Actually Dick Tracy did have pretty amazing art direction. It's very "early 1990s" though.

Wow. I totally forgot that Phantom got nominated for Art Direction. I guess I forgot it in my angry stupor after it being snubbed for a Costume Design nomination.... Now *that* was a stupid move on the Academy's part. Say what what you will about the movie itself, but those costumes were AWESOME.

Well, at least it did get a nom for Art Direction. That was great, too.

Honestly, I thought Aviator beat far too many better movies last year... Last year's Oscars sucked (of course, when have they not?.... besides when LOTR:ROTK swept up)

Joy

Memoirs will probably take best art direction at the oscars going away. It is the kind of lavish production that the academy swoons over. Its biggest competition will come from King Kong, which will impress with its vivid realization of Skull Island and recreation of 1930's New York. The New World is a wildcard, but it looks more likely to be a front-runner in cinematography (right next to Geisha and maybe Munich), considering how beautifully shot Mallick's previous films have been (The Thin Red Line was jaw-dropping).

Also, I thought the Aviator was quite deserving of the award last year, but I would say that Marty's previous film Gangs of New York derserved it even more over Chicago.

I definitely agree that, if anything, The Aviator deserved the Art Direction win. It's one area of the film people had few debates about.

Memoirs should walk away with this and Costume Design without too much problem.

After having seen Narnia, I am still not convinced it will get a nom here.

I don't think that Geisha will win this, especially not after reviews bashing it endlessly.

It all bodes well for Charlie

Okay, King Kong will be a huge competitor in this one and will probably win. Can't imagine anything topping that. Amazing re-creation of Depression Era NYC and top-notch work on Skull Island.

Well, mostly everyone got three of the five right. Pride and Prejudice surprised, as almost no one predicted it and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's snub is just a shame. Memoirs of a Geisha will probably take this home, even though Harry Potter would be more deserving.

It'll be a battle between Memoirs and King Kong. Since Art Direction is normally one of the first categories to be handed out, we could get a sense of how the techs are going early on. If Kong wins, it's very likely to win all four awards that it's nominated and may end up with the biggest number of wins. If Memoirs wins, then techs will be more evenly distributed, and Kong may end up losing Sound to Walk the Line and end up with only 2 wins (Visual Effects and Sound Editing are locks).

It's funny that King Kong could actually end up with as many awards as FOTR, heh.

Potter is the one that should win this though.

Finally, we agree on something.

that's too funny - guess you didn't like it.