Oscar Predictions 2009 from Falcon and Dove

Hello, Brothers and Sisters,
Thank you for all those emails about your office pools, online ballots, and contests that you are entering concerning the Oscars this weekend, February 22. Falcon and Dove have been working hard to try to see as many of the nominees as we could before this week's deadlines...and now we have our picks.

We don't agree in every category...so where there is a difference, the choice marked in bold also has Falcon or Dove listed next to the prediction.

We hope you enjoy the Oscars, and to everyone nominated: great job! You are all fantastic! This was a golden year, and you should all be proud.

OSCAR PREDICTIONS-FALCON AND DOVE 2009

Best Picture

The Curious case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire-Falcon and Dove’s Choice

Best Actor

Richard Jenkins for “The Visitor”
Frank Langella for “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn for “Milk”-Falcon and Dove pick
Brad Pitt for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for “The Wrestler”

Best Actress

Anne Hathaway for “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie for “The Chanegling”
Melissa Leo for “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep for “Doubt”
Kate Winslet for “The Reader”

Best Supporting Actor

Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey, Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road
Health Ledger The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams for Doubt
Penelope Cruz for Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

Best Director

David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Stephen Daldry, The Reader”
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex-Germany-almost Falcon’s choice
The Class-France-Dove
Departunes-Japan
Revanche-Austria
Waltz with Bashir-Israel-Falcon


Adapted Screenplay

Eric Roth and Robin Swicord-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley-Doubt
Peter Morgan-Frost/Nixon
David Hare-The Reader
Simon Beaufoy-Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay

Courtney Hunt-Frozen River
Mike Leigh-Hapy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh-In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black-Milk
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter-WALL-E

Animated Feature

Bolt-(Falcon)
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E (Dove)

Art Direction

Changeling
The Curious case of Benjamin Button (Dove)
The Dark Knight (Falcon)
The Dutchess
Revolutionary Road

Cinematograhy

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

(extremely tough category)

Sound Mixing

The Curious case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight (Dove)
Slumdog Millionaire (Falcon)
WALL-E
Wanted

Sound Editing

The Dark Knight
Iron Man (Falcon)
Slumdog Millionaire (Dove)
WALL-E
Wanted

Original Score

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk, Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire A.R. Rahman
WALL-E, Thomas Newman


Original Song

Down to Earth-WALL-E, Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Jai Ho-Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman and Gulzar
O Saya-Slumdog Millionaire A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Costuming
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Dove)
The Dutchess (Falcon)
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Documentary Feature

The Betrayal (Nerakhoom)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water
Documentary Short
The Conscience of Nhem En (Dove)
The Final Inch (Falcon)
Smile Pink!
The Witness-From the Balcony of Room 306

Film Editing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Falcon)
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire (Dove)

Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Dove)
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Falcon)

(extremely hard category)

Animated Short

La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory-Love story
Okatapodi
Presto
This Way Up

Live Action Short

Auf der Strecke (On the Line) DOVE
Manon on the Asphalt (FALCON)
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Visual Effects

The Curious case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight (DOVE)
Iron Man (FALCON)

Golden Globe Winners-2009

Hello World Family,
Here are the Golden Globe results from last night's awards. The Falcon and Dove picks are in BOLD that actually won.

Overall, we are very happy with the results. One or two points: We wish Heath Ledger could have been there. We hope his spirit was. Second, we hope Mickey Rourke is really back, and gets some additional roles to show us he really is back at the top of his game. We felt the best delivered thank-you speeches were given by Colin Farrell and Kate Winslet, surprise Best Actress, Drama. (Not really a surprise to anyone who saw her in this film).

We hope those of you that can get to see some of these films, they are really a great group this year.

