The reviews won't reach the height of Return of the King, but they are darn impressive. Currently 21 out 23 reviews are fresh with an average rating of 8.0. The comments from The Cream of the Crop are very eye-catching. It will sure climb the IMDb chart once there are enough reviews as they are gushing it over there as well. Some sort of tech sweep is in the making, and with the disappointment of Kingdom of Heaven, it's possible that when all said and done, Revenge of the Sith could be the only movie left standing both box office and review wise from the first half of the year. So can it make a splash in the big categories? This is the last one after all. Having tech support helps, as TTT, the weakest link of the LOTR series in term of oscar buzz, was still able to manage even though Peter Jackson was left out that year.

it has great shots at winning best vfx oscar but that's all i see it getting so far.

It's got FX in the bag. It probably won't happen, but it would be nice to see the very underrated Ian McDiarmid given a supporting actor nomination. This is the guy who was so good in Return of the Jedi that he made Darth Vadar look tame as a kitten. He's been the best actor in the prequels, and , as expected, he really shines in Sith.

It's possible that it matches The Phantom Menace in terms of nominations: Sound, Sound Editing, Visual Effects. If the score is not a rehash of the old Star Wars, then it could snag it too. Maybe more if the reviews stay good.

Visual Effects nomination is a lock since all other 5 did that. A win is pretty much assured as well with the reviews it's getting. Sound, Sound Editing, and Art Direction (The first three all got Art Direction, and 4 of the 5 got Sound) nominations are all very likely, if not locks. Score is possible, as John Williams will get nominated for at least one of his movies this year. Editing is also a possibility. Overall, I believe it will get the most nominations in the series since the original Star War.

Hmm.. I think that makes sense. It could go by way of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (nine nominations) and Aliens (seven nominations) - mostly technical and no best picture.

The only chance it has to eek out of the tech categories is Ian McDiarmid or Ewan McGreggor in a supporting actor category.

The Sith score is absolutely brilliant, but because of everything that is going into it, all the old themes, I'm not sure how the academy will treat it as "origional".

If it is eligible, then it could easily win score. I think John Williams will win this year, he has an absolutely HUGE year.

If it is THAT successful and basically "saves Hollywood from its miserable summer box office nightmare" then who knows. Success can change a lot of things. Never deny the impact of a cultural legacy.

Possibilities:

Best Supporting Actor
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Art Direction
Best Score
Best Make-Up
Best Costumes
Best Visual Effects
Best Sound Effects
Best Sound Effects Editing

The only other category that Sith would be eligible is Best Picture. George Lucas has a very contentious past with the WGA and DGA ever since The Empire Strikes Back credits situation. They would never, ever nominate him again. However, the academy body as a whole could easily overcome the directors and writers and nominate the film if it is percieved as *that good*.

What happened with The Empire Strikes Back?

It is possible this could win an Oscar or two.

Tech awards, for sure. Anything else, highly unlikely.

The Director's Guild of America didn't have a problem with Star Wars having no pre-credit sequel, so when it came to do Empire Strikes Back, Lucas put no pre-credit sequence on it echoing Star Wars. Well some of the guilds, specifically the DGA, got mad at Irving Kershner and fined him. They are a union, and there are scketchy union rules about this sort of thing.

Anyway, in order to save Kershner from the guild, Lucas ended up paying the fines and in protest he quit the guild. I believe he also quit all subsequent guilds including PGA and WGA. This also lead to the hiring of Richard Marquand for Return of the Jedi because producer Lucas could not get Spielberg to work on Jedi because of the problems with a DGA director working a recently rebellious non guilded producer.

You have to understand the politics of Hollywood and the guilds there. The guilds are unions, and anybody who steps outside that system are subject to the fallout that comes from being even associated with someone who is not a member. Richard Marquand was Lucas' eventual choice, a non-guild director (he was Welsh).

While there are no rules that non-guilded Directors and writers are exempt from Oscar consideration, nearly every person who can select nominees in the director category or the writing category are members of the DGA and WGA. This doesn't mean all DGA voters can vote for the Oscars, but those that are Academy Members are DGA members. So if George Lucas (or Rodriguez, or Tarantino, etc.) could crank out the best script the world has ever seen, those politics of the guilds and unions would most likely keep them from getting specific awards.

However, Best Picture is not limited, ANY Academy member can vote for Best Picture nominees, so it is still a (remote) possibility there.

When it comes to Star Wars, science and technical is all the Academy is willing to throw its way. I don;t see ROTS changing that.

Hell, even The Matrix beat The Phantom Menace in three categories they were head to head in 1999.

It's pretty simple. Sith could be the best Star Wars film ever, and it still has little to no chance of major nominations.

I could see it winning editing maybe. Most reviews have said how well the movie moves, how it really flows well from scene to scene.

But yeah it won't get any major nominations.

Having watched the film, I see nominations for

Score
Visual Effects
Sound
Sound Editing
Art Direction

Editing is not a strong point of Sith. McDiarmid does great work but it's not going to cut it with the AMPAS. Costume is worthy of a nomination BUT since several high profile period films are in the running this year, fantasy may take a back seat. Not sure about Make-Up since the CGI blend is so efffortless.

I still, to this day, have no idea how The Matrix won sound awards over that Pod Race sequence.

If universally acclaimed Spider-man 2 couldn't get it last year, I don't see why star Wars would.


But it should do well in the technical categories.

Baffling isn't it? But hey, it is the same academy that nominated Shakespeare in Love for best sound.

The Matrix deserved the awards it got.

For ROTS i see nominations in
best SFX
Best Sound
Best sound editing

and WOTW will beat it and win.

Is Anakin's makeup in the end prosthetic or CG?

Hmm, f/x is a toughie. I know it'll get a nomination, but a win... I don't think so. Personally, I actually gotten taken out of the film from the effects more then Clones, and there were more then a few questionable ones. King Kong is a mortal lock for a nomination... the other film, well it could be War of the Worlds depending on how they pull it off, if not then I might've said Kingdom of Heaven if it didn't bomb, but na, I think Worlds will get it too at this point. Narnia sure won't, and I can't think of any other big epics that could, historical or fictional. I think I'll need to see some real effects work from the other two before I say anything's a certainty though...

Both, but mostly prosthetic. There are spy photographs and make-up tests of the process about.

MovieDude...comeon. Sith is a lock for a win. King Kong really isn't a lock for anything.

Lots of effects, costume, make-up, I don't know if score is allowed at this point.

I'll hold off on direction just yet though. This summer is full of action movies, and if Spielberg takes it for War of the Worlds, or someone takes it for Narnia, etc, I'd be hard pressed to think the Academy would hand out two best directions for movies of this nature.

Will it get a best picture nod? At this point, yes,because there haven't been many good movies out this year to challenge it, but I don't think that'll hold.