2013 Oscar WINNERS [Complete]

Correctly predicted 20 out of 24 Oscar winners!! 

We are now less than 24 hours from Oscar night (or, as it should be called for those in LA, Oscar afternoon), Hollywood's biggest night of self-congratulation, tears, and cheers. And, barring a few major categories, tomorrow night's show will conclude one of the most exciting Oscar races in years. The top prize may be all but locked for Ben Affleck's Argo, but plenty of other categories are, refreshingly, up in the air, including Best Director, and half of the acting categories. There are a handful of risks in my predictions for tomorrow's ceremony, but predicting these awards shows isn't fun without at least one gutsy choice. Come tomorrow night/afternoon, we'll know all of the winners, whether they be completely expected, or shocking upsets. And then we get to start the countdown to the 2013 awards season and 2014 Oscars, and go through the whole cycle of ups and downs all over again.

For a refresher on the nominees, click HERE. 

Best Picture
Front Runner: Argo
Alternates: Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln
Winner: Argo

Best Director
Front Runner: Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Alternates: Steven Spielberg - Lincoln, Michael Haneke - Amour
Winner: Ang Lee - Life of Pi

Best Actor
Front Runner: Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln [99% lock]
Alternates: Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook [0.5%], Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables [0.5%]
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis - Oscar

Best Actress:
Front Runner: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Alternates: Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Winner: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actor
Front Runner: Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Alternates: Robert DeNiro - Silver Linings Playbook, Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Winner: Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Front Runner: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Alternates: N/A
Winner: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables

Best Original Screenplay
Front Runner: Amour
Alternates: Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty
Winner: Django Unchained

Best Adapted Screenplay
Front Runner: Argo
Alternates: Lincoln
Winner: Argo

Best Editing
Front Runner: Argo
Alternates: Zero Dark Thirty
Winner: Argo


Best Cinematography
Front Runner: Life of Pi
Alternates: Skyfall
Winner: Life of Pi


Best Production Design
Front Runner: Anna Karenina
Alternates: Les Miserables
Winner: Lincoln


Best Costume Design
Front Runner: Anna Karenina
Alternates: Mirror Mirror
Winner: Anna Karenina


Best Animated Film
Front Runner: Brave
Alternates: Wreck-It-Ralph
Winner: Brave


Best Foreign Language Film
Front Runner: Amour [Austria]
Alternates: N/A
Winner: Amour [Austria]


Best Make Up
Front Runner: Les Miserables
Alternates: The Hobbit
Winner: Les Miserables


Best Original Score
Front Runner: Life of Pi
Alternates: Anna Karenina
Winner: Life of Pi


Best Original Song
Front Runner: "Skyfall" - Skyfall
Alternates: "Suddenly" - Les Miserables
Winner: "Skyfall" - Skyfall


Best Sound Mixing
Front Runner: Les Miserables
Alternates: Argo, Life of Pi
Winner: Les Miserables


Best Sound Editing
Front Runner: Life of Pi
Alternates: Argo
Winner [TIE]: Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall


Best Visual Effects
Front Runner: Life of Pi
Alternates: N/A
Winner: Life of Pi


Best Documentary [Feature]
Front Runner: Searching for Sugarman
Alternates: How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War
Winner: Searching for Sugarman

Best Documentary [Short]
Front Runner: Inocente (??)
Alternates: Redemption (??)
Winner: Inocente

Best Animated Film [Short]
Front Runner: Paperman
Alternates: N/A
Winner: Paperman

Best Live Action Film [Short]
Front Runner: Asad
Alternates: Buzkashi Boys
Winner: Curfew

2013 Oscar Predictions (minus shorts, docs, and techs)

With the Academy Award nominations arriving on January 10th, roughly two weeks earlier than usual, it's time to finally process the deluge of guilds and critics awards to try and churn out some half-decent predictions. The last major group, The BAFTAs, announced their nominees this morning, leaving only the Academy (tomorrow also marks the first televised award show: the Critics Choice Awards). As with the past few years (since the Best Picture field was widened to 10, and then made more fluid to allow between five and 10 nominees), there are plenty of sure bets, yet most categories have room for surprise nominees, left-field picks, and major snubs. Below is, to the best of my ability, a glimpse at what films and names will be read off tomorrow morning by Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone (barring the short films and technical categories).

