The most surprising thing about the Oscar nominations this year was how unsurprising they were. With most of the critics groups having already named their choices for year’s best, not to mention the Golden Globes being handed out and the various guilds announcing their nominees, nothing much that happened on the morning of January 31st was unexpected. And just as the list of contenders in each category seemed easy to predict, so do most of the winners. Philip Seymour Hoffman has won almost every award possible on the road to the Oscars. How can we not expect him to win that one too? I’ve watched all the awards that have been televised this year – the Globes, the Critic’s Choice, the Screen Actor’s Guild, the British Academy…and at each one, Heath Ledger and David Strathairn have had to sit, smile and clap when Hoffman’s name is called (at least Joaquin Phoenix got a little love at the Golden Globes, thanks to their separation of dramas and musicals/comedies…though classifying Walk the Line as the latter just because it’s about a musician is rather moronic).
My point is that most of the winners for the top categories have seemed set in stone for at least a month. If any of those frontrunners don’t win, I’ll actually feel bad for them since the expectations have been so high. I’m torn between wanting to see some surprise winners just to shake things up a bit and wanting the expected wins to come through so no one will sit there looking stunned that they won every other award under the sun but then lost the Oscar. This year, the Supporting categories seem like the least pre-determined, so here’s hoping the surprise factor will kick in with one or both of those. Still, as sorry as I’d feel for Philip Seymour Hoffman not winning Best Actor, wouldn’t it be great to see a stunned Heath Ledger ascend the stage? Remember Adrien Brody’s surprise victory in 2002 over favorites Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt) and Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York)? Deserved or not, Brody’s triumph was a great Oscar moment even before he sexually violated Halle Berry.
So then, here is my obnoxiously detailed take on this year’s Oscars, category by category. I’ll cap it off with my personal list of what would have been nominated if it were entirely up to me. This is really just a selfish exercise for me. But I’m a selfish guy, so here we go.
BEST PICTURE/BEST DIRECTOR
One of the few surprises that did emerge in this year’s nominations was that the Best Director nominees all matched up to the Best Picture nominees. There are almost always one or two discrepancies. Likewise, the Best Director nominees were the same as the five Director’s Guild nominees, another rare occurrence. When people were asking me a month ago what I thought would win Best Picture, my answer was that there would have to be a major shift in the winds for Brokeback Mountain not to win Picture and Director. With the awards now a few days away, I don’t think the winds have shifted that much. A win for Brokeback Mountain in both categories seems inevitable. There are some rumblings out there that Crash could upset Brokeback in the Picture race, but I’m not convinced. As successful as Crash has been, it hasn’t captured the zeitgeist like Brokeback Mountain, nor is it as tight a film. A win for Crash wouldn’t be out of left field, but my money is on Brokeback. And either way, it would be foolish to bet against Ang Lee for Best Director. He won the Director’s Guild award, and the winner of that almost always goes on to win the Oscar. As it happens, Lee himself is one of the exceptions to that rule: he won the DGA award for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but lost the Oscar to Steven Soderbergh for Traffic (Lee did take home the prize for Foreign Language film, however.) Lee shouldn’t worry about history repeating itself.
BEST ACTOR
The strongest category of the year. As always, there were a lot of worthy performances that didn’t make the cut, but you can’t argue with any of the five choices here. I was really pleased that Terrence Howard’s amazing work in Hustle & Flow was recognized. I was afraid the film might be too small and too “urban” to reach the necessary number of Academy members, but they supported the film with multiple nominations. Howard is a veteran actor who had a breakthrough year with additional roles in Crash (which easily could have earned him a Supporting Actor nod to go with this one), Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and Four Kings, plus the high profile TV films Their Eyes Were Watching God and Lackawanna Blues. And last year he was in Ray. Not a bad run. It’s great to see him get such high profile recognition, and a look at upcoming movies reveals that he’s now highly in demand.
