Oscar Predictions and Results

I broke my Lenten fast from TV to watch the Oscars last night. Call it cheating, whatever you want, I wanted to see them and I think watching one program in 40 days is still okay.

Anyway, let’s see how I did with my predictions. I started out okay, but then I hit a streak of three bad picks in a row. That’s okay. Those were all guesses.

16 Correct Picks. 8 Incorrect Picks.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker – I was right. This movie was good, but had I seen all ten of the nominated films, I’m not sure I would have felt it was worthy of a win. Overall, I think the field seemed a little weak this year. I was left with a lot of feelings after watching The Hurt Locker, but not the feeling that I had just seen a movie worthy of Best Picture.

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow – Right. Not much surprise here I think. Although, in my opinion, the movie she directed wasn’t downright amazing, the work that went into it had to be amazing. I mean, think of all the successful movies about the Iraq War. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock – Wrong. I went with Carey Mulligan, the underdog. After seeing how truly young she looked I knew I wasn’t going to get this one right. Bullock must put in a hell of a performance in The Blind Side because I have never thought of her as an actress that could beat out the likes of Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep. Odd.

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges – Right. Easy pick. I don’t think anyone was shocked. His acceptance speech was great, not necessarily the words, but the childlike giggles that came out of him in between sentences and natural pauses in his speech. You could see and hear his genuine happiness. Very cool.

Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique – Right. She said something about the Academy awarding the performance and not the politics and how she was very thankful about that. Well, I don’t really know what that means because in my recent memory most of the actors that did the best job were awarded the Oscar. She would probably disagree with this sentiment, but that’s the way I see it. She was awarded an Oscar because she deserved it and for no other reason.

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz – Right. Easiest pick of the night. I love his English. He sounds so damn proper.

Animated Feature: Up – Right. Also an easy pick. It is hard to dethrone the genius of Pixar.

Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker – Right. You have to give the award to the writer who finally made an interesting movie about at least one of our current wars. All the rest, unless they were documentaries, have failed miserably.

Adapted Screenplay: Precious – Right. I just went with momentum here because Precious has it. Although, Up in the Air would not have been a bad pick.

Art Direction: Avatar – Right. Any surprise here? It would have been like snubbing Christoph Waltz. Just not going to happen.

Cinematography: Avatar – Right. This was a beautifully shot movie. Lots of long shots with little cutting to make you feel like you were in Pandora. It is hard to turn it down.

Film Editing: The Hurt Locker – Right. This movie, compared to the rest, seemed the most artfully cut with very little wiggle room. Meaning, if it was done just slightly different, it would have been a completely different movie.

Foreign Language Film: El Secreto de Sus Ojos – Wrong. I don’t know anything about these movies. Totally guessed. Totally wrong.

Original Score: Up – Wrong. I picked Avatar, but I did mention Up as a strong contender. I did think Avatar’s soundtrack was impressive. It wasn’t stale and over-the-top like it had a great danger of being. Just right.

Best Original Song: Weary Heart – Right. Jeff Bridges said this song helped make the movie. I went with his feeling.

Costume Design: The Young Victoria – Right. Rule #1: When making a prediction for the award for costume design, go with, when available, the movie made about the monarchy.

Best Documentary: The Cove – Wrong. I didn’t see any of these, but this movie looks depressing, which is often a good sign when you are in search of great documentaries.

Best Short Documentary: Music by Prudence – Wrong. I went with the GM movie. This was the acceptance speech where one of the people involved in the movie totally interrupted the winner’s acceptance speech. A weird moment. He didn’t look happy.

Best Short Film (Animated): Logorama – Wrong. Where does one see these movies is my question?

Best Short Film (Live Action): The New Tenants – Wrong. This was part of my bad streak last night.

Best Makeup: Star Trek – Right. Okay, back on track. Sort of easy to pick this winner.

Best Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker – Right. See what I wrote about the editing.

Best Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker – Wrong. I went with Transformers. I wonder how often do the two big sound awards go to different movies?

Best Visual Effects: Avatar – Right. Surprise. Surprise.