Sarah's Oscar Picks

Edited to add: Well looks like I had a 58% accuracy rate... and no; I didn't win the pool. BUT I did beat Rick... which is most important. My pediatrician, Dr. Flynn, tied for first place with 17 out of 24 correct. He tied with someone I don't know.

And to answer some questions; no... I don't usually see ALL the movies... certainly not the shorts... I did see many of the nominated films. I made my pics after reading multiple industry reports, blogs and the picks of my favorite critics. I also don't vote with my heart... I vote for what I think will win. Lots of upsets this year really; and I was surprised by many of the results.

Just posting my Oscar picks... today is like the Superbowl for me. My mom organizes a huge Oscar pool with her work and Rick and I always play. I never win; but Rick has before... and he is very confident this year. I'm feeling pretty good about my picks... but Babel and The Departed have me a bit confused; I LOVED Babel... but many people seem to dislike it; saying it's like a rip-off of Crash. I totally disagree. I also hope this is Marty's year; Can you believe Martin Scorsese has never received an Oscar? It's a crime I tells ya!

Check back to this post for my "after Oscar" report tomorrow. By the way; if you want to play along... you can find a great printable ballot HERE. Good luck! I hope you all win your office pools! Next year I will try to get it together to coordinate a crafty Oscar pool for all us SAHS (stay at home stampers).

Sarah's Picks for the 2007 Academy Awards (my picks in red)
WINNERS noted in GREEN

BEST PICTURE
"Babel"
"The Departed" WON
"Letters From Iwo Jima"
"Little Miss Sunshine"
"The Queen"

DIRECTOR
Alejandro González Iñárritu, "Babel"
Martin Scorsese, "The Departed" WON
Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima"
Stephen Frears, "The Queen"
Paul Greengrass, "United 93"

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"
Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"
Peter O'Toole, "Venus"
Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness"
Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland" WON

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Penelope Cruz, "Volver"
Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
Helen Mirren, "The Queen" WON
Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"
Kate Winslet, "Little Children"

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine" WON
Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"
Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond"
Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"
Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed"

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Adriana Barraza, "Babel"
Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"
Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls" WON
Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Guillermo Arriaga, "Babel"
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, "Letters From Iwo Jima"
Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine" WON
Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Peter Morgan, "The Queen"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, "Borat"
Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, "Children of Men"
William Monahan, "The Departed" WON
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, "Little Children"
Patrick Marber, "Notes on a Scandal"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"After the Wedding" (Denmark)"
"Days of Glory" (Algeria)
"The Lives of Others" (Germany) WON
"Pan's Labyrinth" (Mexico)
"Water" (Canada)

ANIMATED FEATURE
"Cars"
"Happy Feet" WON
"Monster House"

ORIGINAL SCORE
Gustavo Santaolalla, "Babel" WON
Thomas Newman, "The Good German"
Philip Glass, "Notes on a Scandal"
Javier Navarrete, "Pan's Labyrinth"
Alexandre Desplat, "The Queen"

ORIGINAL SONG
"I Need to Wake Up", "An Inconvenient Truth" WON
"Listen", "Dreamgirls"
"Love You I Do", "Dreamgirls"
"Our Town", "Cars"
"Patience", "Dreamgirls"

ART DIRECTION
John Myhre and Nancy Haigh, "Dreamgirls"
Jeannine Oppewall, Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins, "The Good Shepherd"
Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta, "Pan's Labyrinth" WON
Rick Heinrichs and Cheryl A. Carasik, "Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
Nathan Crowley and Julie Ochipinti, "The Prestige"

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Vilmos Zsigmond, "The Black Dahlia"
Emmanuel Lubezki, "Children Of Men"
Dick Pope, "The Illusionist"
Guillermo Navarro, "Pan's Labyrinth" WON
Wally Pfister, "The Prestige"

COSTUME DESIGN
Yee Chung Man, "Curse Of The Golden Flower"
Patricia Field, "The Devil Wears Prada"
Sharen Davis, "Dreamgirls"
Milena Canonero, "Marie Antoinette" WON
Consolata Boyle, "The Queen"

MAKEUP
Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano, "Apocalypto"
Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso, "Click"
David Marti and Montse Ribe, "Pan's Labyrinth" WON

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Deliver Us From Evil"
"An Inconvenient Truth" WON
"Iraq In Fragments"
"Jesus Camp"
"My Country, My Country"

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

SOUND EDITING
Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar, "Apocalypto"
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ivan Sharrock, "Blood Diamond"
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, "Flags Of Our Fathers"
Alan Robert Murray, "Letters From Iwo Jima" WON
Christopher Boyes and George Watters II, "Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

VISUAL EFFECTS
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall, "Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" WON
Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chaz Jarrett and John Frazier, "Poseidon"
Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover and Jon Thum, "Superman Returns"

FILM EDITING
Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise, "Babel"
Steven Rosenblum, "Blood Diamond"
Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón, "Children Of Men"
Thelma Schoonmaker, "The Departed" WON
Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson, "United 93"

SHORT FILM - ANIMATED
"The Danish Poet" WON
"Lifted"
"The Little Matchgirl"
"Maestro"
"No Time For Nuts"

SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION
"Binta And The Great Idea"
"Éramos Pocos (One Too Many)"
"Helmer & Son"
"The Saviour"
"West Bank Story" WON

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"The Blood Of Yingzhou District" WON
"Recycled Life"
"Rehearsing A Dream"
"Two Hands"