Best Picture:
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty
Les Miserables
Argo
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
Amour

Most Vulnerable: Amour (by a huge margin)
Alternates: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Moonrise Kingdom, Django Unchained, The Master

Best Director:
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty
Ben Affleck - Argo
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Tom Hooper - Les Miserables

Most Vulnerable: Lee or Hooper
Alternates: Michael Haneke (Amour), Quentin Tarantino (Django), David O. Russell (Silver Linings), Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom)

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Denzel Washington - Flight
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes - The Sessions

Most Vulnerable: Bradley Cooper
Alternates: Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone

Most Vulnerable: Emmanuelle Riva
Alternates: Helen Mirren (Hitchcock), Rachel Weisz (The Deep Blue Sea), Quevenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Supporting Actor:
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Alan Arkin - Argo
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Leonardo DiCaprio - Django Unchained
Robert DeNiro - Silver Linings Playbook

Most Vulnerable: Robert DeNiro
Alternates: Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Javier Bardem (Skyfall), Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables), Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained)

Best Supporting Actress:
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Sally Field - Lincoln
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Ann Dowd - Compliance
Maggie Smith - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Most Vulnerable: Ann Dowd
Alternates: Amy Adams (The Master), Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy), Maggie Smith (Quartet)

Best Original Screenplay:
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Moonrise Kingdom
Amour
Flight

Most Vulnerable: Amour
Alternates: Looper, The Master

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Lincoln
Argo
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Most Vulnerable: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Alternates: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Animated Film:
Frankenweenie
Paranorman
Wreck-It Ralph
Rise of the Guardians
Brave

Best Foreign Language Film:
Amour [Austria]
The Intouchables [France]
A Royal Affair [Denmark]
Kon-Tiki [Norway]
No [Chile]

The Run Down: The 84th Academy Awards

Oscar turned 84 last night, and celebrated by honoring the past. Not only were two movies about cinema's early years big winners (The Artist and Hugo), but Billy Crystal rose to host once again, and Christopher Plummer became the oldest acting winner in history at 82, making him just two years younger than the award he accepted. As with many of the recent Oscar ceremonies, surprises were few and far between, though there was certainly a major one (we'll get there later). And, as with any Oscar ceremony, there were moments worthy of applause, and moments worthy of total mockery, although thankfully nothing was as painful as James Franco's complete lack of effort last year.

The Good

The Artist reigns supreme: The Artist and Hugo earned 10 and 11 Oscar nominations respectively, but ultimately AMPAS went with Michel Hazanvicius' black and white silent film. Not that Hugo was shunned; Scorcese's tribute to cinema managed to pick up 5 trophies in the technical categories. In the end, though, The Artist came out on top, also winning 5 trophies, but in three of the top categories (Picture, Director, Actor), which was a welcome change of pace after the Hugo-dominated first half of the ceremony. To paraphrase one commenter last night, Hugo tells you why old cinema is important, but The Artist actually shows you why old cinema is important.

The Presentation: Despite some awkward attempts at comedy by the presenters (Downey Jr. and Paltrow's bit really didn't work), the show flowed incredibly well, handing out awards without much lag.

Except for this mess...

Even the totally superfluous Cirque du Soleil performance didn't slow the show down, which only ran about 5 minutes past its 3 hour time slot. Pretty damn good when you consider that some ceremonies have lasted upwards of 4.5 hours.

Clips: One of the strangest trends in recent Oscar ceremonies has been the omission of clips during the presentation of the acting nominees. Thankfully this year's ceremony corrected that, and gave the nominees strong clips to demonstrate their efforts (the clips for Viola Davis and Rooney Mara were particularly well-chosen).

