Shoulda Waited Until Monday

Omar Poppenlander points out:

“What?! You mean I did better in my Oscar predictions this year than the Gaff-man? I had Bardem, Cotillard and Tilda Swinton in the acting categories and I picked No Country as Best Picture.Oh, but wait, I saw most of the films. Which ones have you missed?”

Hey, Omar, it’s not like I didn’t warn y’all. Of the films in the major categories, I have seen: Juno, No Country, Sweeney Todd, Into the Wild and Away from Her.

Pretty pitiful for a guy that works in the movie business.

And pretty pitiful guessing this year. My predictions and results:

Best animated feature: RATAOUILLE. Got it.

Supporting actor: Hal Holbrook. Wrong, oh well. I’m still voting for him.

Lead actress: Julie Christie. Wrong. After I made my predictions, someone who saw LA VIE EN ROSE pointed out that anyone who saw it knew to vote for Marion Cotillard. I haven’t seen it yet, so I didn’t know.

Supporting actress: Cate Blanchett. Wrong. (In my office betting pool, I put money on Tilda Swinton, which goes to show you how wishy-washy I am.)

Best leading actor: Daniel Day Lewis. Got it.

Song: ONCE. Got it. And a special class-act award goes to John Stewart for giving up his stage time to allow Marketa Irglova to come back on stage and give her heartfelt thanks.

Cinematography: ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES. Wrong.

Art and Costumes: SWEENEY TODD. Half got it, half wrong. Costumes went to Elizabeth.

Makeup: LA VIE EN ROSE. Got it.

Adapted screenplay: NO COUNTRY. Got it.

Original screenplay: JUNO. Got it. (For those out there that forget that I am still a writer despite working a day job for the man, I did get both writing categories correct. So there.)

Director: NO COUNTRY. Got it.

Best picture: MICHAEL CLAYTON. Wrong. I even pointed out that best director usually means best picture. And No Country had screenplay as well. But I couldn’t get past the ending to make the smart prediction.

Which is a real bummer because I missed the office pool by one category.

Overall, I didn’t do as poorly as I thought I would. 8 out of 14 on the blog; 12 out of 24 for the office pool.

(I missed sound editing on the office pool, which means I also missed sound mixing. Hint for y’all for next year: sound editing and sound mixing ALWAYS goes to the same film, because no one –in the industry or out – can tell the difference.)

Now to go out and see the movies, to find out if I’m angry about who won…

Just my thoughts,

Sean