Well…I was wrong. After being quite satisfied with predicting the year’s nominees, I did a pretty shabby job of picking the winners, managing to only peg four of ten winners in this year’s “crafts” categories.
Two of these were the music categories, ironically enough, arenas that I usually turn up my worst showing.

The triumph of “Falling Slowly” in the Best Original Song category was wonderful to see. Not only was the film my third favorite of last year, but this was the best nominated song of the bunch; Hansard and Irglová gave great acceptance speeches. So I’m quite content, though not surprised given that it should have been obvious that the songs from the triple-nominated “Enchanted” would cancel themselves out.

Meanwhile, Dario Marianelli’s taking “Atonement”’s sole win of the night in the Original Score category was not at all surprising, but still quite deserved. Similarly, the victory of “La Vie en Rose” in Best Makeup was totally expected and warranted.

The other category I was able to predict correctly was Best Cinematography, where Robert Elswit triumphed for “There Will Be Blood.” Elswit has been doing quality work for years, so it’s nice to have finally seen him getting the recognition he deserves. (He received his first nomination two years ago for “Good Night, and Good Luck.”)

The result of Elswit’s victory, however, is that the great Roger Deakins has now lost this category seven times. This is unfortunate. I suspect he’ll be back in the race yet again next year for “Revolutionary Road.” (I’d also add that I felt the showing of the nominees as the envelope was being opened was a nice touch.)

But the record of poor Deakins doesn’t hold a candle to the record of Kevin O’Connell and Greg P. Russell, who have now lost the Best Sound Mixing award 20 and 12 times respectively. I felt “Transformers” was their best chance in years for a victory but, alas, it was not to be. “The Bourne Ultimatum” proved too popular to overcome.

“Transformers” received the ultimate bitchslap in general, also losing Best Sound Editing, to “Bourne” and, incredibly, Best Visual Effects to “The Golden Compass.” I personally thought Bay’s film was pretty bad, with a stupid story, horrible dialogue and mediocre acting. However, it’s impossible to deny its achievements in these fields, where the work was exactly the sort that the AMPAS tends to embrace. Clearly, they simply did not like the film—if they even saw it.

Meanwhile, “Bourne” turned out to be the night’s second biggest winner, claiming the Best Film Editing statuette for Christopher Rouse’s amazing cutting in addition to the two sound awards. I’m in the minority who actually preferred “The Bourne Supremacy” to this installment, but I’m still thrilled for Rouse, Greengrass and Damon, who are all immensely talented and have been long overdue for recognition for this series.

Dante Ferretti took his second Oscar for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” I suppose I should have given more credence to his chances given that Tim Burton films have always done well here. “Batman” and “Sleepy Hollow” have also triumphed here (though “Edward Scissorhands,” “Ed Wood” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” have all strangely failed to even be nominated.) I just assumed that the much more nominated “Atonement” and “There Will Be Blood” would have had the edge in this category.

Alexandra Byrne’s victory in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” marks the second straight year where a poorly reviewed period piece has managed to win in this category for its extremely showy costumes in spite of having lost both the guild award and the BAFTA. I could live without this film having the moniker “Oscar winner,” though, in all fairness, I’m happy for Byrne, an excellent designer who has been nominated for more than half of her cinematic efforts—incredible.

Well that’s it if you can believe it. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the second year of Tech Support as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. Now we can all finally hit a much needed awards lull. Until next time…