The acting winners' acceptance speeches: I really hope the Oscars' Youtube page adds clips from last night soon, because I really can't wait to watch these speeches again. In short, they were both extremely humble (not to mention adorable) and well handled. And as much flack as Streep has taken for winning awards these past few months, she has remained a class act through all of it.

The Original Score Presentation: Instead of simply listing off the nominees and playing some brief samples, the show went in a surprisingly epic direction for the Original Score category by sending up a massive screen designed to look like a stand with sheet music. Making it even better was Crystal's priceless reaction to the spectacle, an unimpressed "eh..."

Baxter and Wall, 2 for 2: After scooping up an incredibly deserved Best Editing Oscar for The Social Network last year, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall scored again for their excellent work on David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was a welcome surprise in the tech categories, which were otherwise dominated by Hugo and The Artist.

Jim Rash mocks Angelina Jolie: Angelina Jolie's extreme slit on her dress was certainly eye-catching, though it was slightly confusing when the actress tried to make a big deal of it by flaunting her leg. Not missing a beat, Jim Rash, one of the three winning writers for The Descendants, struck his own pose during the trio's acceptance speech, and provided one of the best improvised laughs of the night.

Natalie Portman: The Swan Queen returned to present Best Actor, and looked damn good doing it.

Will Ferrell and Zach Galifiankis being ridiculous:

The cast of Bridesmaids' drinking game: Continuing a gag from the SAG awards last month, the ladies from Bridesmaids drank anytime the name Scorcese was mentioned. Even funnier was the fact that Scorcese was unaware of the joke; the director looked positively baffled during the moment.

This picture:

The In-Between

Billy Crystal: There's no doubt that Billy Crystal is one of the Oscars' best hosts, but last night won't go down as one of his better efforts. Some of the material felt stale, and even the opening sequence featuring the host inserted into the nominated films (a Crystal staple) fell flat in comparison to years past. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Hathaway and Franco did a better job stealing Crystal's schtick last year.

Meryl Streep wins her third Oscar: It's been a long time coming, but Queen Meryl finally won her third Oscar statue, providing the only surprising acting winner of the night. Most everyone thought Viola Davis had this locked up, and the shock was palpable.

Meanwhile, in the balcony: What on earth was with those commercial bumps featuring the band sitting up in the Kodak Theater's box seats?

Wait, didn't Nicole Kidman wear that 5 years ago?:

The Bad

Hugo wins Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects:

One day, Emmanuel...one day...

Comparing the efforts of Hugo to those of The Tree of Life and Rise of the Planet of the Apes only makes these two wins look like complete jokes. The cinematography win is particularly troubling, considering that Lubezki's work on Malick's opus is some of the best DP work in years.

Supporting Actors are special too: Why were the lead actor/actress nominees given individual tributes by the presenters while the supporting actors were presented just like every other award? Some of the greatest performances of all time are supporting roles, and it looks pretty condescending to treat the leading nominees as more important.

Harry Potter and the Oscarless Film Franchise: The mega-successful film series' last film went home empty handed, leaving the massive 8-film franchise completely devoid of Oscar wins. They couldn't even throw an award to Stuart Craig's mind-blowing art direction, even after all of these years of bringing J.K. Rowling's world so beautifully to life. For shame.

Predictions for the 84th Academy Awards

At long last, another awards season is about to come to a close. Overall, 2011 was a strong year for cinema, yet ultimately AMPAS' nominees don't fully reflect this. There are any number of films and performances that ought to be attending the ceremony as nominees tonight (Michael Shannon, Elizabeth Olsen, etc...) but sadly won't. Still, at the very least I can hope that AMPAS will pick worthy winners out of some line-ups with rather uneven quality among the nominees.

For a refresher on the nominees, click HERE.

Best Picture

Will Win: The Artist

Should Win: The Tree of Life

I can't really say anything bad about The Artist as the likely winner of the top prize. It's a delightful, wonderfully made film through and through. In fact, out of the entire line up, The Artist is the only film really deserving of the title of Best Picture. Except for that little Terrence Malick movie. Whatever charms The Artist has, Malick's magnum opus really ought to be taking home this trophy. The film is only my second favorite of 2011 (#1 being Take Shelter), but I can't deny that The Tree of Life is last year's defining cinematic achievement.

