I went 6-for-6 on my Oscar picks, a feat that would have been more rewarding had I been able to bet on them. Alas, there were no Oscar pools at my university and I couldn’t find a bookie in Zhengzhou willing to take my wager on best sound mixing.
Truth be told, predicting Oscar winners isn’t that hard, at least in the major categories. Upsets are rare and usually only one or two races are truly competitive by the time the awards are handed out.
This year, the suspense was limited to best picture and best supporting actress. Best picture was considered a tossup between “12 Years a Slave’’ and “Gravity,’’ though most expected “12 Years a Slave’’ to win and “Gravity’’ to get a consolation prize in the form of best director for Alfonso Cuaron. Which is exactly what happened.
Best supporting actress was supposed to be a close call between Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave’’) and Jennifer Lawrence (“American Hustle’’), with Nyong’o the slight favorite mostly because she’s a newcomer and Lawrence won the best-actress award last year for “Silver Linings Playbook.’’ Again, conventional wisdom prevailed.
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No one should take credit for predicting Matthew McConaughey as best actor (“Dallas Buyers Club’’), Cate Blanchett as best actress (“Blue Jasmine’’) or Jared Leto as best supporting actor (“Dallas Buyers Club’’). They were all bigger favorites than Tigers Woods in his prime.
Though I wasn’t able to stream the telecast on my laptop, I managed to watch the last four awards (director, actress, actor, picture) live via a FaceTime call with Pat during my lunch break at school. (Zhengzhou is 13 hours ahead of New York, so it was early Monday afternoon here.) She held her iPad up to the TV screen, allowing me to see and hear the endless stream of teary-eyed thank you’s, shout-outs to mom and dad, and pretentious babble about the “art’’ of acting.
The only people more adept at self-congratulations than movie folks are politicians and professional wrestlers.
