Oscar Recap!

Sometimes (most times) I don't understand the Oscars. Because surely if its insanely obvious to me that one film has better special effects or sound effects than another, the voting bodies must see that too right? So I ask you this, why would Hugo win the Visual Effects and Sound Editing awards following a single train crash...? Films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Harry Potter clearly had wall to wall better special effects than Hugo, and films like Transformers had the metal sounds of transformers transforming, and building collapsing, and vehicles exploding, and gun fire....and Hugo still had...a train crash. I feel better after getting that off my chest, now on to the recap.

Best Picture: The Artist. Not a shocker in any way, shape, or form. There was no drama in this category.
Best Director: Michael Hazanavicious, The Artist. Also not a surprise here. Anyone could see this win coming a mile away.
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist. A bit of a surprise for me as I thought Clooney had enough early momentum to get the win despite Dujardin's late surge. This was his weakest acceptance speech so far, not as witty or clever as his Globes or SAG speeches.
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady. Another minor surprise. Viola Davis was the favorite, but Streep was hot on her heels. Streep was engaging and funny as has come to be expected from her.
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners. Zero surprise.
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help. Zero surprise.
Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris. The favorite, even though its a terrible screenplay.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, The Descendants. Would be the only Descendants win on the evening, but was a solid and deserved win.
Best Visual Effects: Hugo. Should have been any of the other 4 movies in the category. I incorrectly thought Rise of the Planet of the Apes would win. I was wrong.
Best Cinematography: Hugo. I incorrectly picked The Tree of Life. Tree of Life had swept every single pre Oscars cinematographers award, but the Academy again blindly loved the overrated Hugo.
Best Editing: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Incorrectly picked The Artist. Happy to see the GwtDT win here though as it was my pick for "Should Win".
Best Sound Editing: Hugo. I picked Transformers, and this was another award that should have gone to any other nominee.
Best Sound Mixing: Hugo. This one Hugo deserved.
Best Makeup: The Iron Lady. Should have gone to Harry Potter. Harry Potter had equal aging effects, plus they made goblins, wizards, witches, giants, trolls, and monsters.
Best Animated Feature Film: Rango. The right pick.
Best Art Direction: Hugo. Another one of the few that Hugo actually deserved.
Best Costume Design: The Artist. Not nearly as fantastic as fellow nominees Anonymous and Jane Eyre, and even Hugo seemed to have better costumes.
Best Original Score: The Artist. A film that was all score, so well deserved.
Best Song: Man or Muppet, The Muppets. 50/50 shot, and I picked correctly.
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation. The clear favorite due to the screenplay nomination.
Best Documentary: Undefeated. I thought the Hollywood baby Paradise Lost 3 would win, but the underdog sports film took it home.
Best Documentary Short: Saving Face. I incorrectly chose The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.
Best Animated Short: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. When in doubt, bet on Pixar.
Best Live Action Short: The Shore. Correctly chose this one based off the presence of Ciaran Hinds.

So I was correct on 14 out of 24 categories. Not as strong a showing as usual, but it was a strange year with no great films. Hugo's dominance in the technical categories was really unexpected and ridiculous. Lets hope we have a better Oscar year next year with The Hobbit, Django Unchained, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Great Gatsby.

-Maximus