Peace,
Falcon and Dove

FILM

Best Picture-Drama-Slumdog Millionaire

Actress/Drama-Kate Winslet-Revolutionary Road

Actor-Drama-Mickey Rourke-The Wrestler

Picture/Musical or Comedy-Vicki Christina Barcelona

Actress/Musical or Comedy-Sally Hawkins/Happy Go-Lucky

Actor/Musical or comedy-Colin Farrell/In Bruges

Supporting Actress-Kate Winslet/The Reader

Supporting Actor-Heath Ledger/The Dark Knight

Director-Danny Boyle/Slumdog Millionaire

Screenlay-Simon Beaufoy/Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign Language-Waltz with Bashir/Israel

Animated Film: WALL-E

Original Score: AR. Rahman/Slumdog Millionaire

Original Score: The Wrestler

TELEVISION


Actress Anna Paquin-True Blood

Actor, drama-Gabriel Byrne/In Treatment

Series, Musical or Comedy-30 Rock

Series, Drama-Mad Men

Actress, Musical or Comedy-Tina Fey/30 Rock


Actor, Musical or Comedy-Alec Baldwin/30 Rock

Miniseries or Movie made for Television: John Adams


Actress, miniseries or movie: Laura Linney/John Adams

Actor, Miniseries or movie: Paul Giamatti/John Adams


Supporting Actress; Laura Dern/Recount

Supporting Actor-Tom Wilkinson/John Adams

Golden Globe Predictions-Television

Hello World Family,
Here is part two of Falcon and Dove's predictions for the Golden Globes Sunday evening.

Falcon and Dove's Television Award Golden Globe Predictions

Best Television Series-Drama
This was an impossible category; we picked three: Dexter, House, and In Treatment. We have no idea what will win...it could be House, but Dexter is darkly uber cool, and In Treatment is just so dramatically good! Fine actors, great writing. Man Men and True Blood aren't bad either. Pick one.

Best Actress in a Television Series-Drama
Tough Category; we think my fellow birthday gal Sally Field in Brothers and Sisters has a shot. We love Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer. Mariska Hargitay is fierce in Law and Order: SVU. We think one of these three women will get the globe.

Actor in a Television Series-Drama
In this category, we have to go with one of our favorite actors of all time, Gabriel Byrne for In Treatment. This group has stiff competition with perennial favorite, Hugh Laurie in House; Michael C. Hall from Dexter, and the Welsh actor Jonathan Rhys-Myers in The Tudors. Jon Hamm in Mad Men is probably the outside guy.

Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical
Our favorite television category! Who do you pick>! Give them all one!
We believe Tina Fey will win this year for 30 Rock. We love, love, love America Ferrera in Ugly Betty, Debra Messing and Christina Applegate are hysterical in their shows The Starter Wife and Samantha Who respectively. Mary Louise Parker in Weeds has been here before. We wish them all good luck!

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical
Falcon and Dove are going with David Duchovny in Californication. This is a a tough group with the ever talented Steve Carell, Kevin Connolly, Alec Baldwin, and Tony Shalhoub. These guys are good.

Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
An extremely impressive grouping, we are choosing John Adams for the winner.
A Raisin in the Sun is one of Falcon's favorite plays and movies, and Recount was excellent.

Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture made for Television
What a beautiful group! We are going with Laura Linney in John Adams, but could easily have gone for Dame Judi Dench in Cranford, Shirley MacLaine as Coco Channel, or Catherine Keener in An American Crime. Susan Sarandon is one of Falcon and Dove's favorites.All outstanding performances, all deserving.

Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture made for Television
This is such a difficult category for a decision, but we are tied with Ralph Fiennes in Benard and Doris, along with Paul Giamatti as John Adams. Kevin Spacey, Keifer Sutherland, and Tom Wilkinson all rock and this is such a hard decision.

Supporting Actress
We are going with Laura Dern in Recount, but we also have Dianne West and Melissa George from In Treatment, Rachel Griffiths in Brothers and Sisters, and the impressive Eileen Atkins in Cranford. It was a good year.

Supporting Actor
Jeremy Piven has had a great year in Entourage, and a hard fall and winter on Broadway with his sudden illness. He probably has this one. CMU graduate Blair Underwood was a sympathetic and frightening character in In Treatment.
Denis Leary has always been a favorite, and he was good in Recount. Neil Patrick Harris is hysterical (and is good with swords as well) in How I Met Your Mother. Tom Wilkinson was good, but not my favorite portrayal of Ben Franklin.

We wish all the nominees good luck and hope that Falcon and Dove fans see some of these actors in action in additional productions this year.

