Oscars: Aftermath

And so another Oscar season has come and gone, and yet again, much like I have seen few, if any, of the movies nominated, I have not seen the actual Oscar broadcast. Because, really, who needs to. Four-plus hours of Hollywood back-slapping and grip-and-grinning? Puh-leeze. I'll just get the winners' list off the 'Net the next day.

And the winners list seemed to mesh even better than usual with my predicts this year. 16 right out of 24 categories gives me a success percentage of about 66.6666666 (into infinity) %, or -- if my math is correct -- about two-thirds. That ain't too shabby. Let's discuss.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Prediction: The Departed
Winner: The Departed
Thoughts: Yay Marty!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
Prediction: Forest Whitaker
Winner: Forest Whitaker
Thoughts: I don't know what the movie's about, but I really like the title "The Last King of Scotland." I also like Forest Whitaker. Maybe I should watch this movie, eh?

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Prediction: Helen Mirren
Winner: Helen Mirren
Thoughts: As always, you can't go wrong by voting for someone who either goes through an uglification, or manages to bear an uncanny resemblance to a historical figure.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:
Prediction: Alan Arkin
Winner: Alan Arkin
Thoughts: Is Alan Arkin Canadian? I saw his Oscar win on the front page of either The Province or The Sun this morning (can't remember which) which seems like a weird spin for the front. My guess is they either had to ship the front to press before the Oscars were over, or else they went for Canadian content. Assuming Arkin's Canadian. If you hadn't noticed, I'm not sure.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Prediction: Jennifer Hudson
Winner: Jennifer Hudson
Thoughts: Haven't got any. This was just a "well, guess Dreamgirls might win something" prediction. I don't even know who she is.

Best Achievement in Directing
Prediction: Martin Scorsese
Winner: Martin Scorsese
Thoughts: Yay Marty!

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Prediction: Letters from Iwo Jima
Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
Thoughts: No love for Mr. Eastwood this year, I see.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Prediction: The Departed
Winner: The Departed
Thoughts: Yay Marty! Er, I mean, Yay William Monahan!

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Prediction: El Laberinto del Fauno
Winner: El Laberinto del Fauno
Thoughts: Dark, weird, creepy and moody wins the cinematography category. Big surprise.

Best Achievement in Editing
Prediction: The Departed
Winner: The Departed
Thoughts: It's interesting to note that not only has Thelma Schoonmaker (the winner in this category) been nominated for five Oscars, she has also won three. All while working with Scorsese.

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Prediction: El Laberinto del Fauno
Winner: El Laberinto del Fauno
Thoughts: Again, no big surprise.

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Prediction: El Laberinto del Fauno
Winner: Marie Antoinette
Thoughts: Well, I didn't have a chance in this category, as Fauno wasn't even nominated. For whatever reason, while copying the info from my Oscar ballot, I typed up the nominations for Art Direction under this category. It's easy for me to say, after the fact, that I would have fingered Marie Antoinette for the win had I actually looked at the proper nomination list, but I probably would have. That or The Queen, just because of the way period stuff tends to take the Costume Design category.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Prediction: Babel
Winner: Babel
Thoughts: What did I say about big, sweeping, emotional scores?

Best Achievement In Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Prediction: Dreamgirls
Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
Thoughts: How often does a documentary win in this category? Next to never, I'd reckon. Although, clearly, it isn't impossible.

Best Achievement in Makeup
Prediction: El Laberinto del Fauno
Winner: El Laberinto del Fauno
Thoughts: More shiny statues for dark and creepy.

Best Achievement in Sound
Prediction: Dreamgirls
Winner: Dreamgirls
Thoughts: A movie with people singing wins best sound. Moving right along...

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Prediction: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Winner: Letters from Iwo Jima
Thoughts: I'll blame my miss on the fact that I still don't understand the difference between this category and the previous.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Prediction: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Thoughts: Did anyone else find this movie a bit underwhelming? Too much setup for part three, I think.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Prediction: Cars
Winner: Happy Feet
Thoughts: I hate that title. The movie might be fine and all, but that title just rubs me so many different shades of not-right.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Prediction: El Laberinto del Fauno
Winner: Das Leben der Anderen
Thoughts: Huh? How does a foreign movie, that manages to win Oscars in three other non-foreign-specific categories *not* win the foreign language category? Granted, those other wins were for more technical awards, and not for the merit of the movie, but this seemed like such a no-brainer to me.

Best Documentary, Features
Prediction: An Inconvenient Truth
Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
Thoughts: Speaking of no-brainers. Glad this category didn't turn out to be a surprise as well, otherwise I'd have to stop putting my money on the apparent no-brainers.

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Prediction: The Blood of Yingzhou District
Winner: The Blood of Yingzhou District
Thoughts: While I wouldn't recommend making all your Oscar predictions based on what has the coolest name, this is evidence that, on occasion, it can actually work.

Best Short Film, Animated
Prediction: The Little Matchgirl
Winner: The Danish Poet
Thoughts: In honour of the winner, here is a pastry haiku.

Pastry, you are best / with fruit in your soft centre / yum, fruity pastry.

Thank you.

Best Short Film, Live Action
Prediction: The Saviour
The Winner: West Bank Story
Thoughts: I'm all used up. The haiku took the last of my energy.