David Strathairn is one of the best character actors around, while he’s been more visible to audiences than Terrence Howard, it’s still great to see him get his first Oscar nomination after a long career of eclectic performances. Joaquin Phoenix was uncanny as Johnny Cash, but this just isn’t his year at the Oscars. The big stories are Heath Ledger and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Ledger was the true revelation. Even his somber, subtle work in Monster’s Ball didn’t indicate he had a performance in him like the one he delivers in Brokeback. If he does somehow beat Hoffman, you can’t really argue against him. His performance is amazingly internalized, and relies so much on body language and silences that he almost doesn’t even require what little dialogue he has. If you haven’t seen this movie, whatever your reasons may be, Ledger’s performance is reason enough to go. It’s a truly astounding piece of acting.
Unfortunately it probably won’t trump Philip Seymour Hoffman’s equally stunning work in Capote. Nobody was surprised that Hoffman, the third great veteran character actor in this category enjoying his first nomination, could deliver such an amazing performance. But the degree to which the hefty, deep-voiced actor transformed into the slight, fey writer is enormously impressive. That, combined with the depth to which he explores the character, makes his performance a revelation on two levels. As I said earlier, there’s barely an award Hoffman could have won for this film that he didn’t. It’s hard to imagine he won’t cap it all off with the Oscar.
BEST ACTRESS
Although it’s been said that 2005 was a weak year for actresses, I thought there were several worthy performances, some of which deserved to be in this category over others which actually made it. Judi Dench and Charlize Theron both did really good work, but I don’t think either one necessarily merited awards. Ditto for Kiera Knightley, although she would only have just missed my cut. And honestly, I really can’t complain about any excuse for her to dress up and let me look at her. But this category comes down to Felicity Huffman and Reese Witherspoon. Both have won multiple pre-Oscar awards, but Witherspoon has definitely won more. And the fact that she is more of a movie-industry darling than Huffman gives her an edge. Performance wise, they were both fantastic. Huffman’s role was certainly the bigger stretch, and she pulled it off beautifully, without making it seem like she’s just a showboating actor courting awards attention. The movie is so small and low budget she should be thrilled to be in the running. She could definitely win it, but Hollywood really adores Reese Witherspoon. In a year full of dark and serious films, they may see her performance as June Carter as a particularly strong ray of sunlight through the clouds. A win for either actress would be deserved and would make me happy, but I think Reese will take it.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Usually this is the toughest category, full of incredible performances. Not so much this year. Everyone is very good, of course (I think William Hurt’s spot could have gone to somebody else, however), but there’s no obvious standouts. Jake Gyllenhaal could get caught in a Brokeback sweep, but that’s a long shot. Paul Giamatti has finally been nominated after being inexplicably overlooked for Sideways. It would be great to see Giamatti take home the gold, though as good as his performance in Cinderella Man was, it still wasn’t indelible, and the movie didn’t connect with the Academy the way it was expected to.
I never would have thought this, but George Clooney has emerged as the front-runner. Personally, I think that status has less to do specifically with his performance in Syriana than it does his performance as a film presence in 2005. Between this film and Good Night, and Good Luck, Clooney proved himself a skilled and thoughtful filmmaker on both sides of the camera, and earned a lot of respect from his peers for using his clout to make small, smart, challenging films that were clearly very personal to him. If Clooney wins, it will be a classic case of Academy members being influenced by factors other than the performance itself. Clooney was good in Syriana, but if he wins it will be not so much a celebration of that specific performance as a salute for his overall work last year. With three nominations, the Academy won’t want to send him home empty handed, and since the category isn’t as competitive as usual, this is their best shot to honor him. So my money’s on Clooney, but my hopes are with Matt Dillon, whose work in Crash pretty much knocked me on my ass. I think his performance is easily the strongest of the nominees, so I’d love to see him win. And if Giamatti takes it, that’d be just fine with me too.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
This is the probably the most wide open category. Rachel Weisz has the most momentum going in, having won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actor’s Guild award for The Constant Gardener. But I don’t think she’s a lock. This category has a track record for upsets, and any of the contenders could hear their name called out. Sometimes a nominee in this category can get swept up in a Best Picture sweep (see Juliette Binoche in The English Patient; Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love; Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind; and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago). That could be good news for Brokeback Mountain’s Michelle Williams. Then again, her part may be too small and too subtle to capture a win. The fact that Amy Adams made it to the Oscars with Junebug is a small miracle. The movie was a tiny