Oscar Predictions

Oscar noms were released on Feb. 2nd, and I find that usually it's very easy to tell who will win just from the hype alone. I tried predicting Oscars before and I was mostly wrong, but hey, practice makes perfect! Here are my Oscar predictions for this year, so if I'm right I can say I called it.

Best Picture
"Avatar"
"The Blind Side"
"District 9"
"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"
"Up in the Air"

Tough to say, but it's probably going to be between Precious, Avatar, and An Education. I'm going with Avatar, since I think Precious is going to sweep the acting noms and An Education is too obscure.

Best Direction
"Avatar," James Cameron
"The Hurt Locker," Kathryn Bigelow
"Inglourious Basterds," Quentin Tarantino
"Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire," Lee Daniels
"Up in the Air," Jason Reitman

Tarantino and James Cameron are going to give everyone a run for their money, but I'm guessing there's going to be a dark horse victory from Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker.

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart”
George Clooney, "Up in the Air”
Colin Firth, "A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman, "Invictus”
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker”

Bridges is apparently very good in Crazy Heart, and Roger Ebert thinks he could take the Oscar, so I'm going with his decision.

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan, "An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia”

Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe are both getting a lot of accolades for their respective roles. I'm going to go with Carey Mulligan, because she was awesome on Doctor Who.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon, "Invictus”
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds”

I don't know who Christoph Waltz is, but Inglourious Basterds has to get something and it could be Best Supporting Actor.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz, "Nine”
Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air”
Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire”

Mo'Nique for Precious, no question.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"District 9," Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
"An Education," Screenplay by Nick Hornby
"In the Loop," Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
"Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire," Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
"Up in the Air," Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Definitely going to be Precious.

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"The Hurt Locker," Written by Mark Boal
"Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
"The Messenger," Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
"A Serious Man," Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Up," Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

The Hurt Locker, even though I want it to be Up. The Coens are always really good, but I don't think the movie is getting good enough reviews.

Animated Feature Film
"Coraline"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"
"Up"

Up's got this tied up (ha ha ha) but there could be a surprise upset from The Princess and the Frog.

Art Direction
"Avatar," Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
"Nine," Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
"Sherlock Holmes," Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Young Victoria," Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

It's going to be close between Avatar and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, but it's probably going to be Avatar.

Cinematography
"Avatar," Mauro Fiore
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," Bruno Delbonnel
"The Hurt Locker," Barry Ackroyd
"Inglourious Basterds," Robert Richardson
"The White Ribbon," Christian Berger

Inglourious Basterds.

Costume Design
"Bright Star," Janet Patterson
"Coco Before Chanel," Catherine Leterrier
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Monique Prudhomme
"Nine," Colleen Atwood
"The Young Victoria," Sandy Powell

Nine is probably going to take this one, but Coco Before Chanel and the period costumes of The Young Victoria will make it a close race.

Documentary (Feature)
"Burma VJ”
"The Cove"
"Food, Inc."
"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
"Which Way Home”

I have no idea what any of these are except The Cove, so we'll go with that one.

Documentary (Short Subject)
"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
"Music by Prudence”
"Rabbit à la Berlin”

Don't know what these are, so I'm going to pick Rabbit a la Berlin at random.

Film Editing
"Avatar," Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
"District 9," Julian Clarke
"The Hurt Locker," Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
"Inglourious Basterds," Sally Menke
"Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire," Joe Klotz

District 9 deserves something, so we'll give it this one.

Foreign Language Film
"Ajami," Israel
"El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Argentina
"The Milk of Sorrow," Peru
"Un Prophète," France
"The White Ribbon," Germany

Ajami's the only one I've heard of, so sure why not.

Makeup
"Il Divo," Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
"Star Trek," Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
"The Young Victoria," Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Gotta go with Star Trek and the green skinned alien babes.

Music (Original Score)
"Avatar," James Horner
"Fantastic Mr. Fox," Alexandre Desplat
"The Hurt Locker," Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
"Sherlock Holmes," Hans Zimmer
"Up," Michael Giacchino

Up.

Music (Original Song)
"Almost There” from "The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans” from "The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname” from "Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All” from "Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from "Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Seeing as Nine is a musical and it's their business to have good music, we'll go with Take It All from Nine.

Short Film (Animated)
"French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell
"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
"Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
"A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty sounds awesome, so we'll go with that.

Short Film (Live Action)
"The Door," Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
"Instead of Abracadabra," Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
"Kavi," Gregg Helvey
"Miracle Fish," Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
"The New Tenants," Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

I enjoy the name Fjellstrom, so let's go with Instead of Abracadabra.

Sound Editing
"Avatar," Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
"The Hurt Locker," Paul N.J. Ottosson
"Inglourious Basterds," Wylie Stateman
"Star Trek," Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
"Up," Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Star Trek.

Sound Mixing
"Avatar," Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
"The Hurt Locker," Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
"Inglourious Basterds," Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
"Star Trek," Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Avatar.

Visual Effects
"Avatar," Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
"District 9," Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
"Star Trek," Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Ooh, toughie. Avatar was stunning, so we'll go with that.