Best Director

Will Win: Michel Hazanvicius - The Artist

Should Win: Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

See above.

Best Actor

Will and Should Win: Jean Dujardin - The Artist

It's been a close race between Dujardin and Hollywood golden boy George Clooney, but the Frenchman took the lead in the last legs of awards season. Clooney still has a very strong chance here, but ultimately this will go to the 'newcomer' of the group (I guess Demian Bichir would count too, but his nomination is his reward). Besides, Clooney already has an Oscar, and I don't think AMPAS will mind making him wait longer for a second one.

Best Actress

Will and Should Win: Viola Davis - The Help

The Help may be little more than a decent film, but the work from its cast is excellent across the board, particularly Davis. While there's a chance that Meryl Streep could finally win her third statue, Davis' film has infinitely more support than The Iron Lady, not to mention serious momentum. Everyone else should just be glad that they're here.

Best Supporting Actor

Will and Should Win: Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Mike Mills' lovely Beginners should have significantly more nominations, but if it has to come down to one, Plummer is a fabulous choice. I hate that Ewan McGregor has been ignored, but at least his co-star will be able to represent the film with class tonight. Plummer is the film's heart and soul, so even though this might be something of a "career win," it's one that feels completely deserved.

Best Supporting Actress

Will Win: Octavia Spencer - The Help

Should Win: Jessica Chastain - The Help

As much as I'd like to see Chastain take this award (which would essentially be for all of the films she was in anyway), Spencer has had this locked up ever since the Golden Globes. That's certainly not a bad thing, but Chastain's mix of goofiness and vulnerability were one of The Help's highlights, and it's too bad that they're being passed over.

Best Original Screenplay

Will Win: The Artist

Should Win: A Separation

Best Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: The Descendants

Should Win: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Cinematography

Will Win: Hugo

Should Win: The Tree of Life

No commentary other than that this will be the travesty of the night.

Best Editing

Will Win: The Artist

Should Win: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Art Direction

Will Win: Hugo

Should Win: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

The real question, though, is why the hell they overlooked Tinker Tailor here, of all places. The dense, dreary world of Cold War London looked immaculate.

Best Costume Design

Will Win: Hugo

Should Win: The Artist or Jane Eyre.

The costumes from Anonymous look incredible as well, but I haven't seen the film so I'll refrain from officially passing judgement. Strange that, in a year filled with so many amazing films, there really weren't too many with mind-blowing wardrobes.

Best Animated Film

Will and Should Win: Rango

Despite its early opening (March), I still think that Gore Verbinski's delightfully strange neo-Western will triumph here. I've heard good things about Chico and Rita, but it doesn't seem to have the industry support that Rango has.

Best Foreign Language Film

Will and Should Win: A Separation [Iran]

It's critically adored and has swept its category throughout awards season. If it loses, it'll be the biggest category upset since Pan's Labyrinth's loss (and even that one wasn't a complete surprise).

Best Original Score

Will and Should Win: The Artist

Given its lack of any other sounds, Ludovic Bource's score has to do quite a bit of heavy lifting, yet the composer makes it all feel effortless. It's not necessarily the best work of the year, but it's high up there, and it stands head and shoulders over its competition. If they give it to Williams for War Horse, I'm going to scream.

Best Original Song

Will and Should Win: "Man or Muppet" - The Muppets

Best Visual Effects

Will and Should Win: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I guess I'll know in a few hours how good/bad/disastrous these were. Either way, it's Oscar night, so there isn't too much that can get in the way of a good time. It's not like James Franco is hosting again...