little indie that played in theaters last summer, but overwhelming support from film critics sustained her momentum through the awards season. If the film was seen by enough voters to get her nominated, it stands to reason it’s been seen by enough to carry her to a win. Then there’s Catherine Keener, who is hugely respected, and had a strong year with acclaimed performances not just in Capote but also in The Interpreter, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, and most memorably perhaps in The 40 Year-Old Virgin, which many Academy members seem to be big fans of even though they didn’t nominate it for anything. Her part in Capote is small and understated, but essential to the film’s success. The only nominee who I’d say can safely be discounted is Frances McDormand. She’s one of my favorites, but her work in North Country, while solid, was not Oscar worthy. Which brings us back to Rachel Weisz. She seems like the best bet, and hers was my favorite performance of the five. But of all the main categories, this is one with the most potential for an upset.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Syriana is an intricate, demanding and highly intelligent script that fully deserves its nomination. But it won’t win. The Squid and the Whale is a critic’s darling with sharply observed characters and situations. But it won’t win. Match Point is a skillfully constructed return to form for Academy favorite Woody Allen. But it won’t win. Good Night, and Good Luck is a tight, well-told story of journalism, politics and ethics that resonates strongly today despite being set in the 1950s. It could win. But it probably won’t.
No, this is the category where Crash will most likely earn it’s director, producer and co-writer (with Bobby Moresco) an Oscar win. While not a perfect script or film, it’s the most audacious and powerful of the nominees, and has resonated with audiences more than any of the others. Some have complained about the many coincidences in the script, and its extreme reliance on chance encounters between characters. They say these touches make it unrealistic. To me, those coincidences are very deliberate and very necessary. Sometimes it’s hard to accept such devices in a story, but here they are used to illustrate the themes of the film. For all its gritty realism in how people interact with one another in a modern day urban sprawl, I see Crash as a fable – in the same vein as, call me crazy, Steve Martin’s L.A. Story. It’s not whimsical like that film, but it has a fairy tale element to it that works quite well. It will win.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chalk up another victory for Brokeback Mountain. I haven’t read the short story on which the film is based, but by all accounts Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana’s work is the very definition of a great adapted screenplay: it retains the power and the essence of the source material while opening it up and adding new dimensions that are required to make it work as a film. And the movie is a powerful piece of work. Credit for that goes to the actors, to Ang Lee, and to his production team…but it starts with the script. A History of Violence, Munich and The Constant Gardener are just along for the ride. If anything is going to topple the mountain, it’s probably Dan Futterman’s taut script for Capote. But the way I see it, that script is better appreciated firmly alongside Bennett Miller’s sparse direction, whereas Brokeback’s script can more easily stand on its own.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The other nice surprise in this year’s nominations came in this category: none of the films nominated are CG, proving that the storytelling is more important than the medium used to tell it. This contest is between Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. All signs point to a victory for the former, and I’d agree that the inventor and his dog are most likely going to win. But I offer this nugget for your consideration: Tim Burton is hugely admired in the film community. He’s never been nominated for an Oscar before, and given the quirky nature of his live action films, who knows if her ever will be. But other directors see him as a true visionary. Actors love working with him. So do craftsmen and technicians, since his unique visual style takes full advantage of their skills and imaginations. It’s possible, therefore, that Academy members will seize this chance to honor one of contemporary film’s most original artists. Wallace & Gromit is the favorite, especially since it’s such a fun, witty family film. But don’t discount the possibility of a surprise win for Burton’s bride.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
This is an tough race to call. Emmanuel Lubezki’s photography of the The New World manages to make flowing water seem like the most beautiful, exotic, wondrous thing you’ve ever seen. But seeing as this is the only nomination the film got, it probably didn’t make a strong enough impression to register with the Academy at large. Memoirs of a Geisha won the American Society of Cinematographers guild award, but Oscar’s choices often differ from the ASC. Brokeback Mountain could easily add another notch to its belt here, for the sweeping vistas of sheep moving across the American west. And I know some girls who would give Brokeback the award simply for capturing Jake Gyllenhaal on film (something several cinematographers managed to do in 2005). But I think that this may be the one award that Academy members can feel good about giving to Good Night, and Good Luck. Robert Elswit’s clean black and white images managed to keep the film feeling cinematic despite the fact that most of the action is constrained to just a few sets.
