85th Annual Academy Awards Recap

Last night's Oscars proved once again that the Oscars are exactly what they are: the Oscars. Nothing more, nothing less and likely never will be anything else. Seth MacFarlane as host was neither a success nor failure. He was there to fill space. He was energetic about being on stage and held a great charisma throughout but didn't commit to being a real host. He was a meta-host.

His 17-minute opening montage brought on a Star Trekked William Shatner from the future telling him he would be panned as the worst Oscar host in history in tomorrow's headlines. The self-referential moment to the skepticism around his hosting gig was a cop-out from him taking on his hosting duties 100 percent. Splashed in between, however, were fun dance routines by the inspired pairings of Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum and then Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe. And that "We Saw Your Boobs" number was playful enough.

Throughout the rest of the show, however, introducing presenters and cracking small jokes, MacFarlane fell flat. He tossed out jokes as if he was still testing them, and nothing stuck. And a crack about Rex Reed and Adele was borderline uncalled for, and this was followed by a series of repetitive jokes about how long the telecast was running. We get it. The Oscars are long and boring; stop pointing it out to us.

Meanwhile, the show actually ended right on time. Exactly three hours...plus 30 minutes. And it ended right after Ben Affleck gave a frantic but heartfelt acceptance speech on behalf of the widely expected best picture win for "Argo." This was preceded by Jack Nicholson appearing on stage to present the award, which has a fun side note all its own. The last time Nicholson presented the final award of the night was in 2005 for "Crash" when Ang Lee won best director for "Brokeback Mountain." That was the last time we've seen a best picture/director split as it happened again this year with Lee's director win for "Life of Pi" over Steven Spielberg for "Lincoln."

First lady Michelle Obama was the surprise presenter who appeared above Nicholson's head on a screen in a live stream from the White House. She gave a moving speech about importance of the arts before ripping open the envelope and revealing "Argo" as the winner.

All of this was a fantastic finish to the 85th Annual Academy Awards telecast. But no. Our host teamed up with a screeching Kristen Chenoweth to close out the show with a horrific musical number commending all the night's losers, a wholly unnecessary exercise in bad taste and ignorance after an otherwise very classy end to the evening.

With best picture, "Argo" also took awards for best editing and Chris Terrio's surprise win for best adapted screenplay over close competitors David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook" and Tony Kushner for "Lincoln." With a total of three awards, the film tied with "Les Miserables," which had wins including Anne Hathaway's predicted best supporting actress win along with best makeup/hairstyling and sound mixing.

"Life of Pi," however, walked away with the most awards of the night at four total. Along with Ang Lee's best director win, the film won best cinematography, visual effects and score. "Skyfall," "Django Unchained" and "Lincoln" all tied with two wins each.

"Silver Linings Playbook" got only one award, which went to Jennifer Lawrence for best actress. The humbled Oscar-winner took the stage in a flurry of an acceptance speech just after tripping on her way up the steps. Undeniably precious.

In a tribute to the 50th anniversary of James Bond, a montage was followed by a performance from the 76-year-old Shirley Bassey who belted out "Goldfinger." Adele later appeared to sing her Oscar-winning "Skyfall" for best original song, but unfortunately a sound issue muffled her performance. Her bubbly acceptance speech made up for it later, though.

Best sound editing marked the second award for "Skyfall," which it shared with "Zero Dark Thirty," that film's sole win of the night. The tie in the category marked only the sixth time a tie has ever happened in Oscar history.

Daniel Day-Lewis accepted his best actor win for "Lincoln" with a great speech we would know to come from the three-time Oscar-winning actor. The second win for "Lincoln" was for production design over expected front-runner "Anna Karenina." The latter won for best costume design. Disney's "Brave" took the award for best animated film over "Wreck-It Ralph" while "Amour" won best foreign language film and "Searching for Sugar Man" won best documentary.

Best supporting actor went to Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained" while Quentin Tarantino took the award for best original screenplay over Mark Boal's "Zero Dark Thirty" who took home the WGA last weekend.

The telecast's theme was the movie musical as the night paid tribute to the past decade's musicals, of which there were apparently only two. Jennifer Hudson performed her show-stopping number from 2006's "Dreamgirls" unleashing her voice which felt even more seasoned than when she originally sang the tune. Catherine Zeta-Jones, on the other hand, lip-synced her way through a rendition of "All that Jazz" from 2002's best picture winner "Chicago."

