Day: January 27, 2004

Time for a New Assault

Dark Horizons reported today that “French director Jean-Francois Richet will helm the remake of the John Carpenter classic… Assault on Precinct 13… which starts filming April.

Assault on Precinct 13 is one of my favorite John Carpenter films. I don’t know much about Jean-Francois Richet, but as long as he doesn’t stray from Carpenter‘s screenplay and they don’t screw it up in casting, it can’t go wrong.

Academy Award Predictions

Nominations for the 76th Academy Awards were announced today. Here are the nominees for the major categories and my predictions on who will win…

Best Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King / Lost in Translation / Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World / Mystic River /Seabiscuit
My prediction: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Best Animated Feature: Brother Bear / Finding Nemo / “The Triplets of Belleville”
My prediction: Finding Nemo

Leading Actor: Johnny Depp in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” / Ben Kingsley in “House of Sand and Fog” / Jude Law in “Cold Mountain”/ Bill Murray in “Lost in Translation” / Sean Penn in “Mystic River”
My prediction: Bill Murray

Leading Actress: Keisha Castle-Hughes in “Whale Rider” / Diane Keaton in “Something’s Gotta Give” / Samantha Morton in “In America” / Charlize Theron in “Monster” / Naomi Watts in “21 Grams”
My prediction: Charlize Theron

Directing: “City of God” Fernando Meirelles / The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingPeter Jackson / “Lost in Translation” Sofia Coppola / “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” Peter Weir / “Mystic River” Clint Eastwood
My prediction: Peter Jackson

Best Supporting Actor: Alec Baldwin “The Cooler” / Benicio Del Toro “21 Grams” / Djimon Hounsou “In America” / Tim Robbins “Mystic River” / Ken Watanabe “The Last Samurai”
My prediction: Tim Robbins

Best Supporting Actress: Shohreh Aghdashloo “House of Sand and Fog” / Patricia Clarkson “Pieces of April” / Marcia Gay Harden “Mystic River” / Holly Hunter “Thirteen” / Renée Zellweger “Cold Mountain”
My prediction: Renée Zellweger

Original Screenplay: The Barbarian Invasions” Denys Arcand / “Dirty Pretty Things” Steven Knight / “Finding Nemo” Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds Original Story by Andrew Stanton / “In America” Jim Sheridan & Naomi Sheridan & Kirsten Sheridan / “Lost in Translation” Sofia Coppola
My prediction: Sofia Coppola

As I said, these are just my predictions and not in every case the person that I would like to see win. The Academy Awards will be presented on February 29th… tune in and find out who wins and how good of a guesser I really am!