Oscar Watch: On Screen and On DVD

O M G! The Oscars are Sunday, and there is still so much to do! Have you completed your ballot? Check out my picks for the major categories in this Friday's Seattle Gay News, where I'll give you the lowdown on best pic, director, actors and screenplays.

Still haven't seen the major nominees? A lot of them are still in theaters (and will be through the weekend): Babel, Blood Diamond, Borat..., Children of Men, The Departed, Dreamgirls, The Last King of Scotland, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, Pan's Labyrinth, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Queen, Venus, and Volver. The German entry for Foreign Language flick, The Lives of Others, is at the Varsity through tomorrow (Thursday), and the Live Action Short Films are at the Varsity through the weekend. A couple of movies - Babel and The Departed - are already on DVD, but if you have to catch them on the big screen head over to the Admiral for a surreal double feature.

Here's a complete list of nominated films already out on DVD: Babel, The Black Dahlia, Cars, Click, The Departed, The Devil Wears Prada, Flags of Our Fathers, Half Nelson, The Illusionist, An Inconvenient Truth, Jesus Camp, Little Miss Sunshine, Marie Antoinette, Monster House, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Poseidon, The Prestige, Superman Returns, United 93, and Water.

"Oh no!" I hear you cry; "I've seen all of those already, and I'm going through Oscars withdrawal!" "Well bully," I say, "for you." Even I, your intrepid Oscars watcher, haven't seen all of the films nominated. (You couldn't pay me to see Apocalypto, for instance. I shudder to think that Dreamgirls or Flags of Our Fathers could lose an Oscar to Apocalypto. 'Nuff said.) Oh yeah, and I also say "Tough noogies." Unless you're an AMPAS voter, that's all that's out there before Sunday's telecast. Here's a list of when the remaining features will be released on DVD:

• March 6: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
• March 20: Blood Diamond
• March 27: Children of Men, Curse of the Golden Flower, Happy Feet, and The Pursuit of Happyness
• April 3: The Good Shepherd and Volver
• April 17: The Last King of Scotland and Notes on a Scandal
• April (no date set): Apocalypto and The Queen
• May 1: Dreamgirls and Little Children
• May 15: Pan's Labyrinth
• May 22: The Good German
• May (no date set): Letters from Iwo Jima and Venus
• June (no date set): The Lives of Others

Unfortunately I was not able to find DVD dates for After the Wedding (Denmark) or Days of Glory (Algeria). Days of Glory is in limited theatrical release right now, and After the Wedding will be released in the US on March 30th. Hopefull they'll be in Seattle soon.

So after you've hit the DVD store and the theaters, head over to Purr Cocktail Lounge - 1518 11th Avenue on Capitol Hill - for the SGN Oscar Party! The red carpet review begins at 4:00 pm, and the show starts at 5:00 pm.

Ken Watanabe in Letters from Iwo Jima, photo courtesy of Warner Bros.; Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt in Babel, photo coutesy of Paramount Classics; Eddie Murphy, Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose in Dreamgirls, photo courtesy of DreamWorks Distribution LLC.