The Winners

Yeah... so that thing I said about getting this thing started again... oops. I've been in a show, and consequently haven't seen many movies/had the time to write about them. I did see Constantine, however, which was so bad it was funny. I just got back from the Oscar party at the Brattle, which was a good time. General comments on the Oscars: Chris Rock good, for the most part; show itself... ehhh not so much. Kinda boring this year. Not a fan of having all the nominees onstage at the same time, though I guess the in-the-audience ones weren't so bad. Beyonce singing most of the songs... never again. For the love of god, please, never again. Anyway, onto the winners... we'll see how well I did, but chances are it won't be good... that whole "Oscar catch-up" thing never quite happened in February.

Best Picture
Winner: Million Dollar Baby
My Pick: Finding Neverland

Tonight thoroughly convinced me that I need to see Clint's baby. Hands down the biggest and most pleasing upset of the night.

Best Director
Winner: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby
My Pick: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby

Probably the biggest upset of the night. I thought Scorcese was a lock. Clint has proven himself a resilient little bastard, and good for him. I'm sure Scorcese will have other opportunities.

Best Actor
Winner: Jamie Foxx, Ray
My Pick: Johnn Depp, Finding Neverland

Chances are this is right. I haven't seen Ray (I'll be saying "I haven't seen ____" a lot here... really makes my pics worthless), but I've heard Foxx was spot on. Also amazing that he brought his daughter as his date.

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
My Pick: Clive Owen, Closer

Yeah... I was just guessing anyway...

Best Actress
Winner: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
My Pick: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby

I think Swank is going to be a major contender for most things that she does.

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
My Pick: Natalie Portman, Closer

Despite that being a vote out of dire fanboyism, I really wasn't a fan of Blanchett's Hepburn. I'd heard huge ravings about Viriginia Madsen, but... oh well. The Aviator got held in place after this, so it's okay.

Best Animated Feature
Winner: The Incredibles
My Pick: The Incredibles

As if anyone had a bit of doubt.

Art Direction
Winner: The Aviator
My Pick: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

I liked Lemony Snicket's style, but The Aviator was pretty, so I'm okay with this.

Cinematography
Winner: The Aviator
My Pick: The Aviator

Yup. A pretty movie.

Costume Design
Winner: The Aviator
My Pick: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

I guess I just liked the idea of something being original and creative, not just accurate. Oh well...

Documentay Feature
Winner: Born Into Brothels
My Pick: Super Size Me

Like I said, I had heard great things about this one. Kudos to them.

Documentary Short Subject
Winner: Mighty Times: The Children's March

Little kids and the civil rights movement. Heartstring pulling combination if I ever saw one. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a fantastic piece. Just saying there are certain things the Academy tends to move towards, and without a Holocaust piece, this is the closest thing...

Film Editing
Winner: The Aviator
My Pick: Collateral

Whatever. They should have left another 20-30 minutes on the floor, except that might have made it a little more incomprehensible.

Foreign Language Film
Winner: The Sea Inside, Spain

Makeup
Winner: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
My Pick: The Passion of the Christ

As good as Passion's nastiness was, I admit that the stuff they did with Jim Carrey was really amazing. Competition is a good thing.

Best Original Score
Winner: Finding Neverland
My Pick: Harry Potter

This really isn't one I had any right to judge without seeing the movie. At least with visual stuff you can get a sense from previews and such. This is really one that had to be experienced. And I know this isn't Williams's best stuff, so I shouldn't have been so quick to hand it to him.

Best Original Song
Winner: "Al Otro Lado Del Rio," The Motorcycle Diaries
My Pick: "Learn to be Lonely," The Phantom of the Opera

My least favorite part of the ceremony. Only the Counting Crows looked like they enjoyed what they were doing. Beyonce got old very, very quickly, and Antonio Banderas & Carlos Santana wasn't nearly as cool as it should have been. I have no idea why they didn't just let Emmy Rossum sing the song from Phantom. Silly, silly Academy. I'm not a huge fan of this song, but maybe it'd be better if I knew the meaning. Ah well.

Best Animated Short
Winner: "Ryan"

Best Live Action Short
Winner: "Wasp"

Sound Editing
Winner: The Incredibles
My Pick: Spider-Man 2

No complaints with awards going to Pixar's best.

Sound Mixing
Winner: Ray
My Pick: Spider-Man 2

I guess you can't go wrong when you're mixing a movie about Ray Charles.

Visual Effects
Winner: Spide-Man 2
My Pick: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, or Spider-Man 2

It's still a crime. But the 2nd-best took it. It was also amazingly amusing to hear someone thank Sam Raimi on the Oscar stage.

Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Sideways
My Pick: Finding Neverland

No surprise here, I guess. All I've heard in the last month is how fantastic the script in Sideways is, so yay, I guess. And they actually said that Before Sunset is based on Before Sunrise. Does this strike anyone else as being silly?

Original Screenplay
Winner: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
My Pick: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

As well it should be. Kudos to Kaufman.

And there you have it. I'm on spring break, so maybe I'll get some actual reviews up here. God only knows...