The 79th Academy Awards – The Day After

I can only take the actual Academy Awards broadcast so much before my skin starts to crawl. It’s not because of the filmmakers – it’s because of all of the trappings that go with the wacky cult of personality. I don’t care what’s in the gift bags of the presenters or whatever Wolfgang Puck is cooking. It’s not core. The full frontal massaging of massive egos wears on my nerves. I care nothing for the ‘red carpet’, fashion or dance numbers. No, all I really care about when it comes the Academy Awards is movies. I care for the storytellers. Theoretically, the AA is voted on by industry people for industry people i.e. peer recognition. I don’t mean to sound completely like whiz and vinegar, it is the Academy Awards and theoretically the 900 lb. Gorilla of the industry; the industry of making movies; of telling stories. I happen to love the movies and have more than a passing interest in who wins. What can I say; I’m a movie geek.

Back on 2/10/07, I made my predictions right here @ Chicken Scratch. Were my picks close? I’ll list the category, who won and my pick. So without further ado here’s the battle Oscar VS. Evil Chicken!

Performance by an actor in a leading role: Who won? – Forrest Whitaker. Who I picked – Peter O’Toole. I thought they’d give it to him since he’s been nominated 8 times and has never taken Oscar home.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Who won? – Alan Arkin. Who I picked – Alan Arkin. I got one!

Performance by an actress in a leading role: Who won? – Helen Mirren. Who I picked – Meryl Streep. Oscar’s beating me two to one…

Performance by an actress in a supporting role: Who won? – Jennifer Hudson. Who did I pick? – Jennifer Hudson. She seems like a pretty cool lady ta boot. We’re tied once more Oscar… Come get some.

Best documentatry feature: Who won? – “An Inconvenient Truth”. Who’d I pick? – “An Inconvenient Truth”. EC pulls ahead of Oscar! By the way – the actor that played Al Gore was spot on.

Adapted screenplay: Who won? – “The Departed”. Who did I pick? – “Borat – Cultural learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhastan”. It seems we are tied once more.

Original screenplay: Who won? – “Little Miss Sunshine”. Who’d I pick? – “Letters from Iwa Jima”. Tiebreaker – Oscar takes the lead.

Achievement in directing: Who won? – Martin Scorsese for “The Departed”. Who’d I pick – Clint Eastwood for “Letters From Iwo Jima”. Oscar brings the smack. EC done went and backed the wrong movie icon. Still, how cool was it that Marty finally has one? This guy is a national treasure just like Eastwood.

Best motion picture of the year: Who got it? – “The Departed”. Who’d I say would win? – “Letters From Iwo Jima”. And there we have it; I was soundly trounced by Oscar by a score of 6 to 3. Oscar wins.

I won’t go into the finer details of who won what for the myriad of other categories but I will say I was pretty close with a lot of my picks. I was pleased when “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” won for best visual effects and glad that “Pan’s Labyrinth” took home 3 Academy Awards. Yes Oscar beat me this time but I’ll be back again next year. Oh and Oscar… here’s an inconvenient truth for you; “Dreamgirls” should have won for best song.

See you at the multiplex.