Yet Another Oscar Wrap-up

So... The Oscar telecast wasn't so bad. Jon Stewart didn't bomb outright, and there were a few good bits--I especially like the fake campaign ads--though Stewart was much finnier when he was speaking off-the-cuff than when he was going through the prepared material. Starting the telecast half an hour earlier was a good move--I actually got home before midnight! Too many darn montages though, with no rhyme nor reason for why they were there (or sometimes which movies were included!)

AS far as my picks go, I had 99 points on the Joe Janes Oscar Scoring System*, which wasn't very good, but was enough to tie me for second place at the party. I was 15 for 24 overall, so let's take a look at where I went wrong (based on my picks which I posted yesterday):

Picture
Everybody at the party chose Brokeback Mountain, so it didn't affect my standings, but really I should have seen this one coming. It used to be that Best Picture/Best Director never split, but ever since the Shakespeare in Love/Saving Private Ryan debacle they've done it more often than not, especialyl where there are two movies going neck and neck. But after Crash picked up the Best Original Screenplay consolation prize I figured that Brokeback had this locked up, forgetting that Brokeback took home the other screenplay award.

Supporting Actress
I was counting on the Academy to not go for the obvious and opt for Amy Adams, but they did and went with Rachel Weisz.

Original Song
Okay, the only thing I can think of is that the Academy voters thought it would be funny for Jon Stewart to have "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" (and to his credit, Stewart took the gag and ran with it). This truly was the biggest surprise of the night.

Live Action Short Film
Maybe had I gotten around to watching these on iTunes I would have known better. But at best this is a crapshoot every year, and this year was no different.

Animated Short
Is this the start of a Pixar backlash?

Sound Mixing
This is the other category that surprised me, but I guess the Academy went for King Kong--because if there's one thing that movie did have, it was sound. Lots of it too, all mixed together.

Cinematography
I shouldn't have gone for a dark horse pick, I guess. Plus, I in no way saw coming a Memoirs of a Geisha run at the tech awards.

Documentary Short
See Live Action Short.

Costume Design
See Cinematography. I was right about a period piece winning, I just chose the wrong period piece.


So I don't think I did half bad, but it could have been better. I'll have to wait a whole year to reclaim the travelling Oscar trophy back from Patricia!


(* What, doesn't everyone use the Joe Janes Oscar Scoring System? It's: 15 point for picture; 10 for the acting & directing categories; 7 for screenplays & animated feature; 3 for the shorts & documentaries; and 5 for everything else.)