80th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony

The 80^th running, er, I mean presentation of the Annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards Ceremony, known as the Oscars, has officially come to a close.

From Jon Stewart making some off the wall jokes about the pregnancies in the audience (and how the "baby goes to . . . Angelina Jolie") to the Bee from Bee Movie showing some clips from his old movies (The Swarm, Election, etc), the night was typical Hollywood glitz and glamour. Jack was there, as usual, in his shades and being very magnanimous (he forgave young Josh Brolin for a bad impersonation). Travolta was all smiles and Tommy Lee was nonplussed and serious (the latter awaiting but not expecting his turn at the old statuette bat).

Odd Moments
The weird moment of the evening came when two guys came out instead of Halle Berry and Dame Judi Dench (I know it was a planned gig). I'm not really up on who they were, but it just came across kind of creepy.

Another odd moment was when Colin Farrel came out in a rush, hunched over a little as he approached the podium, walked in a little circle back the way he came and then went to the podium again. He leaned into the mic and said something to the effect that "someone should taker care of that." I can only assume he slipped on something on the stage. It didn't appear to be staged and I didn't really see the joke in it if it was.

As much as I really like Nicole Kidman, I must say those necklaces draped around her just did not work. They were half slung off to one side and made her look rather disheveled.

The Jon Stewart jokes about how they would fill in the gaps if the writers had still been on strike were pretty strained. And doing it more than once just added to the ill advised humor.

How I Did With My Own Predictions
I was right about everyone and their brother/sister making predictions. They even had a show on cable where celebrities and sports figures were making predictions. But I don't know how well everyone else did with their predictions.

I do know how bad I did with my own predictions.

33%

Hey that's not too bad, really. I got 8 out of 24 correct. Including, I might add, the complete shocker of Tilda Swinton, who was so shook up, she couldn't really speak.

CORRECT! Best Screenplay (Original), Diablo Cody for Juno.

WRONG! Best Screenplay (Adapted), went to Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country For Old Men. I had called it for Christopher Hampton for Atonement.

CORRECT! Visual Effects went to Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood for The Golden Compass.

WRONG! The Sound Mixing award went to Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis for The Bourne Ultimatum and I said it would be Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe for 3:10 To Yuma.

WRONG! Sound Editing also went to Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg for The Bourne Ultimatum instead of my pick of Transformers.

WRONG! For me Best Short Film (Live Action), going to Les Mozart Des Pickpockets was a real stretch. I was sure it would have been Tanghi Argentini or At Night.

WRONG! Best Short Film (Animated) went to Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman for Peter & The Wolf instead of Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse for Even Pigeons Go To Heaven.

WRONG! Best Music (Song) going to "Falling Slowly" (Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) in the movie Once was such a travesty. The song, as performed for the show, was lackluster. At least "Raise It Up" from August Rush was inspirational (which, if you couldn't tell, was my pick).

WRONG! Best Music (Score) went to Dario Marianelli for Atonement rather than my pick of Kite Runner, which I still think had the better score.

CORRECT! Best Makeup, to Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald for the artsy flick La Vie En Rose.

WRONG! Best Foreign Film went to the Austria film Counterfeiters (directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky) instead of my pick of the Polish entrant Katyn, directed by Andrzej Wajda. But like I said, what do I know of foreign films, right?

WRONG! Best Film Editing belonged to Christopher Rouse for The Bourne Ultimatum rather than Dylan Tichenor for There Will Be Blood.

WRONG! Best Documentary Short was all Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth for Freeheld, not James Longley for Sari's Mother, only because I got the political issue wrong. Freeheld was a domestic partnership movie, another political / Hollywood hot button.

WRONG! Best Documentary Feature went to Alex Gibney and Eva Orner for Taxi To The Dark Side rather than Moore's Sicko. (Guess Mikey isn't the outsider darling of Hollywood anymore.)

WRONG! Best Directing, Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country For Old Men, not Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood.

CORRECT! Best Costume Design really was a no-brainer for Hollywood types (as I expected); Alexandra Byrne for Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

CORRECT! Best Cinematography, Robert Elswit for There Will Be Blood.

WRONG! Best Art Direction went to Dante Ferretti (Art Direction); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration) for Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (which is where I thought it should go but didn't think the Academy was so open-minded). I had sheepishly picked Sarah Greenwood (Art Direction); Katie Spencer (Set Decoration) for Atonement.

CORRECT! Best Animated Feature Film, Brad Bird for Ratatouille.

CORRECT! Best Actress in a Supporting Role went to Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton.

WRONG! Best Actress in a Leading Role went to Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose instead of my choice of Laura Linney in The Savages.

WRONG! Best Actor in a Supporting Role belonged to Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men instead of belonging to my pick of Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his part in Charlie Wilson's War.

CORRECT! Best Actor in a Leading Role will (no surprise) go to Daniel Day-Lewis for his work in There Will Be Blood.

WRONG! And the Best Picture Oscar went to No Country For Old Men. I was sure it would be There Will Be Blood.

So there you have it. The winners of the 80th Annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards, and how I got two thirds of them wrong. Nobody is perfect but, like the award ceremony itself, it was fun wasn't it? Take care and see you next time in front of the lighted marquee and the silver screen.

Source:
OSCARS.com - 80^th Annual Academy Awards
http://www.oscar.com/

My 2008 Oscar Winning Predictions
By Charles Reynolds
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/620929/my_2008_oscar_winning_predictions.html

ABC-TV telecast of the 80^th Annual Academy Awards Show