If you need a quick recap to get this started, my original thoughts are here:
Part One
Part Two
And now, on to the winners. My correct answer/guesses are in bold for your viewing pleasure...
Best Picture
The Hurt Locker
Despite the “scandal” surrounding a certain producer lobbying for votes then being banned from the ceremonies for his efforts, it is Hurt Locker for the win.
Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Not surprised, although it would have been awesome to see Jeremy Renner win. He was awesome in 28 Weeks Later, and most everything I’ve seen him in – even SWAT).
Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Again, no surprise, but I wonder if she might have worn the Academy down just a bit. Still, happy about the win.
Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
She is 58. She directed Point Break and Near Dark. She is the deserved winner…
Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
As I said, it can’t not be Waltz. He did a brilliant job and turned what could have been a strictly evil character into a funny, frightening and incredibly unique performance.
Best Supporting Actress
Mo'Nique, Precious
Of all the nominee clips, Mo’nique’s really did stand way out. That being said, Anna Kendrick looks like she did some nice work too. Twilight? Really?
Best Animated Feature
Up!
Wish we could have at least had a small cut-away to Gaiman in the audience for Coraline, but no surprise. Pixar is near enough to flawless as can be..
Best Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
My first miss, and it’s in a writing category! I’m actually really happy to have been wrong and Boal’s story is a fascinating one, but Quentin Tarantino still delivered his most accomplished film to-date.
Best Screenplay (Adapted)
Jeffrey Fletcher, Precious
It’s funny that doing a full length version of your own short is considered an adapted screenplay. It’s funny that Nick Hornby continues to surprise me. It’s funny that Jason Reitman is getting a lot of backlash all of a sudden for no reason. Also funny? I was blanked in the writing categories…
Best Art Direction
Avatar
I called it, and it seemed fairly straight forward, but there really was some fantastic work in this category.
Best Cinematography
Mauro Fiore, Avatar
I threw two names into the hat, and didn’t even factor in the 3-D equation. Should have thought of it really…
Best Costume Design
The Young Victoria
Missed this one too. It’s tough choosing whether period pieces deserve the win for their intricacy, and apparently our winner agrees – low budget, modern day designers deserve as much, if not more credit. “This award is for them, but I’m taking it home with me”.
Best Documentary
The Cove
They all look extremely interesting, but I am happy to have been right. A heavily stacked category, but I’m going with The Cove, a clandestine examination of annual Japanese slaughter of dolphins and the efforts that former Flipper-trainer Ric O’Barry has taken to expose the practice.
Best Documentary - Short Feature
Music by Prudence
Prudence, which looks as interesting as the rest of them. Turns out the weird woman that rushed the stage during the speech was the producer and she has been in a feud with the director for some time now.
Best Editing
The Hurt Locker
A deserved win for sure – so many tense scenes in that movie, consistently ramping up. Basterds as well though, as far as my pick goes…
Best Foreign Film
El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina
No White Ribbon, but they all looked very good.
Best Makeup
Star Trek
I said: "Star Trek by a hair, although this category often favours period makeup over creature prosthetics, so…" So what? Star Trek for the win.
Best Original Score
Up!, Michael Giacchino
Michael Ginacchino for Up! The guy behind Alias and Lost. Awesome acceptance speech about it being okay for kids to be creative and they should stick with it.
Best Original Song
"The Weary Kind", Crazy Heart, Ryan Bingham & T-Bone Burnett
"The Weary Kind". Not sure why I liked it for the win, but that was my call. Was a little more likely after winning at the Globes as well.
Best Animated Short Film
Logorama
Wallace and Grommit defeated by Corporate America. Still, Logorama looks pretty awesome (and took six years to put its 16 minutes together. Trailer
Best Live Action Short Film
The New Tenants
I still don’t see The Lake on this list… Kavi didn’t win, but this one does look like a good picture..
Best Sound Editing
The Hurt Locker
So it was not Avatar. I am all right with that. Again, The Hurt Locker, which did have some impressive scenes, but it is a tough category. As is…
Best Sound Mixing
The Hurt Locker
I said: "Just to shake things up, I’ll go with The Hurt Locker on this one. Go ahead, tell me I’m hedging my bets, but that’s my call." I was right!
Best Visual Effects
Avatar
Avatar. The whole movie has redefined the industry, or at least propelled it ahead in new direction, so this is no surprise…
SO, 58.3% not great, but not horrible considering the vast amount of wild-guessery I had to do. It was awesome to see both Roger Corman and the tribute to Horror movies (I had seen them all except New Moon, which is way better than 58.3%). There were a few surprises for me this year, but none of them bad. Hurt Locker did better than I expected. Avatar did too.
58.3% might not be the best score, but I got all the big ones right. in Hollywood, that's all that matters. Most movies would consider a second weekend drop of 58.3% to be a job well done, so I guess I can think the same of my prognostications.
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