BEST ART DIRECTION
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was a great looking film, but it’s unlikely to win since the production design essentially builds on the work of previous films. This category probably comes down to King Kong and Memoirs of a Geisha. In Kong, 1930s New York City was meticulously recreated with the help of visual effects. In Geisha, Japanese villages were meticulously recreated on a studio backlot. Both films successfully transported the viewer to another realm, so how to make the call? Will voters care that Kong required CGI to complete its art direction, while Geisha was done the old fashioned way? I doubt most of them will give it a thought. It’s a coin toss, and although I may change my mind in five minutes, I’m going with Memoirs of a Geisha.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The general rule here seems to be that the more intricate and ornate the costumes, the more lovin’ they’ll get. So I think it’s safe to dismiss Walk the Line and Pride & Prejudice. With no other nominations, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is unlikely to score a win. That means the contest is between Mrs. Henderson Presents and Memoirs of a Geisha, and with all due respect to the former, that’s no contest at all. Geisha takes it. Besides, Mrs. Henderson Presents is more notable for its actresses lacking costumes of any kind. Well done, Mrs. Henderson. Well done indeed.
BEST FILM EDITING
I don’t pretend to know much about film editing, despite having several friends who make their living at it. The good news in terms of predicting this category is that most Academy members don’t know much about it either, meaning they will usually vote for the most obviously “edited” film, if that makes sense. This year, that’s Crash. Moving between several stories without losing its focus or falling out of step, voters will probably see it as the most deserving achievement. I wonder what my editor friends think…
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
This award sometimes goes to some unexpected films, like The Red Violin and Finding Neverland. So any of the five have a fair shot, but it probably comes down to John Williams for Memoirs of a Geisha and Gustavo Santaolalla for Brokeback Mountain. Oddsmakers seem to be favoring the lush Geisha score, but I find it hard to imagine Brokeback’s already iconic theme being ignored. Voters trying to hum or even recall any of the other scores as they fill out their ballots will be hard pressed to do so. But those sparse, simple notes from Brokeback evoke the beauty and emotional power that permeate the film. Plus, all those Brokeback trailer parodies online make the theme inescapable. I’d be surprised if it doesn’t win.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Interesting category this year. Certain rule changes led to only three songs being nominated instead of the usual five. One of them, Crash’s “In The Deep,” I have no memory of from the film, so I can’t fairly assess it. All I know about it is that the co-writer and singer, Kathleen York, is also an actress who had a small part in the film and plays Toby’s ex-wife Andie on The West Wing. I like her, so if she wins, I guess I’m okay with that. Unless the song sucks, of course.
You gotta love the Academy for nominating Hustle & Flow’s kick-ass groove, “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp.” Even though Eminem won an Oscar a few years ago, (still perhaps the coolest thing the Academy has ever done), I didn’t expect them to embrace any of Hustle & Flow’s original tunes, though I hoped they would, since I took this song as my own personal anthem after seeing the film. Sing it with me now…
The third tune is Dolly Parton’s catchy, upbeat “Travelin’ Thru,” from Transamerica. I’d like to see this win, cause it’s just a sweet, simple little song and you know Dolly Parton would be so gracious and grateful up there accepting her award, 25 years after her only other nomination, for the theme from 9 to 5. Have enough people seen Transamerica to hear the song and vote for it? If not, will they vote for it anyway just cause Dolly Parton is so damn nice? If “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp” takes the prize, that would also make me very happy, for reasons we’ve already covered. But if not enough people have heard those songs for them to get the votes, “In The Deep” could take the gold simply for being in the film most widely embraced by the Academy.
