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With the Oscars less than two weeks away it seems that everyone knows who's going to win. Luckily for me, I have a highly visible medium to present my picks that, come March 24, will leave me looking like an industry genius, or (more likely) totally full of crap.
Some of the big stories for this year's Academy Awards are Titanic's 14 nominations, the oldest nominee ever (Gloria Stuart for Titanic), Burt Reynolds' comeback hopes and a couple of kids from Boston who are "Hunting" for gold.
Best Picture: As Good As it Gets
- Good Will Hunting
- L.A. Confidential
- The Full Monty
- Titanic
After last years foreign film domination in the category, this year is all about Hollywood. I am putting my money where my mouth is by saying there is no way that Titanic will not bring home the most prestigious award. Not only does it deserve best film of the year honors, but it's also the biggest and most successful film of all time.
Best Director: Peter Cattaneo, The Full Monty
Gus Van Sant, Good Will Hunting Curtis Hanson, L.A. Confidential Atom Egoyan, The Sweet Hereafter James Cameron, Titanic
James Cameron will not lose this award. What he did withTitanic is unbelievable. He made the film as perfect as humanly possible and even gave back his salary from the studio after the film ran over budget. You can't just look at direction this time, it's about filmmaking.
Best Actor: Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets
- Dustin Hoffman, Wag The Dog
- Robert Duvall, The Apostle
- Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting
- Peter Fonda, Ulee's Gold
Possibly the toughest category to call. This year's best actor category is full of Hollywood icons and one rising star. I'm not making a prediction for this one, but I think the winner will have also been in Easy Rider.
Best Actress: Kate Winslet, Titanic
- Helena Bonham Carter, The Wings Of A Dove
- Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets
- Julie Christie, The Afterglow
- Judi Dench,Mrs. Brown
No award for Titanic here. This is a hard category for me to predict because I've only seen two of the performances. I will say that Helen Hunt is deserving.
Best Supporting Actor: Anthony Hopkins, Amistad
- Robin Williams, Good Will Hunting
- Robert Forster, Jackie Brown
- Burt Reynolds, Boogie Nights
- Greg Kinnear, As Good As It Gets
I think Burt Reynolds gave the best performance in this category, but I'm not sure that the voters will vote for him. If he wins it is unlikely that he will follow in the footsteps of comeback king John Travolta who has made good films since his re-emergance. In fact, I just heard that he signed a deal to make a series of action pictures for HBO. An Anthony Hopkins or Greg Kinnear upset is possible.
Best Supporting Actress: Minnie Driver, Good Will Hunting
- Kim Basinger, L.A. Confidential
- Joan Cusack, In & Out
- Gloria Stuart, Titanic
- Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights
I like the old lady here. A lot of people are picking Kim Basinger but I have a feeling that 87-year-old Stuart will win because Titanic will seem tarnished if it wins a ton of awards without anything for acting. Without a trophy for acting, Titanic will be seen as one big special effect and no one in the industry wants the most successful film of all time to have nothing to show for its acting.
As for the rest of the categories and nominees of importance, look for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to win for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting, and Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" to win Best Song for Titanic. Don't be suprised if Titanic walks away with Oscars for 13 of its 14 nominations. But I'm predicting the biggest film of all time walks away with 11 or 12, at the very least tying the record of 11 set by Ben Hur in 1959.
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