Envelope/Gold Derby‘s Tom O’Neill has seen Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha….aagghh! He’s predicting “Oscar voters will bow deeply” to it. Beware O’Neill issuing proclamations like this. He’s obviously partial to Marshall. I, on the other hand, have little love for the guy because of his direction of the deeply loathed Chicago. I saw a flashing warning light when O’Neill wrote that “the director of Best Picture champ Chicago has once again proven what a winner he is“…forget it, throw it out. O’Neill’s claim that Geisha is a “shoo-in for a Best Picture nomination” may be a reliable call, but he’s clearly too invested in kowtowing to Marshall to be trusted at this stage. I’ll be seeing it Friday, but I have to hold my opinion until 11.22 or 11.23, which is when the trades will run their reviews. O’Neill saw it in Manhattan and just pushed his review out…damn the torpedoes. Geisha “will no doubt gather [nominations] like cherry blossoms,” he says… acting, writing, cinematography, costumes, makeup, editing and “a musical score by John Williams that suspends viewers in a floating world.” Cherry blossoms!