Well, I came up one short in my predictions of the six major categories at last night's Academy Awards ceremony. For the second year in a row I missed the Best Picture category, predicting "Little Miss Sunshine" to move ahead of "Babel" and the eventual winner, "The Departed."
Alas, that's part of the game. It's always fun for movie fans such as myself to sit down and try to figure out how that hodge-podge of film industry professionals will mark their ballots each year. And while I noticed a late surge toward "The Departed" heading into the weekend, something in my mind was telling me the film might be too violent for most Academy members.
No...what I need to remember going forward is that they never hand the top prize to a comedy. No matter how well done, no matter how much they all love it. Serious dramas only need apply for the Best Picture award.
And so I move into the new movie year happy in the knowledge that I predicted Alan Arkin's upset in the Supporting Actor category; that the Academy recognized the superb work of Helen Mirren in "The Queen"; and that they finally gave Martin Scorsese the recognition he so truly deserves.
