The 84th Academy Awards

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN ;__;

I know I'm a little late on this, and you probably don't care anymore, but here were my picks (that I should have posted sooner!!) for tonights annual Academy Awards, and the winners for weach category. I fared far better than I did last year. I was quite embarrassed with my predictions. Anyway, let's get down to business. The nominees for [insert category] are...

[BEST PICTURE]
The Artist – Thomas Langmann – WINNER
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin
The Help Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan,
Hugo – Graham King and Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris – Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum
Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt
The Tree of Life – Nominees to be determined
War Horse – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy

[DIRECTING]
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius – WINNER
The Descendants – Alexander Payne
Hugo – Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick

[BEST ACTOR]
Demián Bichir – A Better Life
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist – WINNER
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt – Moneyball

[BEST ACTRESS]
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady – WINNER
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn

[BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR]
Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Christopher Plummer – Beginners – WINNER
Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

[BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS]
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”; – WINNER
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”;
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”;
Janet McTeer (“Albert Nobbs”);
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids.”

[WRITING – ADAPTED SCREENPLAY]
The Descendants – Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – WINNER
Hugo – Screenplay by John Logan
The Ides of March – Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

[WRITING – ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY]
The Artist – Written by Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call – Written by J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris – Written by Woody Allen
A Separation – Written by Asghar Farhadi

[MUSIC – ORIGINAL SONG]
“Man or Muppet” from THE MUPPETS – Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie – WINNER
“Real in Rio” from RIO – Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

[MUSIC – ORIGINAL SCORE]
The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams
The Artist – Ludovic Bource – WINNER
Hugo – Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
War Horse – John Williams

[ANIMATED FEATURE FILM]
A Cat in Paris – Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
Chico & Rita – Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Puss in Boots – Chris Miller
Rango – Gore Verbinski – WINNER

[CINEMATOGRAPHY]
The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo – Robert Richardson – WINNER
The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse – Janusz Kaminski

[ART DIRECTION]
The Artist – Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Hugo – Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration) – WINNER
War Horse – Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)

[COSTUME DESIGN]
Anonymous – Lisy Christl
The Artist – Mark Bridges – WINNER
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
W.E. – Arianne Phillips

[MAKEUP]
Albert Nobbs – Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
The Iron Lady – Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland – WINNER

[VISUAL EFFECTS]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
Hugo – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning – WINNER
Real Steel – Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Dan Glass, Brad Friedman, Douglas Trumbull and Michael Fink

[SOUND EDITING]
Drive – Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Ren Klyce
Hugo – Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty – WINNER
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
War Horse – Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

[SOUND MIXING]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
Hugo – Tom Fleischman and John Midgley – WINNER
Moneyball – Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
War Horse – Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

[FILM EDITING]
The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants – Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall – WINNER
Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball – Christopher Tellefsen

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM ]
Belgium, “Bullhead” – Michael R. Roskam, director
Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar” – Philippe Falardeau, director
Iran, “A Separation” – Asghar Farhadi, director – WINNER
Israel, “Footnote” – Joseph Cedar, director
Poland, “In Darkness” – Agnieszka Holland, director

[SHORT FILM – ANIMATED]
Dimanche/Sunday – Patrick Doyon
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg – WINNER
La Luna – Enrico Casarosa
A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
Wild Life – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

[SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION]
Pentecost – Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
Raju – Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
The Shore – Terry George and Oorlagh George – WINNER
Time Freak – Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
Tuba Atlantic – Hallvar Witzø

[DOCUMENTARY SHORT]
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
God is the Bigger Elvis – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
Incident in New Baghdad – James Spione
Saving Face – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy – WINNER
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

[DOCUMENTARY FEATURE]Hell and Back Again – Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Pina – Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
Undefeated – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas – WINNER

So 13 out of 24... That's pretty respectable in my book. It would have been higher, though nowhere near perfect, if I had gone with my second choice in some of the categories. 

What did you think of tonight's ceremony? I had so much second-hand embarrassment from Billy Crystal's hosting. I thought they should have had the Muppets host the entire show... they missed a huge opportunity there. Did your picks win? Do you think there were any upsets tonight? In my opinion, I don't think there were any controversial winners tonight. Leave a comment below!