are terrific special editions that have the just the right amount of features, without going overboard or being bare bones. The WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? 2-Disc Vista Series is one of my all-time favorite DVDs with just the right amount of extras, great menus, and an overall solid presentation.

Wow, leave for a few days and the thread skyrockets! Has anyone else noticed that the opening of the "unreleased" part of "Indy's Very First Adventure" is still different from the film?

Jeff confirms that the TOD End Credits on Disc 2 are identical to the album and that the "Return to the Village/Riaders March" does end on that odd note before the credits roll. Guess we'll still be missing that 0:25.

Someone at FSM said this and I don't think it's been brought up here yet - Do you guys think that maybe the single release of RAIDERS was postponed BECAUSE the folks behind the set realized that "The Basket Game" and "Desert Chase" were edited, and are now going back to fix them in time for the box set? Yeah, it's a stretch, but it's no more ridiculous than all of the other unreleased material from the DCC album being present except for what was expanded. In short: Until we have official track times for the set and more news, all of this is speculation, nothing more.

So judging by those track times, it appears that "The Poisoning" and "The Mummy Cave" are included!! Does this mean that the only unreleased Raiders music now is the Cairo source music?

Is this a combination of "Escape in the Truck" and "Blasphemy/The Road to Berlin"?

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up...but I think it's very possible we'll get 95% complete scores. After cutting down my iTunes lists of all the released material from my Indy tracklists, I've come up with the following: --25-26 minutes left of TOD unreleased. --26-27 minutes left of Last Crusade unreleased. This, of course, excludes alternates and source cues. Assuming that the interviews take up no more than 15 minutes (as speculated), we could also maybe get the concert arrangement of the Raiders March and maybe some other bits of Raiders (like Discovery of the Ark, if it's not on Disc 1). This is great!

What killed the dinosaurs...THE ICE AGE!

If we are talking strictly about acting ability: Jessica Alba Keanu Reeves Jake Lloyd Halle Berry Denise Richards Regina King Dane Cook Paul Walker Lindsay Lohan Kate Bosworth David Hasselhoff Steven Segal Tara Reid Matthew Lillard Kristanna Loken I'm sure I know more, but I can't think of any.

No.

It's not one of Williams best sequel scores, but it's still great music and the release is about as excellent as all expanded Williams releases come these days. Chronological order, terrific presentation, great sound quality, etc. etc. Hell, the complete Arrival in New York is worth it alone!

I'm in agreement with Neil on this one. Josh, you're right. Petty emails won't do the trick. However - respectable, friendly, and mature emails just might. You never know. Anyone who sent emails similar to what's been shown in this thread should be congratulated - you not only embarrassed yourself, but probably have given these people a poor indication of what we (the fans) are like.

I can. It's a great movie. Batman Begins beats all of these films by a longshot. There's almost no comparison.

TOD: Over The Himalayas Underground Heroics Water and Cliff Confrontation LC: The Portuguese Coast The Floor's On Fire! The Wrong Chalice/Papa Jones is Healed