We knew going into the announcement of the 87th Academy Awards nominations that there were a number of tight races. We knew Lead Actor could flip upside down and surprise. We knew Directing was a questionable field and that, as always, categories such as Sound Mixing and Sound Editing could throw everyone a major curve ball or two. No one was surprised, then, when all those “surprises” and “snubs” actually came to pass. That being said, how did In Contention's Oscar pundits do with their own predictions? Let's take a look…

First off, Kris Tapley gets a gold star for even attempting to predict the Live Action Short, Animated Short and Documentary Short categories (how he did was another matter). Second, both Tapley and myself predicted nine Best Picture nominees. Because there were eight we are noting a “minus one” on our overall scores. Here's the rundown:

Gregory Ellwood – 85 (-1) correct out of 106 = 80%
Kristopher Tapley – 87 (-1) correct out of 106 = 82%

*Kris went 9 for 15 for the shorts

Some key takeaways:

– Ellwood correctly predicted Foreign Language Film, Sound Editing, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor and the eight Best Picture nominees that got in

– Tapley correctly predicted Foreign Language Film, Cinematography, Supporting Actor and the eight Best Picture nominees that got in

– Tapley nailed the Cinematography nomination for “Ida”

– In below-the-line categories Ellwood underestimated “Sniper” and overestimated “Big Eyes,” while Tapley overestimated “Imitation Game” and underestimated “Interstellar”

– Both Ellwood and Tapley didn't believe “Foxcatcher” would get in by a nose for Makeup and Hairstyling or “Inherent Vice” would fit into Costume Design

– Ellwood's worst categories were Production Design, Lead Actor and Directing (3 correct). Tapley's worst were Editing and Directing (3 correct)

How did you do in your predictions?