BEST MAKE-UP
The make-up Oscar tends to be awarded to the more fantastical work rather than the realistic work, so that means Cinderella Man will probably stay ringside, leaving The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Star Wars Episode III to duke it out. Since the final installment of the Star Wars trilogy was overlooked in the visual effects category, this is the one chance the Academy has to honor the film. But I don’t think they really care, nor does the film deserve it. Technology is supposed to allow for more realistic work over time, so why is it that the Emperor’s make-up in this film looks like a cheap, rubbery Halloween mask while the make-up used for the same character, on the same actor’s face in Return of the Jedi 22 years ago was infinitely better? I think the safest bet is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with it’s army of creatures that bridge the gap between human and animal.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
In this case, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is lucky to be here. Some of the effects, like the main character Aslan, were very well done. But there was other work in the film that was less impressive. That tends to happen with big effects projects that are worked on by many different companies; the work tends to be inconsistent. It’s the same reason that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire didn’t make the cut: some effects, like the dragon, were stunning while others, like the merpeople, weren’t quite up to snuff.
On the other hand, the work in War of the Worlds is solid from beginning to end. From the gritty scenes of the first tripod bursting through a suburban New Jersey street to the eerie, chilling shot of a massive tripod rising out of the water at night to the more invisible effects like the amazing 360 around a car’s journey down the freeway, in which effects were used to help the camera move into and out of the car all in one shot with no edits. It’s impressive work all around, and a win would not be undeserved.
But it’s hard to imagine that Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital won’t take home it’s fourth Oscar in five years for King Kong. With all those bugs and dinosaurs, not to mention the 800 pound gorilla himself, the effects were complex and thrilling to behold. There were some weak shots and sequences here and there, but I don’t think anyone will remember that once they stare into Kong’s eyes and watch his interactions with Naomi Watts. Like they did with Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, Weta’s artists breathed life and soul into an entirely computer-generated character, once again building on the work of actor Andy Serkis, who really should be getting the award alongside the effects artists.
BEST SOUND MIXING/SOUND EDITING
These are always the categories that I find toughest to predict, because they’re the ones that I understand the least, and I’m sure that most Academy members are in the same boat. So I look to precedent to help me decide what the most likely winners will be. In the case of Sound Mixing, the award often goes to the the most prestigious film in the category – the one that has been recognized with big nominations in the top categories. Of the five nominees, the only one that qualifies is Walk the Line. It’s a fair bet to make, especially since last year’s award went to Ray. But Memoirs of a Geisha, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, King Kong and War of the Worlds all sounded pretty good to me – particularly the latter two. So I’m going with Walk the Line, but I’m by no means convinced.
With Sound Effects Editing, there are only three nominees, usually very action oriented and dynamic, and it always seems like anyone’s game. Again, precedent shows that the winner is usually the most popular or well-received movie of the three (past winners include The Incredibles, The Matrix, The Two Towers and Saving Private Ryan). Memoirs of a Geisha can probably be ruled out, because it lacks the “dynamic” factor that the other two nominees – Kong and War of the Worlds – have. Between those two, it’s a tough call. The powerful, airhorn-like blasts made by the tripods in War of the Worlds are very effective and memorable. But then there’s Kong’s “I’m the king of the jungle and you’d best not fuck with me” roar. For the moment I’m going with War of the Worlds, but this is another category where I might change my mind at the last minute and go for the safer bet of King Kong.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
I usually haven’t seen all the nominees in this category, so I have to base the decision solely on what I’ve heard. March of the Penguins is the obvious choice, considering that it was really the only crossover hit of the bunch. But the documentary awards seldom adhere to to such logic, so the most popular film isn’t necessarily the one to pick. Murderball had it’s fans, and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is particularly topical right now. Darwin’s Nightmare seems to be generating talk lately, but I don’t know much about it. Street Fight is the only one I haven’t heard of, so I’m tossing it out. I think it will come down to Penguins and Enron. If members want their vote to make a political statement, then Enron is the way to go. If they just want to vote for the film they enjoyed most, how could Penguins be denied?
