And the Oscar goes to....

All together, I believe most of my predictions were big winners. Here's a quick overview, and some inquisitive thoughts:

Best Picture: Win!
Slumdog Millionaire [Called it! Quite deserving.]

Best Actor: Fail!
Sean Penn, Milk [I chose Mickey Rourke, who, by the looks of the underdog pattern the Oscars were going, I thought might get it. I secretly wanted Sean Penn to win, because he looks like he put on a very superb performance.]

Best Actress: Win!
Kate Winslet, The Reader [After about 6 noms, I'm so excited she won. She had the most gorgeous dress on too. She was one of the wins I was jumping with joy.]

Best Director: Win!
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire [I'd like to say I knew Boyle from his beginnings. And he's come a long way, so it's nice to see the guy, of which I own two of his movies, win something.]

Best Foreign Language Film: Fail!
Departures [I swear, Waltz with Bashir was all I heard the critics rave over.]

Best Score: Fail!
A.H. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire [Okay, okay, the music was very good. I just really liked the whimsical feel to Benjamin Button.]

Best Song: Fail!
Jai Ho, by A.H. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire [I kind of biffed it on this one. I got the song titles switched in my head. I really liked the song played at the end, which was this. And I think if I knew that before, it would have been my pick.]

Best Film Editing: Win!
Slumdog Millionaire [And indeed the editing was splendid.]

Best Sound Mixing: Fail!
Slumdog Millionaire [I still think WALL-E should've come home with something in sound design. It was basically all sound! But whatev.]

Best Sound Editing: Fail!
The Dark Knight [I suppose Batman needed to come away with something other than Heath Ledger's win.]

Best Visual Effects: Win!
The Curious Case of Benjamin [Like I said, Brad Pitt + trippy aging process = PURE AWESOME.]

Best Short Documentary: Fail!
Smile Pinki [I knew it was going to be one of the India ones.]

Best Feature Documentary: Win!
Man on Wire [For once, the buzz was not misleading.]

Best Supporting Actor: Win!
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight [All that wait since July was well worth it. I'm so glad Heath Ledger got the honor he deserved. And even from the grave, he can still win gold.]

Best Live Action Short Film: Win!
Spielzeugland (Toyland) [Once again, something with Nazis had to win, besides Kate Winslet.]

Best Cinematography: Win!
Slumdog Millionaire [It was beautifully filmed, even over Indian slums.]

Best Makeup: Win!
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [The crazy aging process all the characters went through needed to be recognized.]

Best Costume Design: Win!
The Dutchess [Going by my theory, period pieces, especially really old ones, will almost always win.]

Best Art Direction: Win!
The Curious Case of Benjamin [It's a beautiful film, and it needed more wins.]

Best Animated Short Film: Fail!
La Maison en Petits Cubes [Okay, this one sort of threw me for a loop. Pixar, what's up? What happened to Presto the Rabbit?]

Best Animated Feature Film: Win!
WALL-E [Between a panda and a dog, cute robots are so much cooler.]

Best Adapted Screenplay: Fail!
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire [Okay, I can contest a little bit on this. But it was written very well.]

Best Original Screenplay: Win!
Dustin Lance Black, Milk [Muwhaha, I was right. We needed some mentioning of gay rights.]

Best Supporting Actress: Fail!
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Christina Barcelona [I feel sort of stupid for just scanning over Penelope Cruz. I thought she would win the Golden Globe if Kate Winslet wasn't there. But once she was out of that category, it would've been the natural move to assume Penelope Cruz would win it.]


So there, 14/24. I was really excited for Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, and Danny Boyle. All did a marvelous job. And the upcoming movies for this year look intriguing :)