The live singing redux of "One Day More" from "Les Miserables" was a musical highlight of the night bringing the cast all together again. The academy producers were clearly salivating over the idea of a nominated musical to revolve the night's theme around. The reliance on the returning cast of "Chicago" sure was heavy-handed, and one couldn't help but wonder why Renee Zellweger was acting like that?

Perhaps the most bizarre moment of the night was somebody's apparent decision to make the cut-off music of acceptance speeches to be the "Jaws" theme. Talk about campy and tasteless.

What's really left of last night's telecast is a feeling of deflated hopelessness for the Oscars to never be truly exciting again. Maybe we really do just need Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to host everything from now on. Lord knows that joke was required to be made last night, too -- and so early on, yeesh.

But hey, at least it truly was a great year in film, an unexpected awards race for most of the way and a night that closed on FLOTUS nailing best dressed without even being there and a tearful, choked up Ben Affleck getting the acknowledgement he deserves. I'm going with pretending that last musical number didn't happen. I think it's really for the best.

85th Annual Academy Award Winner Predictions

Sunday's telecast of the 85th Annual Academy Awards is guaranteed going to give us some surprises.

Could Ang Lee top Steven Spielberg for best director considering he took a novel widely considered to be unadaptable and turned it into an Oscar-nominated triumph?

Could best supporting actor go to Robert De Niro for a veteran actor who hasn't seen a good role in years?

The screenplay categories are also very much up in the air. In adapted, either David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook" or Chris Terrio for "Argo" could grab the win away from assumed front-runner Tony Kushner for "Lincoln." And in original, don't be surprised if the love for "Amour" sneaks into a win out from under Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."

And speaking of "Amour," there's always the possibility of votes for Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence canceling each other out allowing Emmanuelle Riva in for the win.

In spite of all the crazy dark horse possibilities, I've nailed down my final predictions below.

Best Picture: All signs point to "Argo."

Director: With Ben Affleck down for the count, looks like Steven Spielberg is the favorite to take it for "Lincoln."

Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for "Lincoln"

Actress: Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook"

Supporting Actor: Tough call between Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained" (BAFTA win) and Tommy Lee Jones for "Lincoln" (SAG win), but I'm going with Waltz.

Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway for "Les Miserables"

Animated Feature: Kind of open, but recent Annie wins say "Wreck-It Ralph."

Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino for "Django Unchained"

Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner for "Lincoln"

Sound Editing: "Skyfall" because respected action movies always take it.

Sound Mixing: "Skyfall" for the same reason.

Film Editing: "Argo" because it'll validate the best picture win.

Documentary Feature: "Searching for Sugar Man"

Foreign Language Film: "Amour"

Cinematography: Claudio Miranda for "Life of Pi"

Makeup & Hairstyling: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

Costume Design: "Anna Karenina"

Visual Effects: "Life of Pi"

Original Song: "Skyfall" by Adele

Original Score: Mychael Danna for "Life of Pi"

Production Design: "Anna Karenina"

Documentary Short: "Inocente"

Live Action Short: "Curfew"

Animated Short: "The Paperman"

With only two wins, "Argo" will take the top prize of best picture along with best editing -- funny because it'll tie "Anna Karenina" for two wins. It will be topped by "Lincoln," which I predict will win three awards: best director, supporting actor and adapted screenplay. This also means "Skyfall" and "Life of Pi" will each land at three wins for technical awards.

Tune in to watch the telecast of the 85th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.

85th Annual Academy Award Nominations

This morning's announcement of the 85th Annual Academy Awards sure had a lot of surprises to keep us on our toes. As they did last year, the academy went with nine Best Picture nominations: "Argo," "Lincoln," "Les Miserables," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Django Unchained," "Life of Pi," "Zero Dark Thirty," "Silver Linings Playbook" and Best Foreign Language nominee "Amour" for the ninth slot, which beat out other contenders like "The Master," "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Skyfall."

"Lincoln," as it has been with the rest of awards nominations, led the pack with 12 nominations closely followed by "Life of Pi" with 11 and then "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Les Miserables" each with eight.

The biggest shake-up came in the Best Director category where the academy really wanted to show off their love for "Amour" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" as both Michael Haneke and Benh Zeitlin made their way into the category. Joining them was Steven Spielberg for "Lincoln," David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook" and Ang Lee for "Life of Pi." This left room for major snubs including Ben Affleck for "Argo" and Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty" who were both widely predicted to get in. Also left out were Tom Hooper for "Les Miserables" and Quentin Tarantino for "Django Unchained."

