The Oscars: Wants, Wills, and Wins.

So the Oscars are over for another year... and boy did at least half the winners come from left field. The following is the list of movies I wanted to win, movies I thought would win, movies I thought would win after I'd actually seen most of them and/or just second guessing myself (AKA Second Choice), and the actual winner...

Best Actor
Want: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Will: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Actual Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)

Best Supporting Actor
Want: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Will: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Actual Winner: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)

Best Actress
Want: Ellen Page (Juno)
Will: Ellen Page (Juno)
Second Choice: Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Actual Winner: Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)

Best Supporting Actress
Want: Saoirse Ronan (Atonement)
Will: Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Second Choice: Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)
Actual Winner: Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

Best Animated Feature
Want: Ratatouille
Will: Ratatouille
Actual Winner: Ratatouille

Best Art Direction
Want: Atonement
Will: The Golden Compass
Second Choice: Atonement
Actual Winner: Sweeney Todd

Best Cinematography
Want: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Will: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Actual Winner: There Will Be Blood

Best Costume Design
Want: Atonement
Will: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Actual Winner: Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Best Directing
Want: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Will: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Second Choice: The Coen Bros. (No Country For Old Men)
Actual Winner: The Coen Bros. (No Country For Old Men)

Best Documentary
Want: War/Dance
Will: Taxi to the Dark Side
Second Choice: Sicko
Actual Winner: Taxi to the Dark Side

Best Documentary Short
Want: Salim Baba
Will: Sari's Mother
Second Choice: La Corona
Actual Winner: Freeheld

Best Film Editing
Want: No Country For Old Men
Will: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Second Choice: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Foreign Language Film
Want: 12
Will: 12
Actual Winner: The Counterfeiters

Best Makeup
Want: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Will: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Actual Winner: La Vie En Rose

Best Musical Score
Want: Atonement
Will: Atonement
Actual Winner: Atonement

Best Original Song
Want: That’s how you know (Enchanted)
Will: That’s how you know (Enchanted)
Actual Winner: Falling Slowly (Once)

Best Picture
Want: Juno
Will: There Will Be Blood
Second Choice: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: No Country For Old Men

Best Animated Short Film
Want: Peter and the Wolf
Will: Peter and the Wolf
Second Choice: I Met the Walrus
Actual Winner: Peter and the Wolf

Best Live Action Short
Want: The Mozart of Pickpockets
Will: The Mozart of Pickpockets
Actual Winner: The Mozart of Pickpockets

Best Sound Editing
Want: Transformers
Will: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Sound Mixing
Want: 3:10 to Yuma
Will: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Visual Effects
Want: The Golden Compass
Will: The Golden Compass
Actual Winner: The Golden Compass

Best Adapted Screenplay
Want: No Country For Old Men
Will: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: No Country For Old Men

Best Original Screenplay
Want: Juno
Will: Juno
Actual Winner: Juno

So I called at least 50% of them, depending on how you look at it. I have to say, a lot of these came out of nowhere for me. I'm still upset that Jesse James didn't win Cinematography. Not even Atonement won it. But There Will Be Blood? Somebody was bribed. I mean, it's a great movie... but the previous two were still much better in the cinematography category.

Also, for those of you who read my Art Direction segment for the LAMB Devours the Oscars... I think it was funny they had a section devoted to explaining what the hell Art Direction actually was... it was like they read my article... and they STILL didn't really explain it very well.