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
I know nothing about any of them, so I usually either go with Entertainment Weekly’s pick and/or look for the film that deals with the Holocaust. This year, EW thinks The Death of Kevin Carter will take the prize, although the subject matter of both The Mushroom Club and God Sleeps in Rwanda seem like Oscar material. I’m going with Rwanda, purely for a word association reasons: although EW describes the film as “upbeat,” Rwanda makes me think of genocide, and genocide makes me think of the Holocaust, and the Holocaust – in the framework of a conversation such as this – makes me think of Oscar winning documentaries.
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
For the first time ever, I have seen all of the nominees in both this category and the Animated Short category. I was impressed with all the nominees. Six Shooter was the most interesting and bizarre, and probably my personal favorite of the bunch (although the abundance of beautiful naked women in Cashback earned that one a special place in my heart). My guess, though, is that the award will go to one of the more moving stories, which means either The Runaway or The Last Farm. I thought The Last Farm was more powerful, but the combination of humor and heart in The Runaway, not to to mention the presence of an adorable little boy, might give it the edge. Still, I’d love to see Six Shooter get it.
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
This category is impossible to predict. All the nominees were really impressive, and all very different. The silhouette animation and attention to detail in the designs in The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello were truly amazing, but the film is a bit long, and slow at first. The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation is a very personal and imaginative piece that may appeal to voters on an emotional level. Badgered is the least complex in terms of its animation, but it was very smart and funny, and even a little topical. Pixar’s One Man Band is short and sweet, a fast-paced and hilarious treat. And 9 is a trippy, inventive triumph of story and design. You could honestly throw a dart at a list of the nominees and hit a deserving winner. Most other predictions I’ve seen are leaning towards 9, but I don’t think I’ll be able to settle on a choice until the last possible minute.
And that’s pretty much it. If you actually read all of this, you deserve an Oscar of your own. You may also want to consider a psychiatric evaluation. Whatever happens, I look forward to seeing Jon Stewart entertain the crowd. I’ll close this out with something else I like to do for my own amusement: a list of what I would have nominated in each category. Some of them match the Academy exactly, and others are more varied.
BEST PICTURE
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Good Night, and Good Luck
A History of Violence
The New World
BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain
George Clooney – Good Night, and Good Luck
David Cronenberg – A History of Violence
Woody Allen – Match Point
Terrence Malick – The New World
BEST ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote
Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow
Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix – Walk The Line
David Strathairn – Good Night, and Good Luck
BEST ACTRESS
Joan Allen – The Upside of Anger
Felicity Huffman – Transamerica
Reese Witherspoon – Walk The Line
Naomi Watts – King Kong
Ziyi Zhang – Memoirs of a Geisha
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kevin Costner – The Upside of Anger
Jeff Daniels – The Squid and the Whale
Matt Dillon – Crash
Paul Giamatti – Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal – Brokeback Mountain
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Maria Bello – A History of Violence
Q’Orinaka Kilcher – The New World
Gong Li – Memoirs of a Geisha
Thandie Newton – Crash
Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Crash
The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Good Night, and Good Luck
Hustle & Flow
Syriana
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
The Constant Gardener
Munich
Pride & Prejudice
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, and Good Luck
King Kong
Munich
The New World
BEST FILM EDITING
Brokeback Mountain
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
Syriana
Walk The Line
BEST ART DIRECTION
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Memoirs of a Geisha
The New World
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Memoirs of a Geisha
The New World
Pride & Prejudice
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Brokeback Mountain
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
The New World
BEST MAKE-UP
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Sin City
Transamerica
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
King Kong
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
War of the Worlds
I Am DB 
What Say You?