Oscar Preview Week: Director, Foreign Language Film, and Animated Feature Film
It's a triple threat as we continue Oscar Preview Week with the Directing, Foreign Language Film, and Animated Feature Film field. For one of the director nominees, could this year finally be it after six tries?
DIRECTING (directors' names are in parentheses):
"Babel" (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
"The Departed" (Martin Scorsese): His eighth Director nomination, and there is buzz that he may finally win on Sunday.
"Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood): Last time around, he beat Scorsese to the Oscar stage for "Million Dollar Baby". Clint also scored a one-two punch in 1992 for "Unforgiven."
"The Queen" (Stephen Frears): Previous nomination was for "The Grifters."
"United 93" (Paul Greengrass): As the events of September 11, 2001 unfold with a documentary-like realism, the chaos and confusion surrounding the terrorist attacks are felt throughout air traffic control headquarters and the military branches responding to the attacks. On United Airlines Flight 93, terrorists seize control of the plane as the terrified passengers piece together a plan to overcome them.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
"After The Wedding" (Denmark): When Jacob, the head of an Indian orphanage, returns to Copenhagen at the request of a potential benefactor, he is persuaded by the man to attend his daughter's wedding. There, he meets the donor's wife, Helene; an encounter that reawakens difficult memories from Jacob's past. Denmark won back-to-back honors in that category in 1987 and 1988.
"Days of Glory (Indigenes)" (Algeria): For the North African troops fighting for France during the Second World War, their experience in uniform becomes a painful lesson in just how little regard their colonial rulers have for their humanity. As one company of soldiers pushes north through Europe, its members continue to find themselves denied the basic rights taken for granted by their French counterparts. Algeria's fourth nomination; its last win was in 1969 for "Z."
"The Lives Of Others" (Germany): In East Berlin in 1984, the secret police organization, Stasi, conducts extensive surveillance operations against any East German citizen suspected of opposing the Communist regime. When Captain Gerd Weisler begins monitoring the daily life of the playwright Georg Dreyman, he finds himself increasingly unwilling to betray his subject's private moments to his superiors. Germany's seventh nomination, but prior to reunification it received nine other nods; the overall total now is 15.
"Pan's Labyrinth" (Mexico): In the violent period following the Spanish Civil War, a young girl captivated by a fairy tale comes to believe she is the lost princess of the story. In the wake of her mother's remarriage to a cruel fascist officer, young Ofelia explores a vast stone labyrinth, where she encounters the faun Pan and is given a series of three tasks to perform. Mexico's seventh Foreign Language nod, and thanks to several wins from BAFTA and U.S. critics' awards (it lost the Golden Globe to "Letters From Iwo Jima"), it is a heavily favored to claim the prize.
"Water" (Canada): In India in 1938, eight-year-old Chuyia--a child bride--learns she is now a widow. Taken from her parents, Chuyia is sent to live for the remainder of her life in a widow's ashram run by the greedy, tyrannical Madhumati. There, she is befriended by the beautiful Kalyani, a young widow who is shunned by the other women and forced by Madhumati to work as a prostitute. Canada's fourth nomination with its previous win being for 2003's "The Barbarian Invasions."
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
"Cars": Cocky racecar Lightning McQueen is heading across the country to face his rivals in the California Piston Cup racewhen he is forced to stop in the small town of Radiator Springs. Sentenced by the town judge to repair its mainroad, loner Lightning learns a lesson in friendship from the easygoing locals. "Cars'" other nomination is for Best Song (Randy Newman). If he wins, he'll make us all forget about Three Six Mafia from last year.
"Happy Feet": Mumble is a young Emperor penguin who, unlike the rest of his colony, can't sing a note but is a dazzling dancer. Banished for this perceived flaw by the colony's rigid elders, Mumble begins an odyssey that leads him to a band of friendly Mexican penguins...and his first encounters with the two-legged creatures whose presence threatens the animals' Antarctic home.
"Monster House": When twelve-year-old DJ confronts Nebbercracker, the owner of the menacing house across the street, the sinister old man is taken away after a seemingly fatal seizure. Along with his friends, Chowder and Jenny, DJ decides to explore the house...only to discover that it has its own fatal way of dealing with invaders.
Tomorrow, the conclusion of Oscar Preview Week with Best Picture and my picks. See you then, and good night.
