Oscars Show and Predictions Recap

The big night is over! I personally thought it was a mixed bag of a show. I thought host Seth McFarlane was fantastic, funny, topical, and had the right tone all night. The crazy love for a ten year old Best Picture winner that has all but been removed from public thought is strange, but when you realize the producers of this telecast were executive producers on Chicago, it makes more sense. I felt the Bond tribute was lacking, and while the Les Mis performance was solid, most other musical numbers fell flat. Overall a solid year, and I would love for McFarlane to come back next year.

It looks like its about time to predict next years oscars, but before we get to the year ahead, lets see how we did with our predictions.

Best Picture-Argo

Both myself and Diomedes nailed this one, but so did most people. It was pretty clear, and anything but Argo winning would have been a massive upset. Argo was one of my top three films of the year and is deserving of this award. 

Best Director-Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Both myself and Diomedes had Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. I did have Lee as my "could win" however. This became a real race about 3 weeks ago. Life of Pi was probably a slightly lesser film than Lincoln, but it is a monumental directing achievement. And you just get the feeling everyone in Hollywood loves Lee, and he always seems like the underdog since his films never win Best Picture. 

Best Actor-Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln

We nailed this one, again though, it was one of the most obvious races in years. 

Best Actress-Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

I correctly predicted Lawrence, Diomedes had Lawrence as his second choice, voting instead for Jessica Chastain. I do wish Chastain would have won, but Lawrence was great as well. The good news is that the overrated performance from Emmanuelle Riva didn't pull the upset. 

Best Supporting Actor-Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

A funny switch up here, if you followed our predictions here, I correctly predicted Waltz, and Diomedes predicted Phillip Seymour Hoffman, however on our ballots at our Oscar party, Diomedes correctly changed his pick to Waltz, and I incorrectly changed mine to Lee Jones. Waltz is well deserving here, as Jones would have been. This has been and continues to be the best category in the Oscars. 

Best Supporting Actress-Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Both correct here, another obvious race. A well deserved win for Hathaway, one of the most heartbreaking and soul destroying scenes in movie history. 

Best Original Screenplay-Django Unchained

Both correct here as well, however this is another one where I changed it on my personal ballot to Zero Dark Thirty, assuming it had to win one of the main 6 awards. Tarantino is a great choice here for an amazing and original script. I do wish Tarantino would button his top button though. He looks like a slob and it doesn't show how tidy and organized his scripts are. 

Best Adapted Screenplay-Argo

Both correct here as well. Although I was tempted by Lincoln. Chris Terro's script came on late, and was well deserved. 

Best Animated Film-Brave

Both correct again. This was a change I made the Friday before the Oscars, so I hoped you followed my advice to check back again Sunday morning for updates. I got the feeling that Wreck-It Ralph, while considered critically superior, was the type of film many older voters wouldn't get. 

Best Cinematography- Life of Pi

I changed this one on Friday as well, and got it right. Diomedes picked Lincoln here, and Skyfall was also a popular choice. Roger Deakins will continue to be the bridesmaid in this category, maybe next year. 

Best Costume Design- Anna Karenina

I was correct with this one, since Karenina had the big flowing dresses the Academy usually loves. Diomedes picked Les Miserables. Mirror Mirror was also a very popular choice here. 

Best Film Editing- Argo

This was one of only three awards I thought would go to Argo, and only those three did. Diomedes continued to ride the Lincoln train here, but again, if I was voting for what should win, I think Lincoln was the best edited film of the year. 

Makeup & Hairstyling- Les Miserables

We both nailed this one, correctly guessing that the prosthetic route and fantasy route would cancel each other out, giving it the film that succeeded at making its beautiful actors and actresses look....dirty? Lets be honest here thought, its much harder to make convincing dwarves and elves than to make people look grungy. 

Music (Original Score)- Life of Pi

We both correctly predicted Life of Pi, which was the most nontraditional and unique score of the year. All five nominees were worthy here but the award should have gone to a film that was not even nominated though, The Dark Knight Rises and Hans Zimmer's amazing, rousing score. 

Music (Original Song)- Skyfall, Skyfall

Skyfall was the obvious choice here, and we both correctly predicted it. You know the Academy wanted to hop on the Adele train. 

Production Design-Lincoln

Formerly Art Direction, the name was changed to correctly reflect the award. This was one of only two wins for Lincoln, and we both accurately predicted it would win. This was another though I changed for my personal ballot. 

Sound Editing- *Tie* Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty

Whoa! A tie, this was awesome. I was very excited, and then to also see the two winners had the exact same 3 foot long blonde hair was even more fantastic. Diomedes correctly predicted Zero Dark Thirty here. I continued on the Life of Pi train and lost this category. 

Sound Mixing-Les Miserables

We both correctly predicted Les Mis here, which was an obvious choice based off its live singing. 

Visual Effects-Life of Pi

The first person played off with the Jaws music, but again another correctly predicted easy winner here. It was awkward having the stars of one nominee (Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Robery Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, and Jeremy Renner of The Avengers) present this award to another film. 

Documentary Feature- Searching for Sugar Man

We both correctly predicted this feel good film would take home the prize. 

Documentary Short- Inocente

I correctly predicted this one based off the underdog theme. Diomedes thought the heart wrenching (no pun intended) Open Heart would win. 

Foreign Language Film-Amour

Come on, if this didn't win, we would have to evaluate how the Academy does its voting, since this film was the only Foreign Language film nominated for Picture, Director, Actress, and Screenplay. 

Short Film (Animated) - Paperman

A great, great short film was deservedly awarded here. We both correctly predicted this one as well.

Short Film (Live Action)- Curfew

We both predicted this one as well, it was the only American film of the five, and that tends to impact the race in this category. 

So overall if you followed myself and Diomedes predictions, you did pretty well. I ended up with 22 of 24 categories right, missing out on Director and Sound Editing. Diomedes nailed 17 of 24 categories, missing Director, Doc short, Costumes, Actress, Editing, Cinematography, and Supporting Actor. Check back in the next week or so for my way too far in advance 2014 Oscar Predictions. Its been a fun year, thanks everyone for reading and we hope to bring even more fun in 2013. 

-Maximus