Most organizations throw awkward parties when they've reached the end of their business year. At TheScorecardReview, we go bowling. Created by our own Jeff Bayer, TSR supports a fun way of predicting the Best of the Best that doesn't involve just circling a name on a sheet. It's "Oscar Bowling," and it works like this ... Pick your winners in all 24 categories. Then, give each winner a confidence score. Your most confident pick gets 24 points, second most confident gets 23 points, third most confident gets 22 points, and eventually your least confident pick gets 1 point.
Here are Jeff Bayer's Oscar Picks
This is perfect for Oscar parties, because the lead keeps changing. The winner is the one with the most points at the end. A perfect score is 300. If there is a tie (there never is a tie), then the winner is the one with the most points in these three categories combined (Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress).
I'm ready for the movies of 2011 to be permanently in my rear view mirror. But as my last good bye, I'm going to nail these predictions (which includes cutting down Hugo and feeling pretty darn confident about The Artist). I didn't win last year, (curse my hesitation to give Inception "Best Cinematography"!), but I will this time.
Here are my predictions ... (cheat off this if you want to beat Jeff Bayer)
24 - Best Original Score - The Artist 23 - Best Picture - The Artist 22 - Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer, Beginners 21 - Best Adapted Screenplay - The Descendants 20 - Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer 19 - Best Achievement in Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life 18 - Best Original Screenplay - The Artist 17 - Best Animated Film - Rango 16 - Best Original Song - "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets 15 - Best Actress - Viola Davis, The Help 14 - Best Editing - The Descendants 13 - Best Art Direction - Hugo 12 - Best Make-Up - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 11 - Best Foreign Film - A Separation 10 - Best Actor - Jean Dujardin, The Artist 09 - Best Sound Mixing - Hugo 08 - Best Sound Editing - Hugo 07 - Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius 06 - Best Costume Design - Hugo 05 - Best Visual Effects - Rise of the Planet of the Apes 04 - Best Documentary - Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory 03 - Best Short Film, Live Action - The Shore 02 - Best Short Film, Animated - La Luna 01 - Best Documentary, Short Subjects - Incident in New Baghdad
Here are the nominations for the 2012 Academy Awards.
Best Picture War Horse The Artist Moneyball The Descendants The Tree of Life Midnight in Paris The Help Hugo Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Best Actor Demian Bichir (A Better Life) George Clooney (The Descendants) Jean Dujardin (The Artist) Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Best Actress Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) Viola Davis (The Help) Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
Best Supporting Actor Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn) Jonah Hill (Moneyball) Nick Nolte (Warrior) Christopher Plummer (Beginners) Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
Best Supporting Actress Berenice Bejo (The Artist) Jessica Chastain (The Help) Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs) Octavia Spencer (The Help)
Best Director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) Alexander Payne (The Descendants) Martin Scorsese (Hugo) Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)
Writing – Adapted Screenplay The Descendants (Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) Hugo (Screenplay by John Logan) The Ides of March (Screenplay by George Clooney and Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon) Moneyball (Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan)
Writing – Original Screenplay The Artist (Written by Michel Hazanavicius) Bridesmaids (Written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig) Margin Call (Written by J.C. Chandor) Midnight in Paris (Written by Woody Allen) A Separation (Written by Asghar Farhadi)
Animated Feature Film A Cat in Paris Chico & Rita Kung Fu Panda 2 Puss in Boots Rango
Documentary – Feature Hell and Back Again If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Pina Undefeated
Foreign Language Film Bullhead (Belgium) Footnote (Israel) In Darkness (Poland) Monsieur Lazhar (Canada) A Separation (Iran)
Cinematography The Artist The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Hugo The Tree of Life War Horse
Film Editing The Artist The Descendants The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Hugo Moneyball
Music – Original Score The Adventures of Tintin (John Williams) The Artist (Ludovic Bource) Hugo (Howard Shore) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Alberto Iglesias) War Horse (John Williams)
Music – Original Song “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets “Real in Rio” from Rio
Sound Mixing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Hugo Moneyball Transformers: Dark of the Moon War Horse
Sound Editing Drive The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Hugo Transformers: Dark of the Moon War Horse
Art Direction The Artist Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Hugo Midnight in Paris War Horse
Visual Effects Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Hugo Real Steel Rise of the Planet of the Apes Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Costumes Anonymous The Artist Hugo Jane Eyre W.E.
Makeup Albert Nobbs Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 The Iron Lady
Documentary – Short Subject The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement God Is the Bigger Elvis Incident in New Baghdad Saving Face The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Short Film – Animated Dimanche/Sunday (Patrick Doyon) The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg) La Luna (Enrico Casarosa) A Morning Stroll (Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe) Wild Life (Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby)
Short Film – Live Action Pentecost (Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane) Raju (Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren) The Shore (Terry George and Oorlagh George) Time Freak (Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey) Tuba Atlantic (Hallvar Witzo)