I was trying to convince my friend to get a rescued cat instead of buying one and his rebuttal was to ask why I wasn't saving rescued chinchillas?

Well I googled it and it turns out there is a chinchilla rescue organization

www.chinchillarescue.org

So I just thought I'd point that out to anyone thinking of getting a chinchilla. Especially since the latest Petco chinchilla prices are about $160.

I haven't decided yet if I'll get a second chinchilla. I don't think so for now.

Labels: chinchillin

My thoughts in italics

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Leonardo DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond"
Ryan Gosling in "Half Nelson"
Peter O’Toole in "Venus"
Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness"
Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland"

I didn't see any of these. From the trailers I'd pick Forest. MIA: Joseph Gordan-Levitt in "Brick" Will Farrell in "Stranger Than Fiction" and someone else I'm forgetting

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine"
Jackie Earle Haley in "Little Children"
Djimon Hounsou in "Blood Diamond"
Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls"
Mark Wahlberg in "The Departed"

Tough choice between Jackie Earle and Alan Arkin (loved Wahlberg but his role had less screentime). Jackie was more of a surprise, I'll say Jackie.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Penélope Cruz in "Volver"
Judi Dench in "Notes on a Scandal"
Helen Mirren in "The Queen"
Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada"
Kate Winslet in "Little Children"

Kate was the only one I saw, none of these really leap out at me, they all seem obvious. MIA: Catherine O'Hara in "For Your Consideration" Cate Blanchet in "The Good German"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Adriana Barraza in "Babel"
Cate Blanchett in "Notes on a Scandal"
Abigail Breslin in "Little Miss Sunshine"
Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls"
Rinko Kikuchi in "Babel"

Another tough one between Abigail and Jennifer. I think despite Jennifer's awesomeness, my distaste for Dreamgirls would give it to Abigail.

Best animated feature film of the year
"Cars"
"Happy Feet"
"Monster House"

Monster House please. Happy Feet would be ok. Dear God not Cars.

Achievement in art direction
"Dreamgirls" Art Direction: John Myhre Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
"The Good Shepherd" Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins
"Pan’s Labyrinth" Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs Set Decoration: Cheryl A. Carasik
"The Prestige" Art Direction: Nathan Crowley Set Decoration: Julie Ochipinti

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm pretty confident it's "Pan's Labyrinth." MIA: "Children Of Men" "The Science Of Sleep" "Stranger Than Fiction" "Brick" "Idiocracy" "V For Vendetta" "The Good German" and "Little Children" (it was a good year for art direction)

Achievement in cinematography
"The Black Dahlia" Vilmos Zsigmond
"Children of Men" Emmanuel Lubezki
"The Illusionist" Dick Pope
"Pan’s Labyrinth" Guillermo Navarro
"The Prestige" Wally Pfister

I want to say "Prestige" for some reason...maybe because it was so dark. MIA: "The Good German" "Brick" "Little Children" "The Science Of Sleep"

Achievement in costume design
"Curse of the Golden Flower" Yee Chung Man
"The Devil Wears Prada" Patricia Field
"Dreamgirls" Sharen Davis
"Marie Antoinette" Milena Canonero
"The Queen" Consolata Boyle

I only saw "Dreamgirls" but give it to "Marie" MIA: "Nacho Libre" but I feel like a more subtle movie should be here, like "Stranger Than Fiction" "Brick" or "Little Miss Sunshine" movies that used simple iconic costumes instead of just parading a bunch of outfits around.

Achievement in directing
"Babel" Alejandro González Iñárritu
"The Departed" Martin Scorsese
"Letters from Iwo Jima" Clint Eastwood
"The Queen" Stephen Frears
"United 93" Paul Greengrass

Boring. Give it to Scorsese. MIA: "The Good German" Steven Soderbergh "Brick" Rian Johnson "Stranger Than Fiction" Mark Forster

Best documentary feature
"Deliver Us from Evil" Amy Berg and Frank Donner
"An Inconvenient Truth" Davis Guggenheim
"Iraq in Fragments" James Longley and John Sinno
"Jesus Camp" Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
"My Country, My Country" Laura Poitras and Jocelyn Glatzer

I only saw "Truth" but "Camp" looked the most intriguing.

Best documentary short subject
"The Blood of Yingzhou District" Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
"Recycled Life" Leslie Iwerks and Mike Glad
"Rehearsing a Dream" Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
"Two Hands" Nathaniel Kahn and Susan Rose Behr

shrug?

