Academic

A disappointing Oscars.  Ellen DeGeneres was passable, though I grew tired of her audience shtick.  But it's the winners I'm talking about.  There were almost no surprises and the few they had were bad ones.

The film with the most wins was Gravity, as expected. It got seven, and no other got more than three. Of course, most of those were technical.  Dallas Buyer's Club got two acting awards and the real winner of the night, 12 Years A Slave, won for writing, acting and, of course, Best Picture.

How boring.  12 Years A Slave is a decent film, but it was the least inspired pick possible for the top Oscar.  Most of the titles up for that award were more deserving.  Meanwhile, The Wolf Of Wall Street was skunked (as expected) and the film of the year, American Hustle, also got nothing. It didn't even win best screenplay, given to Spike Jonze for Her (one of those rare surprises).  Must have been some backlash.

Regarding my predictions: I got seven right, four wrong.  Pretty weak--though two that I missed were for short films, which are always tricky.