Peace, World Family!
Falcon and Dove

Golden Globe Predictions-Film

Hello Family,
Falcon and Dove hope that you are having a wonderful New Year! Well, the Golden Globes are tomorrow, and if you listened to our podcast, you have an idea of how we are going to vote for our favorites, and how we think the Hollywood Foreign Press did. We didn't cover everything there, though, so without further ado...

Falcon and Dove Golden Globe Predictions 2009

Best Motion Picture-Drama
This is a tough category, but we are going to stick to our favorite here and go with Slumdog Millionaire. The others, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (a high contender and this one may walk away with it), Frost/Nixon, The Reader, and Revolutionary Road are all excellent films with some of our favorite actors in them, but we think Danny Boyle outdid himself this year, and should be rewarded for it. Kate Winslet did a superb job in the last two mentioned, and should be an Oscar nom, no problem.

Best Motion Picture-Comedy
This was a challenging category because the performances in all of these films were so out-of-the-box. It was a tie for us between In Bruges and Burn After Reading. Happy Go-Lucky, Vicki Christina Barcelona and Mamma Mia all had endearing qualities and plenty of laughs...and VCB may actually take this category, but the ensemble casts of our two choices were just too cool, and we think one of them will walk away with the top prize.

Best Actor-Drama
This was an impossible category, but our two choices are Brad Pitt and Sean Penn for Benjamin Button and Milk, respectively. Falcon cannot adequately explain in words how strong all of these men were in their roles this year. Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road was outstanding. Frank Langella brought out the balance in the historically complex character that is Richard M. Nixon, (Frost/Nixon) and Mickey Rourke was unbelievably good in The Wrestler. This may be one of the best 5 performances in nomination for the Golden Globes in this category, ever.

Best Actress-Drama
In another extremely competitive category...a tough decision, but we are going with Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long (English title). This was a dynamic, complex character to bring to life on the screen, and Falcon and Dove both hope we see more roles like this for actresses in the future. We think that Anne Hathaway is about to break out and get all the attention she so deserves, and Meryl Streep did a strong, dynamic job in Doubt. We think Angelina is diversifying her resume well with Changeling, and as previously mentioned, Kate Winslet is going to get an Oscar nom this year, we hope. We went with what we thought was the best performance overall, but believe me, it was tough.

Actor-Comedy or Musical
All of these great actors are rarely known for their comedy (except maybe Brendan Gleeson), so this was a tough call, especially since some were in the same films...but we are going for handsome Irishman Colin Farrel in In Bruges. James Franco could easily get this one, but more because of what he did in Milk, than in Pineapple Express. A Best Supporting Actor nomination from the Academy should be coming. Javier Bardem can do anything and nearly does in Vicky Christina Barcelona. I love Dustin Hoffman, and this is a great role for him. He is fearless. IF you can, see all of these films.

Actress-Comedy or Musical
We are going with a probable long shot, but she did such a great job, and does in nearly every film she is in...home-town girl Frances McDormand in Burn After Reading gets our nod. We know that Sally Hawkins or Rebecca Hall are probably going to get this one...but part of Falcon really wishes Emma Thompson would in Last Chance Harvey because I cannot recall a time or a film I have not enjoyed with her presence.

Best Supporting Actor
Okay, we admit it. When we heard the nominations for this category we burst out laughing. We did. All these actors rock, but pitting Robert Downey, Jr. against Ralph Fiennes in the same category didn't seem quite right somehow. So here it is: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight, hands down. We have one for Ralph Fiennes later in teh Television categories. Philip Seymour Hoffman would have won this if Heath had not delivered his last acting performance this year. PSH: Your Oscar is coming, my friend. Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder? Come on, he was better in Legend.

Best Supporting Actress
This is a tough category, but we are going with Kate Winslet in The Reader.
She plays an extremely emotionally wrenching character and she pulls it off well. Amy Adams and Viola Davis are both in Doubt and do very good jobs. Penelope Cruz rocks in Vicky Christina Barcelona, and Marisa Tomei, is an actress I love, and she is in her element in The Wrestler.

