Break from the 3rd World

I went to a steakhouse with some folks from the office today. Upon my return the Oscar nominations were being announced. In a break from Kabul, here are my Oscar picks (let it be known that my co-workers bought me two glasses of scotch prior to returning to the hotel. Also, some movie with Hillary Duff and Heather Locklear is playing on one of the 5 channels on my tv, so my picks may be skewed.)

Best picture: My favorite movie of the year, Blood Diamond (and Jackass Numer Two), was not even nominated so its a tough call. I've only seen 3 of the 5 flicks nominated and didnt think The Queen, Babel, or Departed were particularly epic. All of them were pretty good and to be honest, The Queen was actually the most interesting since I didn't know the back story going on during the Princess Di fiasco with regards to the crown. In my opinion, and not what I think will win, I'll have to say The Departed was my fave of the options. Jack, Leo, gangstas and Boston accents are always entertaining.

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio is my hands down choice. Unless he is asked to play an athlete, DiCaprio is always pretty money. I mentioned to Natalia when we saw Blood Diamond that him and Denzel are always money regardless of the quality of the film. The conflict diamond story was interesting as well and he did a great job I thought. Truth be told, I didn't see any of the other flicks here and only know that one of the other nominees dates Rachel McAdams, another personal favorite. (See pic. Further props to her for starring in The Hot Chick with the Bay Area's own Rob Schneider. Anyone who enjoys working with SF-bred, half Filipinos will always rank highly in my book.)

Best Actress: Meryl Streep. I saw this flick on the way out here and although nothing annoys me more than the repetitive story of the frumpy midwestern chick with no style making it in NY after a milisecond, Streep played the bitch role perfectly. Again, I only saw three of the five flicks here, but Streep struck a chord. Maybe it was being on a plane for 14 hours, but she was good. I'm almost tempted to blindly pick Kate Winslet since she might be my favorite actress, but I didn't see the flick yet.

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson. When I was in NY, we saw a "double feature" of Blood Diamond and Dreamgirls. I've never seen people applaud in the audience during a singing number in a movie before, but people did just that after a couple of Hudson's solos. That alone is Oscar-worthy.

Best Supporting Actor: Djimon Honsou. My bias to Blood Diamond is clear at this point, but he was great I thought. Alan Arkin is also a personal fave (Slums of Beverly Hills and Glengarry GlenRoss are great), but I didn't see Little Miss Sunshine. Marky Mark was only in two scenes in The Departed, which makes his nomination a joke to me. Eddie Murphy is also deserving I think. Hopefully, Charlie Murphy is in attendance with him.

Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Viva Mexico! I may be biased towards the latino filmakers of the world, but it takes some skill to juggle the numerous storylines taking place in Babel, and I thought he presented them well, especially the Tokyo stuff. Scorsese has so many better flicks that I think a win for him here is just a salute to his body of work, which I can accept.