Hi, everybody! Hope you had a good weekend.

I spent Sunday evening being a total nerd and playing D&D. I swear I only do it sometimes. Well, ok, once a month. But it’s lots of fun, so I’m pretending that makes it ok.

Because I was having fun all night, I didn’t get to see any of the Oscars, which is fine, because I didn’t want to see any of the Oscars. Sometime right after I started watching movies, I started disliking the Oscars in general. I could whine about how they never honor the really good movies and how it’s all politics and ego, but instead I’ll just say I think watching movie stars say dumb things and smile/cry for three hours is just boring, so I’m not down with the Oscar show at all.

But I do like trying to pick who’ll win. And so today I figured I’d compare my picks to “America’s Film Critic” Roger Ebert’s and then see how we both did!

Note: these were Ebert’s and my picks, not our preferences. If my preferences all won, Eternal Sunshine would have swept, and Jamie Foxx would have won nothing.

Best Actor

I said: Jamie Foxx.
Ebert said: Jamie Foxx.

Oscar said: Jamie Foxx, our generation’s Marisa Tomei.

Best Supporting Actor

I said: Clive Owen! Ok, Jamie Foxx.
Ebert said: Morgan Freeman

Oscar said: Morgan Freeman, who was actually my preference! Half credit? No? Okay then.

Best Actress

I said: Annette Bening.
Ebert said: Hilary Swank.

Oscar said: Hilary Swank. Meh. Should I say I haven’t actually seen Million Dollar Baby yet? No? Okay then.

Best Supporting Actress

I said: Virginia Madsen.
Ebert said: Virginia Madsen.

Oscar said: Cate Blanchett, who also was my preference, and definitely deserves an Oscar. But not for playing Kate Hepburn.

Best Animated Feature

I said: The Incredibles.
Ebert said: The Incredibles.

Oscar said: The Incredibles. Wow, up against Shrek 2 and Shark Tale. Tough choice there.

Best Directing

I said: Clint Eastwood.
Ebert said: Clint Eastwood.

Oscar said: Clint Eastwood. Ok, so I kind of said Scorcese, but I tacked Eastwood on there, so I’m giving myself this one.

Best Documentary

I said: I didn’t know, but I picked “Story of the Weeping Camels” because of the name.
Ebert said: Born Into Brothels.

Oscar said: Born Into Brothels. I should have realized sex always sells. Even sex in the red-light district of Calcutta.

Best Foreign Language

I said: Not much of anything. I blabbed a little bit about how Shaolin Soccer got robbed, and eventually went with the one with “Heaven” in the title.
Ebert said: The Sea Inside.

Oscar said: The Sea Inside. I’m getting screwed on this title voting.

Best Adapted Screenplay

I said: Million Dollar Baby.
Ebert said: Million Dollar Baby.

Oscar said: Sideways. Holy moly, Alexander Payne actually won an Oscar. I was joking with my roommate tonight and said that the first time they’ll mention Wes Anderson’s name at the Oscars is when he dies. We both laughed. Then I cried.

Best Original Screenplay

I said: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Ebert said: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Oscar said: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I can’t believe that Brad Bird, Alexander Payne, and Charlie Kaufman all won Oscars. Who’s next, Spike Jonze? Terry Zwigoff?

Best Visual Effects

I said: Spider-man 2.
Ebert said: Spider-man 2.

Oscar said: Spider-man 2. I’m kind of suprised they didn’t go with I, Robot. Oh, wait, no I’m not.

And finally…

Best Picture

I said: The Aviator.
Ebert said: Million Dollar Baby.

Oscar said: Million Dollar Baby. Eh. I guess it could have been worse. They could have actually picked Ray.

Final tally:

ME: 5/12 for 42%. F.
EBERT: 10/12 for 83%. B.

You win this time, America’s Film Critic. I guess that’s how you roll when you have a movie theater in your basement (per a NYT Magazine article that I was going to link to, but they’ve taken offline). Next time I’ll have to actually see all the movies.

Two thumbs down!