It's a triple threat as we continue Oscar Preview Week with the Directing, Foreign Language Film, and Animated Feature Film field. For one of the director nominees, could this year finally be it after six tries?
DIRECTING (directors' names are in parentheses):
"Babel" (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
"The Departed" (Martin Scorsese): His eighth Director nomination, and there is buzz that he may finally win on Sunday.
"Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood): Last time around, he beat Scorsese to the Oscar stage for "Million Dollar Baby". Clint also scored a one-two punch in 1992 for "Unforgiven."
"The Queen" (Stephen Frears): Previous nomination was for "The Grifters."
"United 93" (Paul Greengrass): As the events of September 11, 2001 unfold with a documentary-like realism, the chaos and confusion surrounding the terrorist attacks are felt throughout air traffic control headquarters and the military branches responding to the attacks. On United Airlines Flight 93, terrorists seize control of the plane as the terrified passengers piece together a plan to overcome them.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
"After The Wedding" (Denmark): When Jacob, the head of an Indian orphanage, returns to Copenhagen at the request of a potential benefactor, he is persuaded by the man to attend his daughter's wedding. There, he meets the donor's wife, Helene; an encounter that reawakens difficult memories from Jacob's past. Denmark won back-to-back honors in that category in 1987 and 1988.
"Days of Glory (Indigenes)" (Algeria): For the North African troops fighting for France during the Second World War, their experience in uniform becomes a painful lesson in just how little regard their colonial rulers have for their humanity. As one company of soldiers pushes north through Europe, its members continue to find themselves denied the basic rights taken for granted by their French counterparts. Algeria's fourth nomination; its last win was in 1969 for "Z."
"The Lives Of Others" (Germany): In East Berlin in 1984, the secret police organization, Stasi, conducts extensive surveillance operations against any East German citizen suspected of opposing the Communist regime. When Captain Gerd Weisler begins monitoring the daily life of the playwright Georg Dreyman, he finds himself increasingly unwilling to betray his subject's private moments to his superiors. Germany's seventh nomination, but prior to reunification it received nine other nods; the overall total now is 15.
"Pan's Labyrinth" (Mexico): In the violent period following the Spanish Civil War, a young girl captivated by a fairy tale comes to believe she is the lost princess of the story. In the wake of her mother's remarriage to a cruel fascist officer, young Ofelia explores a vast stone labyrinth, where she encounters the faun Pan and is given a series of three tasks to perform. Mexico's seventh Foreign Language nod, and thanks to several wins from BAFTA and U.S. critics' awards (it lost the Golden Globe to "Letters From Iwo Jima"), it is a heavily favored to claim the prize.
"Water" (Canada): In India in 1938, eight-year-old Chuyia--a child bride--learns she is now a widow. Taken from her parents, Chuyia is sent to live for the remainder of her life in a widow's ashram run by the greedy, tyrannical Madhumati. There, she is befriended by the beautiful Kalyani, a young widow who is shunned by the other women and forced by Madhumati to work as a prostitute. Canada's fourth nomination with its previous win being for 2003's "The Barbarian Invasions."
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
"Cars": Cocky racecar Lightning McQueen is heading across the country to face his rivals in the California Piston Cup racewhen he is forced to stop in the small town of Radiator Springs. Sentenced by the town judge to repair its mainroad, loner Lightning learns a lesson in friendship from the easygoing locals. "Cars'" other nomination is for Best Song (Randy Newman). If he wins, he'll make us all forget about Three Six Mafia from last year.
"Happy Feet": Mumble is a young Emperor penguin who, unlike the rest of his colony, can't sing a note but is a dazzling dancer. Banished for this perceived flaw by the colony's rigid elders, Mumble begins an odyssey that leads him to a band of friendly Mexican penguins...and his first encounters with the two-legged creatures whose presence threatens the animals' Antarctic home.
"Monster House": When twelve-year-old DJ confronts Nebbercracker, the owner of the menacing house across the street, the sinister old man is taken away after a seemingly fatal seizure. Along with his friends, Chowder and Jenny, DJ decides to explore the house...only to discover that it has its own fatal way of dealing with invaders.
Tomorrow, the conclusion of Oscar Preview Week with Best Picture and my picks. See you then, and good night.
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