Oscar turns 80!

Didn't we just do this, like a year ago?

This year's Academy Awards show is being hosted by Jon Stewart for the 2^nd time (1^st time was in 2006).

Just like last year, I'm going to give it my best shot and see how many of the 24 major awards I can guess correctly and see if I can beat last year's percentage [11-24; 46%]. Looking at the list of nominees, I can already tell I'll be shooting from the hip on most of my predictions. Presenters and actual winners noted in red and added afterwards.

BEST PICTURE: Presenter- Denzel Washington
“Atonement”
“Juno”
“Michael Clayton”
“No Country for Old Men” WINNER
“There Will Be Blood”

BEST DIRECTOR: Presenter- Martin Scorsese
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
“Juno”
“Michael Clayton”
“No Country for Old Men” WINNER
“There Will Be Blood”

BEST ACTOR: Presenter- Helen Mirren
George Clooney in “Michael Clayton”
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” WINNER
Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah”
Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises”

BEST ACTRESS: Presenter- Forest Whitaker
Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”
Julie Christie in “Away from Her”
Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” WINNER
Laura Linney in “The Savages”
Ellen Page in “Juno”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Presenter- Jennifer Hudson
Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” WINNER
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War”
Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild”
Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Presenter- Alan Arkin
Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There”
Ruby Dee in “American Gangster”
Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement”
Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone”
Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” WINNER

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Presenters- Josh Brolin & James McAvoy
“Atonement”
“Away from Her”
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
“No Country for Old Men” WINNER
“There Will Be Blood”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Presenter- Harrison Ford
“Juno”WINNER
“Lars and the Real Girl”
“Michael Clayton”
“Ratatouille”
“The Savages”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Presenter- Amy Adams
“Atonement”WINNER
“The Kite Runner”
“Michael Clayton”
“Ratatouille”
“3:10 to Yuma”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Presenter- John Travolta
“Falling Slowly” from “Once” WINNER
“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted”
“Raise It Up” from “August Rush”
“So Close” from “Enchanted”
“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted”

BEST EDITING: Presenter- Renee Zellweger
“The Bourne Ultimatum” WINNER
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
“Into the Wild”
“No Country for Old Men”
“There Will Be Blood”

BEST ART DIRECTION: Presenter- Cate Blanchett
“American Gangster”
“Atonement”
“The Golden Compass”
“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”WINNER
“There Will Be Blood”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Presenter- Cameron Diaz
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
“Atonement”
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
“No Country for Old Men”
“There Will Be Blood” WINNER

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Presenter-
“Across the Universe”
“Atonement”
“Elizabeth: The Golden Age”WINNER
“La Vie en Rose”
“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

BEST MAKEUP: Presenter- Kathryn Heigl
“La Vie en Rose” WINNER
“Norbit”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Presenter-
“Persepolis”
“Ratatouille” WINNER
“Surf's Up”

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Presenter- Jerry Seinfeld
“I Met the Walrus”
“Madame Tutli-Putli”
“Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)”
“My Love (Moya Lyubov)”
“Peter and the Wolf” WINNER

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Presenter- Tom Hanks
“No End in Sight”
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience”
“Sicko”
“Taxi to the Dark Side”WINNER
“War/Dance”

BEST DOCUMENTARY- SHORT SUBJECT: Presenter- Tom Hanks
“Freeheld” WINNER
“La Corona (The Crown)”
“Salim Baba”
“Sari’s Mother”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Presenter- Penelope Cruz
“Beaufort” - Israel
“The Counterfeiters” - Austria WINNER
“Katyń” - Poland
“Mongol” - Kazakhstan
“12” - Russia

BEST SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION: Presenter- Owen Wilson
“At Night”
“Il Supplente (The Substitute)”
“Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)” WINNER
“Tanghi Argentini”
“The Tonto Woman”

BEST SOUND EDITING: Presenter-
“The Bourne Ultimatum” WINNER
“No Country for Old Men”
“Ratatouille”
“There Will Be Blood”
“Transformers”

BEST SOUND MIXING: Presenter-
“The Bourne Ultimatum” WINNER
“No Country for Old Men”
“Ratatouille”
“3:10 to Yuma”
“Transformers”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Presenter- Duane "The Rock" Johnson
“The Golden Compass” WINNER
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”
“Transformers”

IN MEMORIAM: Presenter- Hilary Swank

IRVING G. THALBERG MEMORIAL AWARD: winner-
Presenter-

JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD: winner-
Presenter-

THE HONORARY AWARD: WINNER - Robert Boyle
Presenter- Nicole Kidman

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AWARDS: (presented by Jessica Alba on 2/9)

WRAP-UP: I did much worse this year than I did last year making my predictions. I only got 6 out of 24 correct, which makes for an anemic 25%. I really need to see more movies in the theater to make more educated guesses. Or I should read more buzz from H-wood about who is favored and who is not. Good thing I wasn't involved in any Oscar pools - I'd have lost bigtime. I really wasn't impressed with Jon Stewart as host. His attempts to be funny were lame and most of his jokes were flat. I missed the first hour of the show (BB9, ahem, was on another network.) so if anyone has the names of presenters I missed, I'd appreciate some fill in knowledge if you have it, so I can add the names appropriately. I know who the presenters were (a list of names was provided) just not which awards they would present.