Best Director
This is such a tough category every year, and this year is no exception. I love all of these guys (I wish there were some women) but, in the end...we can choose only one. Falcon and Dove go with Scottish director Danny Boyle for a mind-blowing nearly speechless outstanding job on Slumdog Millionaire. Every human being who can et to a movie theatre should see this film. Falcon doesn't say this lightly. In my adult life, I have only given a couple of films perfect grade "A". That is, films that I thought in every way were flawless from beginning to end. David Fincher did an excellent job on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is a strong contender. Ron Howard is always an Oscar favorite, I just don't know if he will win it here at the Golden Globes. Sam Mendes has done a truly strong period piece in "Revolutionary Road", and I hope he gets one Oscar noms as well.

Best Screenplay
Eric Roth gets high props for Benjamin Button. Adapting this F. Scott Fitzgerald story for a three hours film was tremendous. He is our choice for Best Screenplay, but of course, Slumdog Millionaire's Simon Beaufoy is another possibility. Peter Morgan did a fantastic job on Frost/Nixon. John Patrick Shanley took the play of Doubt and put in on the screen well.

Best Foreign Language Film
I've Loved You So Long is our choice for the winner. Waltz With Bashir is also a strong film from Israel. Gomorrah from Italy is impressive. Everlasting Moments from Sweden is incredible. Check this one out. The Baader Meinhof Comlex from Germany we have not seen, but has received excellent reviews.

Best Animated Feature
We are picking Bolt, over Kung-Fu Panda and WALL-E.. All of these were well done, but Bolt has the best spirit and organic angles of the three.

Original Score
This is a tough category. We are going with Alexandre Desplat, for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, , but seriously, all of these noms are excellent contenders. James Newton Howard for Defiance, in particular.

Original Song
Falcon is picking a song from a film that isn't nominated elsewhere, but is really cool: Once in a Lifetime from the film, Cadillac Records. For music lovers, this film rocks, and has some history you may have missed. See it if you can.

We will post the Television division shortly.
Peace,
Falcon and Dove

Happy Holidays From Falcon and Dove-One Wish

Hello World Family,

Falcon and Dove wish you all the best of holiday seasons and a prosperous New Year! Be happy, healthy and generous of heart in 2009. Don't wait to share your love with friends and family. 2008 has demonstrated that things can change very quickly in the world, so don't hold your affections hostage to doubt, past wrongs, and misgivings; share and watch the magic happen! People can be transformed by the slightest gesture of kindness. If we all do our part, the world will benefit from our collective sharing.

Use your words to heal, not harm. We don't mean be nice in the face of atrocities; those should be handled with direct, forceful language. We should speak sternly and follow up with action that denotes our unwillingness to tolerate the intolerable. However, be careful of what you say, and know that your words may mean more than you think they do.

We mean don't use language that is petty or otherwise attempts to diminish the spirit of others. Speak the truth, and yes, there is one. There is an expression running around that has disturbed Falcon and Dove: Perception is reality. Well, no it isn't, it's perception.

What we perceive can be slight of hand; our senses can fool us. It is foolish to think that what we see as individuals or societies makes or truly perceives reality...it is simply what we can grasp at the time, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that is 'real'.

Indeed, most of what we thank of as reality is truly illusionary. For example...the straight line. In reality, there are no straight lines in nature; everything has a bow to it. The strongest form in nature is an arch. Let's bridge-build with each other in ways that make us all stronger. Let's acknowledge that 'truth' is still elusive for us, and that what we perceive has some truth in it perhaps, but our perceptions are not reality; they are walking dreamtime...until we awaken to a greater truth, then the reality shifts.

Let's strive to live the highest, greatest ideals of our faiths: let's love each other and ourselves. Let's show an aptitude for gratitude. Let us be thankful for the blessings and for the trials, because we learn a great deal from both. Let's thrive... in the greatest sense of our spirit and our faith...and helps others to do so.

We hope that you have love and faith in your hearts...with an open hand to others, and not a closed fist. Embrace opportunities for growth and experience that will give you more to give to others. Don't allow anyone to limit your spirit. You have a lot to offer; let your sharing with others reveal how sacred you are.

That is our one wish for you this holiday season: that you see how truly beautiful you are.

Peace...good will to all,
Falcon and Dove