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Winner/Prediction Chart
Film Tallies
Commentary/Highlights
| Categories | Winners | Predictions |
| Best Picture | Million Dollar Baby | Million Dollar Baby |
| Best Director | Clint Eastwood | Clint Eastwood |
| Best Actor | Jamie Foxx | Jamie Foxx |
| Best Actress | Hilary Swank | Hilary Swank |
| Best Supporting Actor | Morgan Freeman | Morgan Freeman |
| Best Supporting Actress | Cate Blanchett | Cate Blanchett |
| Best Original Screenplay | Eternal Sunshine... | Eternal Sunshine... |
| Adapted Screenplay | Sideways | Sideways |
| Animated Feature | The Incredibles | The Incredibles |
| Best Foreign Film | The Sea Inside | The Sea Inside |
| Best Art Direction | The Aviator | The Aviator |
| Best Cinematography | The Aviator | The Aviator |
| Best Score | Finding Neverland | Finding Neverland |
| Best Song | "Al Otro Lado Del Rio" | "Believe" |
| Best Costume Design | The Aviator | The Aviator |
| Best Sound Mixing | Ray | The Aviator |
| Best Sound Editing | The Incredibles | Spider-Man 2 |
| Best Makeup | Lemony Snicket's... | Lemony Snicket's... |
| Best Film Editing | The Aviator | Million Dollar Baby |
| Best Visual Effects | Spider-Man 2 | Spider-Man 2 |
| Documentary Feature | Born Into Brothels | Born Into Brothels |
| Documentary Short | Mighty Times... | Autism is a World |
| Best Live-Action Short | Wasp | Everything in This Country... |
| Best Animated Short | Ryan | Gopher Broke |
5 Wins:
The Aviator: Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Film Editing, Art Direction, Costume Design
4 Wins:
Million Dollar Baby: Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor
2 Wins:
Ray: Actor, Sound Mixing
The Incredibles: Animated Feature Film, Sound Editing
1 Win:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Original Screenplay
Sideways: Adapted Screenplay
The Sea Inside: Foreign-Language Film
Finding Neverland: Score
The Motorcycle Diaries: Song
Spider-Man 2: Visual Effects
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: Makeup
This year, like the last, there were no major surprises. My predictions don't have nearly as good a score this year (71% correct versus 88% last year), but in a way I did much better in that I got all the major categories correct. Even if you expand "major" to include Best Animated Film, Foreign Film, and Documentary Feature, I still got all major awards right. (Money from Oscar pools anyone won because of me can be sent to 200 Water Street...) And I might add that I made those predictions before major predictors like Entertainment Weekly and Roger Ebert jumped on my bandwagon (although Ebert foolishly went against me and guessed Million Dollar Baby for Adapted Screenplay).
The ceremony itself was generally good, despite some changes to the format. Chris Rock as the host offered plenty of honest laughs, and he seemed to bring plenty of energy to the show. (Hours later, a clearly drunk Sean Penn, presenting the Best Actress award, defended Jude Law after Chris Rock accused him of being in every movie of the past four years. It was another big laugh of the night.) Ratings were slightly down from last year's Oscars, but considering last year's nominees most people had actually seen (this year, none of the Best Picture nominees have topped 100 million yet) it can be considered a solid viewer turnout.
The format changes seemed pretty inconsequential and pointless. For some minor awards, all of the nominees were brought onstage, and for other even more minor awards, the winner was handed the Oscar in the audience. Everyone still got to make speeches, but in a desperate gamble to make the show shorter they gave the winners even less time to make a speech, even the major ones: Charlie Kaufman, on his win for Best Original Screenplay for Eternal Sunshine, mentioned that there was a 30-second timer counting down once he reached the podium. In a sense, this was good, because it discouraged winners from reciting their agents and 1st-grade acting teachers, but I always think it's an incredibly uncomfortable moment when the winners get cut off by the orchestra. Especially when there's two winners and one doesn't even get to say anything.
A lot of people talk about the fashion at the Oscars, so I will too. Hilary Swank looked the worst, and Emmy Rossum looked the best. As for guys, the "tuxedo" seemed to be in fashion this year.
Random Highlights Not Involving Chris Rock:
-During a boring part the cameras cut to Morgan Freeman, in his seat after winning his Oscar. He notices the camera, starts polishing his Oscar, and winks.
-Best Original Song winner for Motorcycle Diaries sings a verse from his song as his speech, says thank you, and gets off the stage.
-Speaking of songs: any song NOT sung by Beyonce. What was the deal with her singing three? Yeah, that didn't get boring.
Well, that's it, folks. This Oscar season has come to an end. As for next year? Some promising films seem to include:
-Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director Ang Lee's "gay cowboy movie" Brokeback Mountain, with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal...
-Ron Howard's period piece Cinderella Man, with Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger...
-Rob Marshall's Chicago follow-up, Memoirs of a Geisha, with Zhang Ziyi...
-Ridley Scott's Crusades epic, Kingdom of Heaven, with Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson...
-Vengeance, a Steven Spielberg drama...
-Walk the Line, a Johnny Cash biopic with Joaquin Pheonix and Reese Witherspoon...
-Jarhead, directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition), based on the acclaimed Gulf War memoir, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Sam Rockwell, and Peter Sarsgaard...
...and many more that you'll have to find out about later. Goodbye 2004...
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