Oscar Party and Picks

Well, the Oscars came and we had a party to remember with the Jenkins, our co-leaders for the Mosaic Movie Connect Group. After a mountain of Thai food during the red carpet show, the ceremony began in earnest with Anne Hathaway in the first of her 500 or so outfit changes and James Franco looking like he was on valium.

As the night wore on painfully slowly, we counted our picks. It was clear that my confidence was in the big 5 categories that came at the end. I got all these correct (woot woot) but ended the night at an even 50%. Ward, however, had momentum from the get-go and ended with 18 correct picks

For this party, we had painstakingly crafted a beautiful trophy that should be sought after for decades to come. Ward graciously accepted the trophy and gave a heartfelt speech, only forgetting his wife's name twice. Never mentioning his agent at all, he did go on a little and we had to cue the music.


As for the big winners:

• The King's Speech (4): Best Picture, Best Director, Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Colin Firth)
• Inception (4): Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effect
• The Social Network (3): Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score
• Toy Story 3 (2): Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song (Randy Newman)
• The Fighter (2): Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Best Supporting Actress (Melissa Leo)
• Alice in Wonderland (2): Art Direction, Costume Design
• Black Swan (1): Best Actress (Natalie Portman)

The biggest losers: Winter's Bone, True Grit, 127 Hours and The Kids are All Right. None picked up any bling, although True Grit was one of the best movies of the year. The Coen brothers got their Oscar a couple of years ago (No Country for Old Men) and Jeff Bridges earned his last year (Crazy Heart). Newcomers Hailee Steinfield and Jennifer Lawrance are sure to get their time in the spotlight.