Out on Limbs

Every year, I like to do my best to predict the winners of the Academy Awards. The following are the nominees, my predictions, and eventually the results as well as my review on the results.

NOTE: Normally I make some blind predictions, then watch all of the movies, then make a more informed decision. This year, however, I just can't find myself able to do it. Why? Because the films listed below are SO pretentious and I find them just completely uninteresting to watch to a ridiculous level. Thus, my predictions will remain virtually as a shot in the dark from what I know about the movies that I haven't seen and in comparison to the few I have.

BEST PICTURE
NOMINEES: The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse

BLIND PREDICTION: The Artist - considering how douchey this year is, this is the douchiest.

RESULT: The Artist

BEST ACTOR
NOMINEES: Demian Bichir (A Better Life), George Clooney (The Descendants), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

BLIND PREDICTION: George Clooney. I did enjoy his performance.

RESULT: Jean Dujardin

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
NOMINEES: Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn), Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Nick Nolte (Warrior), Christopher Plummer (Beginners), Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

BLIND PREDICTION: Christopher Plummer. Why? I don't know. He won the Golden Globe, that's about it.

RESULT: Christopher Plummer

BEST ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Viola Davis (The Help), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

BLIND PREDICTION: Michelle Williams - people are obsessed with Monroe for some reason.

RESULT: Meryl Streep

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Jessica Chastain (The Help), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs), Octavia Spencer (The Help)

BLIND PREDICTION: Octavia Spencer - biggest buzz.

RESULT: Octavia Spencer

BEST ANIMATED FILM
NOMINEES: A Cat in Paris, Chico and Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, Rango

BLIND PREDICTION: Rango.

RESULT: Rango

BEST ART DIRECTION
NOMINEES: The Artist, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, War Horse

BLIND PREDICTION: This is a toss-up as they never follow a format here. I'll say Hugo, but no matter what, I'm sure I'll be wrong and they'll pick the Artist, or if I pick the Artist, they'll pick Hugo. I'll go with Hugo, though.

RESULT: Hugo

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
NOMINEES: The Artist, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, The Tree of Life, War Horse

BLIND PREDICTION: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - just to give it something.

RESULT: Hugo

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
NOMINEES: Anonymous, The Artist, Hugo, Jane Eyre, W.E

BLIND PREDICTION: The Artist - typically, one film wins a lot of these things and the Artist is nominated for a lot.

RESULT: The Artist

BEST DIRECTOR
NOMINEES: Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

BLIND PREDICTION: Martin Scorsese - I can see this being the reason why Hugo is nominated for so much but wouldn't win Best Picture.

RESULT: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
NOMINEES: Hell and Back Again, If a Tree Falls: A Short Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Pina, Undefeated

BLIND PREDICTION: I don't make predictions on this category because I never watch them.

RESULT: Undefeated

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
NOMINEES: The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, God is the Bigger Elvis, Incident in New Baghdad, Saving Face, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

BLIND PREDICTION: I don't make predictions on this category because I never watch them.

RESULT: Saving Face

BEST FILM EDITING
NOMINEES: The Artist, The Descendants, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, Moneyball

BLIND PREDICTION: The Artist.

RESULT: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
NOMINEES: Bullhead, Footnote, In Darkness, Monsieur Lazhar, A Separation

BLIND PREDICTION: I have to go with A Separation. Normally I don't predict this category, but if they gave this a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay as well, I'd be foolish not to pick it as their future choice.

RESULT: A Separation

BEST MAKEUP
NOMINEES: Albert Nobbs, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Iron Lady

BLIND PREDICTION: Albert Nobbs - no reason.

RESULT: The Iron Lady

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
NOMINEES: The Adventures of Tintin (John Williams), The Artist (Ludovic Bource), Hugo (Howard Shore), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alberto Iglesias), War Horse (John Williams)

BLIND PREDICTION: The Adventures of Tintin - no real reason.

RESULT: The Artist

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
NOMINEES: "Man or Muppet" by Bret McKenzie (The Muppets) or "Real in Rio" by Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and Siedah Garrett (Rio)

BLIND PREDICTION: Extremely surprised that there's only two nominations this year. That seems crazy. Let's go with the Muppets on this one...what the hell, right?

RESULT: "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
NOMINEES: Dimanche, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, La Luna, A Morning Stroll, Wild Life

BLIND PREDICTION: I don't make predictions on this category because I never watch them.

RESULT: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

BEST SHORT FILM
NOMINEES: Pentecost, Raju, The Shore, Time Freak, Tuba Atlantic

BLIND PREDICTION: I don't make predictions on this category because I never watch them.

RESULT: The Shore

BEST SOUND EDITING
NOMINEES: Drive, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, War Horse

BLIND PREDICTION: Hugo.

RESULT: Hugo

BEST SOUND MIXING
NOMINEES: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, Moneyball, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, War Horse

BLIND PREDICTION: Hugo.

RESULT: Hugo

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
NOMINEES: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Hugo, Real Steel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Transformers: Dark of the Moon

BLIND PREDICTION: Rise of the Planet of the Apes - to help appease the Andy Serkis debate.

RESULT: Hugo

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
NOMINEES: The Artist, Bridesmaids, Margin Call, Midnight in Paris, A Separation

BLIND PREDICTION: The Artist.

RESULT: Midnight in Paris

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
NOMINEES: The Descendants, Hugo, The Ides of March, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

BLIND PREDICTION: Moneyball - though I'm about 90% sure they'll just give it to Descendants or something instead now that I've predicted it to be Moneyball.

RESULT: The Descendants



THOUGHTS: I was unable to watch nearly every movie nominated because I just couldn't get interested in them. This year was a boring show to me itself due to that factor, as it's hard to get invested in an award show if you don't care about any films nominated for any category. I'm very surprised a lot of things weren't nominated for a lot of categories. The highlight of the show in my mind was Emma Stone's presentation. My predictions score was 10 wrong, 10 right. For a blind guess, I guess you can't expect much better than a 50/50 split considering how it wasn't a 50/50 guess between 5 nominees - but I guarantee I would have done better if I had been interested in the films and watched them.