The Oscars 2008

Last night was the first time I managed to stay up and watch the awards ceremony live (thanks to the wonders of the internet and some mad haxors), something I’ve been wanting to do for years. It was fun, although I’m suffering today having only five hours sleep. I did find it strange how it took a while to get going and yet crammed the three main awards in the space of half an hour, but well worth staying up for. I did some predictions prior to it starting, and this is how I fared -

THE BIGGIES
Best picture – Atonement INCORRECT – No Country for Old Men
Best director – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men CORRECT
Best actor – Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood CORRECT
Best actress – Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose CORRECT
Best supporting actress – Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone INCORRECT Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Best supporting actor – Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James… INCORRECT Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Best foreign language film – The Counterfeiters, Austria CORRECT
Best animated feature film – Ratatouille CORRECT
Best adapted screenplay – Atonement INCORRECT No Country for Old Men
Best original screenplay – Michael Clayton INCORRECT Juno
Best music (score) – Atonement CORRECT

THE REST
Best music (song) – Happy Working Song – Enchanted (performed by Amy Adams) INCORRECT Falling Slowly – Once (performed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
Best documentary feature – Sicko INCORRECT Taxi to the Dark Side
Best documentary short subject – Sari’s Mother INCORRECT Freeheld
Best visual effects – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End INCORRECT The Golden Compass
Best cinematography – There Will Be Blood CORRECT
Best art direction – Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street CORRECT
Best animated short film -Madame Tutli-Putli INCORRECT Peter and the Wolf
Best short film – At Night INCORRECT Le Mozart des Pickpockets
Best costume design -Atonement INCORRECT Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Best make-up -La Vie en Rose CORRECT
Best sound mixing – The Bourne Ultimatum CORRECT
Sound editing -There Will Be Blood INCORRECT The Bourne Ultimatum
Best film editing -The Bourne Ultimatum CORRECT

Biggies Correct – 6/11
The Rest Correct – 5/12
Total – 11/23 (47.83%) (17 points)

I managed to get over half of the “biggies” right, including Director, and leading actor / actress. Score. “The rest” put me down below the half way mark, but many of those are non events and shouldn’t count. That’s not to say they aren’t important, but some were harder to gauge than Keira Knightley’s acting talent. I mean, how am I meant to know about the short film categories? Kind of shooting in the dark there. But considering I’ve seen a fraction of the films on the list, I did quite well I feel.Here’s hoping I beat it next year.As for the results themselves, I’m happy with them, especially Cotillard surprisingly getting Lead Actress for a role in a subtitled film. She was pretty fantastic, and so was DDL; considering both their films did not blow me away like they probably should have done, their performances carried them and completely captivated me, and thus was totally justified in their victories. I’d have liked Atonement to fare better though, especially for Adapted Screenplay, and Juno is a film I’d still like to catch before the DVD release.

All in all, a good ceremony!