Achievement in film editing
"Babel" Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise
"Blood Diamond" Steven Rosenblum
"Children of Men" Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón
"The Departed" Thelma Schoonmaker
"United 93" Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson

I've only seen two of these. I'll say "Departed" MIA: "The Prestige" "Stranger Than Fiction" "The Science Of Sleep"

Best foreign language film of the year
"After the Wedding" Denmark
"Days of Glory (Indigènes)" Algeria
"The Lives of Others" Germany
"Pan’s Labyrinth" Mexico
"Water" Canada

Lets say "Labyrinth" since I haven't seen any.

Achievement in makeup
"Apocalypto" Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
"Click" Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso
"Pan’s Labyrinth" David Marti and Montse Ribe

"Click" ...really? Go "Labyrinth"

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Babel" Gustavo Santaolalla
"The Good German" Thomas Newman
"Notes on a Scandal" Philip Glass
"Pan’s Labyrinth" Javier Navarrete
"The Queen" Alexandre Desplat

Some composers I like, but I haven't heard any of these. MIA: "Little Children" Thomas Newman "Little Miss Sunshine" Mychael Danna & Devotchka "Brick" Nathan Johnson "The Science Of Sleep" Jean-Michel Bernard

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth" Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge
"Listen" from "Dreamgirls" Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler Lyric by Anne Preven
"Love You I Do" from "Dreamgirls" Music by Henry Krieger Lyric by Siedah Garrett
"Our Town" from "Cars" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Patience” from "Dreamgirls" Music by Henry Krieger Lyric by Willie Reale

Lame. MIA: "Kikapoo" from "The Pick Of Destiny" by Tenacious D "Til The End Of Time" from "Little Miss Sunshine" by DeVotchka "Golden The Pony Boy" Jean-Michel Bernard & Kimiko Ono

Best motion picture of the year
"Babel" Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik and Steve Golin, Producers
"The Departed" Nominees to be determined
"Letters from Iwo Jima" Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz, Producers
"Little Miss Sunshine" Nominees to be determined
"The Queen" Andy Harries, Christine Langan and Tracey Seaward, Producers

Mostly boring and obvious. I'm rooting for "Sunshine" or "Departed" MIA: "The Good German" "Brick" "Stranger Than Fiction" "The Science Of Sleep" "Monster House"

Best animated short film
"The Danish Poet" Torill Kove
"Lifted" Gary Rydstrom
"The Little Matchgirl" Roger Allers and Don Hahn
"Maestro" Geza M. Toth
"No Time for Nuts" Chris Renaud and Michael Thurmeier

Wish I'd seen some of them.

Best live action short film
"Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)" Javier Fesser and Luis Manso
"Éramos Pocos (One Too Many)" Borja Cobeaga
"Helmer & Son" Soren Pilmark and Kim Magnusson
"The Saviour" Peter Templeman and Stuart Parkyn
"West Bank Story" Ari Sandel

Ditto

Achievement in sound editing
"Apocalypto" Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar
"Blood Diamond" Lon Bender
"Flags of Our Fathers" Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
"Letters from Iwo Jima" Alan Robert Murray
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" Christopher Boyes and George Watters II

I don't understand these categories, the "loud noises go boom" categories. MIA: "Brick" (that awesome footstep chase)

Achievement in sound mixing
"Apocalypto" Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Fernando Camara
"Blood Diamond" Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ivan Sharrock
"Dreamgirls" Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton
"Flags of Our Fathers" John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" Paul Massey, Christopher Boyes and Lee Orloff

what?

Achievement in visual effects
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall
"Poseidon" Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chaz Jarrett and John Frazier
"Superman Returns" Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover and Jon Thum

Boring. Go "Pirates" I guess. MIA: "The Fountain" "The Science Of Sleep" "Stranger Than Fiction"

Adapted screenplay
"Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines & Todd Phillips
"Children of Men" Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
"The Departed" Screenplay by William Monahan
"Little Children" Screenplay by Todd Field & Tom Perrotta
"Notes on a Scandal" Screenplay by Patrick Marber

"Notes" is the only one I haven't seen. But I'd be cool with any of these. MIA: "The Good German" "The Prestige" "V For Vendetta"

Original screenplay
"Babel" Written by Guillermo Arriaga
"Letters from Iwo Jima" Screenplay by Iris Yamashita Story by Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis
"Little Miss Sunshine" Written by Michael Arndt
"Pan’s Labyrinth" Written by Guillermo del Toro
"The Queen" Written by Peter Morgan

"Sunshine" or "Labyrinth" MIA: "Brick" "Science Of Sleep" "Stranger Than Fiction" "Inside Man" "The Oh In Ohio" "For Your Consideration"

Phew.

Labels: critiqua, listy