So I finally managed to see Letters from Iwo Jima, less than 24 hours before the Oscars, and it certainly now has me rooting for it.  I made some last minute changes to my previous post, though I changed no predictions.  I did change my personal pick for Sound Editing, and I changed my comments for Best Director and Best Motion Picture.  It was a truly phenomenal film, and has once and for all proved to me how enormously skilled Clint Eastwood is (I also watched Unforgiven yesterday, one of his two Best Director wins so far).  It’s a shame that most of the voters had probably not even seen this film before voting, so it won’t stand much of a chance in the major categories.  I still give it an A+ though.

(On a side note, I’m a bit Japanese’d out.  I watched all 3.5 hours of the legendary Seven Samurai, and then I proceeded to the theater to see the 2.5 hour Letters from Iwo Jima, both of which are in Japanese with English subtitles.  You’d think I’d be able to speak Japanese after all that… or not.  Whew.)