The "Beasts" and "Amour" love continued into the record-setting Best Actress category as both the youngest, Quvenzhane Wallis at 9, and oldest, Emmanuelle Riva at 85, nominated actresses made it in. Joining them were Naomi Watts for "The Impossible," Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook" and Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty." Marion Cotillard for "Rust and Bone," widely expected to get nominated, was left hanging.

Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master" ended up getting his nomination for Best Actor alongside the front-runner of Daniel Day-Lewis for "Lincoln," Denzel Washington for "Flight," Hugh Jackman for "Les Miserables," and Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook." This left out John Hawkes for "The Sessions," predicted to make it in the category over Phoenix.

"Skyfall" wasn't able to crack any of the major categories, as the greatest hope was for Javier Bardem to sneak into Best Supporting Actor. Instead, the nominees were Robert De Niro for "Silver Linings Playbook," Tommy Lee Jones for "Lincoln," Alan Arkin for "Argo" and Christoph Waltz got in for "Django Unchained" over Leonardo DiCaprio or Samuel L. Jackson.

The Best Supporting Actress category included Anne Hathaway for "Les Miserables," Helen Hunt for "The Sessions," Sally Field for "Lincoln," Amy Adams for "The Master" and filling the fifth up-for-grabs slot was Jacki Weaver for "Silver Linings Playbook." Weaver's inclusion in the category means that "Silver Linings" is the only movie to have an actor nod in each category.

John Gatins for "Flight" received a surprise nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category along with Michael Haneke for "Amour," Wes Anderson for "Moonrise Kingdom," Quentin Tarantino for "Django Unchained" and Mark Boal for "Zero Dark Thirty." Left out was Paul Thomas Anderson for "The Master" and Rian Johnson for "Looper."

Best Adapted Screenplay included Chris Terrio for "Argo," Tony Kushner for "Lincoln," Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild," David Magee for "Life of Pi" and David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook." No surprises in there.

"Skyfall" wasn't completely left out as it nabbed five technical nominations including Roger Deakins for cinematography, Thomas Newman for score, Adele's theme for song and then sound mixing and editing.

It's also curious that with all the love for "Beasts," the score from Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin didn't get a nomination.

What does all this mean for the race to Best Picture? Well, "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Argo," the front-runners before today, can now be both counted out as each of those directors weren't nominated. Simple logic tells us the new front-runners are "Lincoln" and "Life of Pi" as they received the most nominations. "Pi" is still a far cry, however, as "Lincoln" has always had the awards momentum from the beginning. It was easier to ignore before, but now with other top contenders having lost their steam, Steven Spielberg's historical drama is now the one to beat.

The real competition for "Lincoln" comes from David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook," which received a huge boost with its collection of nominations nabbing nods for all four actors, director, editing and writing along with Best Picture.

The 85th Annual Academy Awards air live at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. on ABC hosted by Seth MacFarlane. Check here for a full list of nominations.

85th Annual Academy Award Nomination Predictions

The Oscar nominations being pushed so much earlier has really created a lot of turmoil. Has it made the nominees any less predictable? Perhaps. Only because Academy voters seemed to be scrambling to get their ballots in. Yet here we are, and I'm ready to cast my predictions in all major categories for this Thursday's announcement for the 85th Annual Academy Award nominations.

Best Picture
1. Lincoln
2. Les Miserables
3. Argo
4. Silver Linings Playbook
5. Zero Dark Thirty
6. Life of Pi
7. The Master
8. Beasts of the Southern Wild
9. Django Unchained

I predict there will be nine nominees, but here's the rest if it gets expanded to ten:

10. Moonrise Kingdom

Best Director
1. Ben Affleck, "Argo"
2. Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"
3. Tom Hooper, "Les Miserables"
4. Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
5. Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"

Best Actor
1. Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
2. Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
3. Denzel Washington, "Flight"
4. Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"
5. John Hawkes, "The Sessions"

Best Actress
1. Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
2. Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
3. Marion Cotillard, "Rust and Bone"
4. Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"
5. Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"

Best Supporting Actress
1. Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
2. Sally Field, "Lincoln"
3. Amy Adams, "The Master"
4. Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
5. Maggie Smith, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"

Best Supporting Actor
1. Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
2. Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"
3. Javier Bardem, "Skyfall"
4. Alan Arkin, "Argo"
5. Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Original Screenplay
1. Amour
2. Moonrise Kingdom
3. Django Unchained
4. Zero Dark Thirty
5. The Master

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Lincoln
2. Argo
3. Silver Linings Playbook
4. The Life of Pi
5. Beasts of the Southern Wild