And The Awards Went To...

How did I do?  Let's have a look.  I must say the 80th Annual Academy Awards must have surely been one of the more boring of them all.  Yawns all around.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Correct. 1 for 1.  Totally deserving.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Correct. 2 for 2.  Totally deserving.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Julie Christie in "Away from Her" (Lionsgate)
Wrong. 2 for 3.  Not upset that Marion Cotillard won.  I haven't seen La Vie en Rose, but from all accounts it (she) was great.  Always nice when a non-English movie wins.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There" (The Weinstein Company)
Wrong. 2 for 4.  I liked Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton, but really didn't think it was Oscar worthy.  And man o man did Tilda look hard.

Best animated feature film of the year
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Brad Bird
Correct 3 for 5.  Haven't seen it, but would like to some time.  I'm a Brad Bird fan.

Achievement in art direction
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
Wrong. 3 for 6.  Very happy that Sweeney Todd won, even though it hurts my Oscar picks score.

Achievement in cinematography
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins
Wrong. 3 for 7.  (I'm sucking this year).  Again, not upset with this pick.

Achievement in costume design
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal) Alexandra Byrne
Correct. 4 for 8.  Always go with English period costume dramas.

Achievement in directing
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Correct. 5 for 9.  An easy pick.  Totally deserving.

Best documentary feature
"Taxi to the Dark Side" (THINKFilm) An X-Ray Production: Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
Correct. 6 for 10.  Not surprised by this.

Best documentary short subject
"Salim Baba" A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production: Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
Wrong. 6 for 11.  A total guess.  A total wrong guess.

Achievement in film editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Christopher Rouse
Correct.  7 for 12.  Surprised (pleasantly) that Bourne picked up the technical awards.

Best foreign language film of the year
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
Wrong. 7 for 13.  If I had done even a bit of research, I would have picked The Counterfeiters.  Didn't recognize the name.  But when I saw the trailer for it, I figured it to be an Oscar contender.  Seeing the clip of it during the telecast, I realized my error.

Achievement in makeup
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): Ve Neill and Martin Samuel
Wrong. 7 for 14.  This was something of a surprise for me.  Didn't think La Vie en Rose had a chance.  Still not sure why it won?

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami
Wrong. 7 for 15.  I just guessed at this one.  Probably didn't pick Atonement because I wasn't crazy about the movie.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
Correct. 8 for 16.  The feel-good win of the night.  Hooray, I said.

Best motion picture of the year
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott
Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen,
Producers
Correct. 9 for 17.  No surprise, really.

Best animated short film
"Madame Tutli-Putli" (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film
Board of Canada Production Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Wrong. 9 for 18.  Another guess.  Went Canadian, but should have gone "title everyone knows" with Peter & the Wolf.  What was with the film-maker bringing his little doll up with him?  Weird.

Best live action short film
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)" (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production: Andrea Jublin
Wrong. 9 for 19.  Again, another guess, and again, if I had done even a bit of research, I probably would have voted for the Le Mozart des Pickpockets.  Yeah, right.  Easy to say.

Achievement in sound editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
Correct. 10 for 20.  I figured Bourne would win at least 1 of these technical awards, so I put the name down for all 3 they were nominated for.  Didn't think it'd take them all.  Not angry at all that they did.  I liked that movie. 

Achievement in sound mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
Correct. 11 for 21.  See my "sound editing" blurb.

Achievement in visual effects
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
Wrong.  11 for 22.  I guess the Academy was tired of the third installment of Pirates visual wizardry.  Golden Compass takes the gold.

Adapted screenplay
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
Wrong.  11 for 23.  Just in case it wasn't a "No Country" night, I hedged my bet and went with something other than Coen Brothers here.  Tough category, I thought.

Original screenplay
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Written by Diablo Cody
Correct. 12 for 24.  No surprise with this.  Every day I'm liking the movie Juno less and less.  Still, a writer's award usually goes to a new-comer darling of the industry, and Diablo Cody is certainly that.  I'll be interested to see if she has anything else to write.

So, 12 for 24.  50%.  That sucks.  Usually, I'm anywhere from 14 to 18 correct, so this was a disappointing campaign for me.


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