State of the Race: The Guild Awards

With last night's SAG awards out of the way, the Oscar race is finally becoming a little clearer. After months and months of uncertainty, clear frontrunners are emerging, and the race is really taking shape. That said, there's still room for a few surprises on Oscar night, which is always welcome. Which is even more impressive now that Hollywood's three big guilds have handed out their awards for 2011. No matter how many critics prizes a film takes, in the end its industry support that matters. Look no further than The Social Network/The King's Speech for a classic example of a critical favorite eventually trumped by a film that hit it off big time with the industry. And in a year where so much is uncertain, we can at least try to speculate where AMPAS' votes will go, though unlike last year nothing is quite set in stone.

Best Picture

Frontrunner: The Artist

The Help may have picked up the SAG's top prize, but that's for ensemble, not picture (though SAG sometimes votes as if it is). Both the PGA and the DGA have gone to The Artist, which has emerged from the field of 9 contenders as the one with the best chance. The Descendants, Hugo, The Help, and even The Tree of Life all have their ardent supporters, but ultimately, this is The Artist's to lose.

Best Director

Frontrunner: Michel Hazanvicius - The Artist

The film certainly stands out among the crowd as a modern-day silent, and seeing as AMPAS generally tends to lump picture and director together, expect Hazanvicius to be swept along with his film.

Best Actor

Frontrunner: George Clooney - The Descendants

Though his loss last night to Dujardin was a blow to his momentum, Clooney remains the logical pick for the win, even though Dujardin is rapidly closing in on his lead. Clearly the actors love him, and the industry seems to love The Artist, so Dujardin could ultimately prove victorious. At the moment, however, Clooney's golden boy status could still be enough to keep him in first place.

Best Actress

Frontrunner: Viola Davis - The Help

Had Meryl Streep won the SAG award last night, I would have been ready to declare her third Oscar win all sewn up. But SAG went with Davis, whose film is clearly much more popular. Streep may have claimed the Globe, but Davis has the more popular film and the SAG momentum on her side.

Best Supporting Actor

Frontrunner: Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Probably the acting race's only lock, and he's only emerged recently. With back-to-back wins from the Globes and SAG, and the complete drop-out of Albert Brooks' campaign, Plummer is poised for an easy (though still very deserved) victory.

Best Supporting Actress

Frontrunner: Octavia Spencer - The Help

Though she's not quite the lock that Plummer is, she's pretty damn close. There's still room for co-star Jessica Chastain to sneak in and win here, but ultimately her nomination will prove to be her reward for her break-out year. Not a sure thing, but at the end of the day, this is Spencer's to lose.

That's all for now. More to come after the BAFTA awards next month, and then a final round of predictions just before Oscar night. We're almost at the end!

2011/12 Oscar Nominee Predictions

It's that time again. We've been predicting for month, and we've certainly made our fair share of changes, but at last we come to it: Oscar nomination morning. Tomorrow, that is. Starting at 5:30 PST the Academy will unveil its nominees and confirm some front-runners, throw out some surprise nominations and snubs, and even a few left-field choices. Of all of the categories, Best Picture will be the most interesting, seeing as how, due to new rules, we could have 5 Best Picture nominees. Or 6. Or 7. Or 8. Or 9. Or 10. So even though that makes predicting the category a bit of a pain, it also leaves more room for the race to really get interesting. And since the Academy is the last-remaining major body to release its nominees, I figured I'd take a stab, and throw out my guesses for who/what will be called out on January 24th. Picks are in order of likelihood.

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Hugo

The Help

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

Best Director

Martin Scorcese - Hugo

Michel Hazanvicius - The Artist

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

David Fincher - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Actor

George Clooney - The Descendants

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar

Michael Fassbender - Shame

Best Actress

Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Viola Davis - The Help

Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin

Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Albert Brooks - Drive

Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill - Moneyball

Brad Pitt - The Tree of Life

Best Supporting Actress

Octavia Spencer - The Help

Jessica Chastain - The Help

Berenice Bejo - The Artist

Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants

Hugo

Moneyball

The Help

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Original Screenplay

Midnight in Paris

The Artist

50/50

A Separation

Bridesmaids

Best Editing

The Artist

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Artist

Hugo

Moneyball

Best Cinematography

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Hugo

The Artist

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Art Direction

Hugo

The Artist

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

My Week with Marilyn

The Help

Best Costume Design

My Week with Marilyn

The Help

Hugo

The Artist

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (?????)

