77th Annual Academy Awards SCORECARD

Well, the Academy Awards are over. I enjoyed them a lot. I will put up a separate post with my comments on the actual show, but let's see how well I did with my predictions:

Best Actor
My Pick: Jamie Foxx in Ray
WINNER: Jamie Foxx in Ray
Yes! Jamie got the big prize! I finally watched Ray on Friday and I can say that he deserved that Oscar. However, part of me wishes that somehow Don Cheadle could've gotten it too. If Jamie wasn't nominated, Cheadle would have clearly been the frontrunner with his powerful performance.

Best Supporting Actor
My Pick: Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby
WINNER: Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby
I'm very happy that Morgan Freeman finally got an Oscar. He's a great actor and his performance in this film was among his best.

Best Actress
My Pick: Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
WINNER: Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
Hilary Swank, 2. Annette Bening, 0.

Best Supporting Actress
My Pick: Virginia Madsen in Sideways
WINNER: Cate Blanchett in The Aviator
I forgot that the Academy liked Cate (she was nominated for Elizabeth). Plus, she played a Hollywood legend well...and I guess they realized how hard that was to do.

Best Animated Feature Film
My Pick: The Incredibles
WINNER: The Incredibles
The best film won, hands down. With two Animated Feature Film Oscars under their belt, maybe Disney should reconsider dropping Pixar.

Best Art Direction
My Pick: The Aviator
WINNER: The Aviator
It's just as I said...one movie dominates these types of categories.

Best Cinematography
My Pick: The Passion Of The Christ
WINNER: The Aviator
Apparently, I didn't think that what I said would apply here as well.

Best Costume Design
My Pick: The Aviator
WINNER: The Aviator
(See my comments for Best Art Direction)

Best Director
My Pick: Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby
WINNER: Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby
Man, that Directors Guild Award really does predict the Oscar winner. Don't worry Marty...you'll get one eventually. Even Susan Lucci finally won that Daytime Emmy.

Best Documentary Feature
My Pick: Super Size Me
WINNER: Born Into Brothels
I guess a movie with this subject matter would affect people more than a healthy person getting less healthy as he eats fast food.

Best Film Editing
My Pick: The Aviator
WINNER: The Aviator
(See my comments for Best Costume Design)

Best Makeup
My Pick: The Passion Of The Christ
WINNER: Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events
I liked the winner's acceptance speech. Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, and Mike Myers are in the elite when it comes to making makeup believable. Still, The Passion Of The Christ had some very good makeup. Maybe it frightened the voters too much?

Best Original Score
My Pick: Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban by John Williams
WINNER: Finding Neverland by Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
I didn't see that one coming. Well, the clip they played sounded good.

Best Original Song
My Pick: "Learn To Be Lonely" from The Phantom Of The Opera
WINNER: "Al Otro Del Rio" from The Motorcycle Diaries
This is a time that I wish I continued to take Spanish...

Best Visual Effects
My Pick: Spider-Man 2
WINNER: Spider-Man 2
Buckbeak couldn't get Harry Potter an Oscar for Visual Effects. But I bet Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire will be nominated next year.

Adapted Screenplay
My Pick: Sideways written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
WINNER: Sideways written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
They didn't honor this film for its directing or its acting, so they were going to honor it for its writing.

Original Screenplay
My Pick: Hotel Rwanda by Keir Pearson and Terry George
WINNER: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind by Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, and Pierre Bismuth
Wow, I didn't think Eternal Sunshine would win. I'm glad that out of all his movies that this one won the Oscar. It's definitely better written than Adaptation.

Best Picture
My Pick: Million Dollar Baby
WINNER: Million Dollar Baby
That's 0-for-2 for Leonardo DiCaprio/Martin Scorsese collaborations for Best Picture honors. It seems like Marty won't win unless Leo isn't in it.

My Tally: 11/18 or ~61% correct
Not too shabby, I guess. It's lower than my 7/9 score from last year, but it's higher than 50%.