Oscar picks (past & present)

Unless you've been living in a cave, *looks at Osama* then you'd know today, the Oscar nominations were announced. Fortunately, I found my list of picks from previous years and see how I've done before (note: italized means my picks, bold means the actual winners, italized and bold mean by winning picks). Let's start in 2007.

Best Lead Actor
Leonard DiCaprio "Blood Diamond"
Ryan Gosling "Half Nelson"
Peter O'Toole "Venus"
Will Smith "The Pursuit of Happyness"
Forest Whitaker "The Last King of Scotland"

Best Lead Actress
Penelope Cruz "Volver"
Judi Dench "Notes on a Scandal"
Helen Mirren "The Queen"
Meryl Streep "The Devil Wears Prada"
Kate Winslet "Little Children"

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin "Little Miss Sunshine"
Jackie Earle Haley "Little Children"
Djimon Hounsou "Blood Diamond"
Eddie Murphy "Dreamgirls"
Mark Wahlberg "The Departed"

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza "Babel"
Cate Blanchett "Notes on a Scandal"
Abigail Breslin "Little Miss Sunshine"
Jennifer Hudson "Dreamgirls"
Rinko Kikuchi "Babel"

Best Picture
"Babel"
"The Departed"
"Letters from Iwo Jima"
"Little Miss Sunshine"
"The Queen"

Best Directing
Clint Eastwood "Letters from Iwo Jima"
Stephen Frears "The Queen"
Paul Greengrass "United 93"
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu "Babel"
Martin Scorsese "The Departed"

Best Original Screenplay
Michael Arndt "Little Miss Sunshine"
Guillermo Arriaga "Babel"
Guillermo del Toro "Pan's Labyrinth"
Paul Haggis and Iris Yamashita "Letters from Iwo Jima"
Peter Morgan "The Queen"

Best Adapted Screenplay
David Arata, Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby and Timothy J. Sexton "Children of Men"
Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
Todd Field and Tom Perotta "Little Children"
Patrick Marber "Notes on a Scandal"
William Monahan "The Departed"

Best Animated Feature
"Cars"
"Happy Feet"
"Monster House"

Best Foreign Language Film
"After the Wedding" Denmark
"Days of Glory (Indigenes)" Algeria
"The Lives of Others" Germany
"Pan's Labyrinth" Mexico
"Water" Canada

Best Documentary Feature
"Deliver Us from Evil"
"An Inconvenient Truth"
"Iraq in Fragments"
"Jesus Camp"
"My Country, My Country"

Best Art Direction
"Dreamgirls"
"The Good Shepherd"
"Pan's Labyrinth"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
"The Prestige"

Best Cinematography
"The Black Dahlia"
"Children of Men"
"The Illusionist"
"Pan's Labyrinth"
"The Prestige"

Best Costume Design
"Curse of the Golden Flower"
"The Devil Wears Prada"
"Dreamgirls"
"Marie Antoinette"
"The Queen"

Best Makeup
"Apocalypto"
"Click"
"Pan's Labyrinth"

Best Film Editing
"Babel"
"Blood Diamond"
"Children of Men"
"The Departed"
"United 93"

Best Original Score
"Babel"
"The Good German"
"Notes on a Scandal"
"Pan's Labyrinth"
"The Queen"

Best Original Song
"I Need to Wake Up" "An Inconvenient Truth"
"Listen" "Dreamgirls"
"Love You I Do" "Dreamgirls"
"Our Town" "Cars"
"Patience" "Dreamgirls"

Best Sound Mixing
"Apocalypto"
"Blood Diamond"
"Dreamgirls"
"Flags of Our Fathers"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

Best Sound Editing
"Apocalypto"
"Blood Diamond"
"Flags of Our Fathers"
"Letters from Iwo Jima"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

Best Visual Effects
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
"Poseidon"
"Superman Returns"

So that put be at 9-12 for 2007. Let's see how 2008 went.