Best Original Score

The Artist

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

War Horse

Hugo

The Help

Best Original Song

"The Living Proof" - The Help

"Lay Your Head Down" - Albert Nobbs

"Life's a Happy Song" - The Muppets

"Pictures in My Head" - The Muppets

"Star Spangled Man" - Captain America

Best Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Hugo

Captain America

Best Make Up

J. Edgar

The Iron Lady

The Artist

Best Animated Film

The Adventures of Tintin

Rango

Puss in Boots

Arthur Christmas

Kung Fu Panda 2

Best Foreign Language Film

A Separation [Iran]

In Darkness [Poland]

Pina [Germany]

Footnote [Israel]

Bullhead [Belgium]

As for sound, documentary, and the short categories...let's just say I've probably made enough mistakes with what's already here...

The 83rd Academy Awards: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

As expected, The King's Speech took home the gold at last night's Oscars (though not as many as expected, considering those 12 nominations). And, with only a few exceptions, most of the winners weren't surprises, although there was more genuine suspense in some categories than in recent years. I won't list the winners, since that's already been covered just about everywhere (though you can see them HERE). So, here's a look at the highs (and very low lows) of Hollywood's big night.

The Good:

• The opening and closing montages (video to be posted if the Oscar youtube account uploads them), which did a brilliant job of highlighting the 10 Best Picture nominees...even if the one at the end did pretty much scream that The King's Speech was winning.
• The constantly changing stage looked great, although I miss the slightly more intimate look it had two years ago (and sort of did last year).


• Best Red Carpet Couple:


• Best Dressed: Winter's Bone's Jennifer Lawrence. Extremely simple, but amazing.
• Best Acceptance Speech: David Seidler, who wishes that the age record for winners in his category (Original Screenplay) will be "broken often."
• They actually gave nice, full performances of the Best Original Score nominees, which was made even better when The Social Network won. How strange was it to see the front man for the Nine Inch Nails accepting an Oscar? And so gracefully, too.


• Cate Blanchett goes "That's gross" after The Wolfman's clip for Best Make Up.
• They brought back clips from the nominated performances! It's been too long; and they picked great scenes too.
• Natalie Portman rambles, but she doesn't pretend to be surprised, and graciously thanks the cast and crew of Black Swan.


• Anne Hathaway's 8 costume changes. At least she looked like she was having fun. Unlike someone...
• Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law's banter before presenting Original and Adapted Screenplay.


• This:

The In-Between:

• Anne Hathway's tongue-in-cheek musical jab at Hugh Jackman for not duetting again with her (after the opening to the 81st Oscars).
• Christian Bale forgets his wife's name during his speech. Although it was probably just because he was choking up, but still, that pause was a little too long.
  


• None of the best Original Song nominees are even remotely memorable. Not terrible, but just...meh.


• I have nothing against Wally Pfister's cinematography for Inception, even if he's not in my top five, but really AMPAS, we're going to keep Roger Deakins waiting for another year?? Enough already.

The Ugly:

• I'm not sure why Sharon Stone is there, but the bigger question is what is she wearing?
  


• Why did Hillary Swank have to be trotted out (and introduced by the hosts), only to introduce Kathryn Bigelow? Bigelow won here last year, so I don't think she needs a double introduction.
• James Franco. Was he just so focused on whatever he was doing on Twitter, or was he just bored? Regardless, he was a black hole of charisma.


• Tom Hooper wins best director. In a year of such daring directorial accomplishments, why on earth did they go so safe with this pick? The King's Speech is a charming, sweet, warm film, but its direction is not deserving of an Oscar, especially over the likes of David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky.
  


• Oh, shut up Melissa Leo.


• Closing the night with...a bunch of elementary school kids singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I don't understand.


• And the absolute worst of the night: Kirk Douglas. Words can't even describe how painful that was.