CTHD and Ang Lee should and will win.
Linney should win for best actress, Roberts will.
Hanks should and will win for best actor (I’ve only seen 2 of the movies nominated in this category.)
Hudson should win for supporting actress, Dench will.
Benicio del Toro should and will win for supporting actor.
YCCOM should win for original screenplay, Gladiator will.
Traffic should and will win for adapted screenplay.
My personal opinion-
Best Actress: Julia Roberts
Best Supporting Actress: Frances McDormand
Best Supporting Actor: Benicio del Toro
Best Adapted Screenplay: Wonderboys
Best Original Screenplay: Almost Famous
Best Picture: Erin Brockovich
Best Direction: Ang Lee
I enjoyed Gladiator, and think that it will win best film, but personally I prefer all the other best film nominations (with the possible exception of Chocolat)
Best Picture: Traffic. The others shouldn’t have even been nominated. CTHD is the only other one even in the top ten, IMHO. How O Brother, Requiem For a Dream, and Almost Famous were replaced by Gladiator (crap, by far the worst film nominated in the last five years), Erin Brockovich, and Chocolat is beyond me.
Best Director: Ang Lee or Steven Soderberg (Traffic). Darren Aronofsky and Cameron Crowe were robbed here.
Best Actor: Ed Harris, maybe Geoffrey Rush. Crowe’s preformance was a LOT better last year, so if he wins it’ll be for The Insider. Tom Hanks wasn’t THAT good, IMHO, but he’s well-liked.
Best Actress: Ellen Burstyn. Anyone who says Julia Roberts should win (but she will) hasn’t seen any of the other films. Just because she does better than her usual crappy performance doesn’t mean she deserves an Oscar. Laura Linney or Joan Allen did fine jobs, too. Binoche was decent.
Supp. Actor: Willem Dafoe, though I won’t be upset with Benicio Del Toro. If J. Phoenix gets it for this crappy film with all his other great performances, it’ll be a shame. Same goes for Albert Finney. Jeff Bridges was good, I’d take him as my 3rd choice.
Supp. Actress: Marcia Gay Harden. Kate Hudson or Frances McDormand would be okay picks. After Dench got an Oscar for 8 minutes in Shakespere in Love, she deserves to lose this one on principle.
Orig. Screenplay: Almost Famous. It was a travesty that it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture. You Can Count On me was also great.
Adapted Screenplay: O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Traffic is also good.
If Gladiator wins any of these awards, it’s a travesty and the Academy has officially given up on honoring the best films. I’d say the same for CTHD, but the poor nominations make it an acceptible choice for Best Picture and Director.
Has anyone here ever seen Requiem for a Dream? How could it NOT get a nomination for best score? It’s BY FAR the best I have heard in a LONG time.
Well, despite the fact that I think this is a piss-poor Oscar year (I didn’t like either Traffic or CTHD and wish Almost Famous and YCCOM were nominated), I want in on this poll. Oscar night should be a national holiday, IMHO. I love all the pomp, suspense, and general silliness.
Best Picture: Traffic will win, of the nominees, Chocolat is my favorite.
Best Director: Ang Lee will and should win. I didn’t like the film, but I can see why others do and I have to admire his creativity.
Best original screenplay: Cameron Crowe. Almost Famous was very well-written.
Best Adapted screenplay: Ok, ok. Stephen Gaghan for Traffic.
Best Actress: Gotta go with Laura Linney. She was great. I know this is a long shot and if money were on it…but since it isn’t, I will go with her for luck.
Best Actor: Tom Hanks. Bored stiff by the movie, hated the ending, but anyone who can make me cry about a volleyball…
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Hudson. She was wonderful.
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Finney. He was good and Oscar likes to have at least one sentimental winner.