Best Lead Actor
George Clooney "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen "Eastern Promises"

Best Lead Actress
Cate Blanchett "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie "Away From Her"
Marion Cotillard "La Vie En Rose"
Laura Linney "The Savages"
Ellen Page "Juno"

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem "No Country for Old Men"
Philip Seymour Hoffman "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson "Michael Clayton"

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan "Atonement"
Amy Ryan "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton "Michael Clayton"

Best Picture
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Directing
Paul Thomas Anderson "There Will Be Blood"
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen "No Country for Old Men"
Tony Gilroy "Michael Clayton"
Jason Reitman "Juno"
Julian Schnabel "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"

Best Original Screenplay
Brad Bird, Jim Capobianco and Jan Pinkava "Ratatouille"
Diablo Cody "Juno"
Tony Gilroy "Michael Clayton"
Tamara Jenkins "The Savages"
Nancy Oliver "Lars and the Real Girl"

Best Adapted Screeenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson "There Will Be Blood"
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen "No Country for Old Men"
Christopher Hampton "Atonement"
Ronald Harwood "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Sarah Polley "Away from Her"

Best Animated Feature
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"
"Surf's Up"

Best Documentary Feature
"No End in Sight"
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Expierence"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side"
"War Dance"

Best Art Direction
"American Gangster"
"Atonement"
"The Golden Compass"
"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Cinematography
"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"

Best Costume Design
"Across the Universe"
"Atonement"
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
"La Vie En Rose"

Best Film Editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Into the Wild"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Original Score
"3:10 to Yuma"
"Atonement"
"The Kite Runner"
"Michael Clayton"
"Ratatouille"

Best Original Song
"Falling Slowly" "Once"
"Happy Working Song" "Enchanted"
"Raise It Up" "August Rush"
"So Close" "Enchanted"
"That's How You Know" "Enchanted"

Best Sound Mixing
"3:10 to Yuma"
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"Transformers"

Best Sound Editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Transformers"

Best Visual Effects
"The Golden Compass"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
"Transformers"

So that left me at 8-11 in 2008 and 17-23 overall. Meh, it's the Oscars, not the WWE. With the Oscars, you're going to make more mistakes because there are so many more picks to make. Well, I'm going to make my predictions for this years's Oscars, and like the previous two years, if there's a film I missed in that category, that category will not be predicted for.

Best Lead Actor
Richard Jenkins "The Visitor"
Frank Langella "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn "Milk"
Brad Pitt "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke "The Wrestler"

Best Lead Actress
Anne Hathaway "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie "Changeling"
Melissa Leo "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep "Doubt"
Kate Winslet "The Reader"

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin "Milk"
Robert Downey Jr. "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman "Doubt"
Heath Ledger "The Dark Knight"
Michael Shannon "Revolutionary Road"

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei "The Wrestler"

Best Picture
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Directing
Danny Boyle "Slumdog Millionaire"
Stephen Daldry "The Reader"
David Fincher "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Ron Howard "Frost/Nixon"
Gus Van Sant "Milk"

Best Original Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black "Milk"
Pete Doctor, Jim Reardon and Andrew Stanton "WALL-E"
Courtney Hunt "Frozen River"
Mike Leigh "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Martin McDonagh "In Bruges"

Best Adapted Screenplay
Simon Beaufoy "Slumdog Millionaire"
David Hare "The Reader"
Peter Morgan "Frost/Nixon"
Eric Roth and Robin Swicord "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
John Patrick Shanley "Doubt"

Best Animated Feature
"Bolt"
"Kung Fu Panda"
"WALL-E"

Best Documentary Feature
"The Betrayal - Nerakhoon"
"Encounters at the End of the World"
"The Garden"
"Man on Wire"
"Trouble the Water"

Best Art Direction
"Changeling"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"The Duchess"
"Revolutionary Road"

Best Cinematography
"Changeling"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Costume Design
"Australia"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Duchess"
"Milk"
"Revolutionary Road"

Best Makeup
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army"

Best Film Editing
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Original Score
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Defiance"
"Milk"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"WALL-E"

Best Original Song
"Down to Earth" "WALL-E"
"Jai Ho" "Slumdog Millionaire"
"O Saya" "Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Sound Mixing
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"WALL-E"
"Wanted"

Best Sound Editing
"The Dark Knight"
"Iron Man"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"WALL-E"
"Wanted"

Best Visual Effects
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Iron Man"