I did pretty good last year (15 out of 17 on the "major" awards), but there could be a few surprises in this year's Oscar Awards presentation. Even so, I will boldly predict the outcome of Sunday's Oscar results, based on my tried and true (secret) formula. I will also submit my favorites for each category (who I THINK should win). Sometimes the Academy and my choices will be the same; sometimes not.
If you disagree with me or the Academy, take it up with your mom. That's a YOU problem.
>>>EDITOR'S NOTE - UPDATE: I Got 16 right and 8 wrong. Sue me.<<<
BEST PICTURE:
The nominees: The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse.
Who will win: The Artist.
Who I think should win: War Horse.
BEST DIRECTOR:
The nominees: The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius), The Descendants (Alexander Payne), Hugo (Martin Scorsese), Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen), The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick).
Who will win: Hazanavicius
Who I think should win: David Fincher (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - although not even nominated); Hazanavicius by default.
BEST ACTRESS:
The nominees: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Viola Davis (The Help), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn).
Who will win: Viola Davis.
Who I think should win: Rooney Mara.
BEST ACTOR:
The nominees: Demián Bichir (A Better Life), George Clooney (The Descendants), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Brad Pitt (Moneyball).
Who will win: Jean Dujardin.
Who I think should win: Jean Dujardin.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
The nominees: Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), Jessica Chastain (The Help), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs), Octavia Spencer (The Help).
Who will win: Octavia Spencer.
Who I think should win: Octavia Spencer (although I wouldn't be disappointed with Bejo or Chastain).
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
The nominees:Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn), Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Nick Nolte (Warrior), Christopher Plummer (Beginners), Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close).
Who will win: Christopher Plummer.
Who I think should win: Christopher Plummer (with Max von Sydow coming in "Incredibly Close" - har har)
ANIMATED FEATURE:
The nominees: A Cat in Paris (Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli), Chico & Rita (Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal), Kung Fu Panda 2 (Jennifer Yuh Nelson), Puss in Boots (Chris Miller), Rango (Gore Verbinski).
Who will win: Rango.
Who I think should win: Rango or KFP2; to heck with all that Academy foreign snobbery.
ART DIRECTION:
The nominees: The Artist - Production Design: Laurence Bennett - Set Decoration: Robert Gould, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Production Design: Stuart Craig - Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan, Hugo - Production Design: Dante Ferretti - Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo, Midnight in Paris - Production Design: Anne Seibel - Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil, War Horse - Production Design: Rick Carter - Set Decoration: Lee Sandales.
Who will win: Hugo.
Who I think should win: Hugo - or War Horse.
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
The nominees: The Artist (Guillaume Schiffman), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Jeff Cronenweth), Hugo (Robert Richardson), The Tree of Life (Emmanuel Lubezki), War Horse (Janusz Kaminski).
Who will win: The Tree of Life.
Who I think should win: War Horse.
COSTUME DESIGN:
The nominees: Anonymous (Lisy Christl), The Artist (Mark Bridges), Hugo (Sandy Powell), Jane Eyre (Michael O’Connor), W.E. (Arianne Phillips).
Who will win: The Artist.
Who I think should win: Anonymous.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
The nominees: Hell and Back Again (Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner), If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth (Liberat ion Front Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman), Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Pina Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel), Undefeated (TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas).
Who will win: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Who I think should win: The Carrier, The Last Lions or Senna - although not nominated; Undefeated by default, since it's the only one of the nominees that I was able to see out here in the Sticks (Utah).
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:
The nominees: The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement (Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin), God Is the Bigger Elvis (Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson), Incident in New Baghdad (James Spione), Saving Face (Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy), The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen).
Who will win: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.
Who I think should win: No idea, since none were screened. Elvis title is clever, so I'll go there.
FILM EDITING:
The nominees: The Artist (Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius), The Descendants (Kevin Tent), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall), Hugo (Thelma Schoonmaker), Moneyball (Christopher Tellefsen).
Who will win: The Artist.
Who I think should win: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
ORIGINAL SONG:
The nominees: Man or Muppet - The Muppets - Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie, Real in Rio - Rio - Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown - Lyric by Siedah Garrett.
Who will win: Muppets.
Who I think should win: Muppets.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
The nomiees: Bullhead (Belgium), Footnote (Israel), In Darkness (Poland), Monsieur Lazhar (Canada), A Separation (Iran).
Who will win: A Separation.
Who I think should win: A Separation.
MAKEUP:
The nominees: Albert Nobbs (Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin), The Iron Lady (Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland).
Who will win: The Iron Lady.
Who I think should win: Harry Potter.
ORIGINAL SCORE:
The nominees: The Adventures of Tintin (John Williams), The Artist (Ludovic Bource), Hugo (Howard Shore), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alberto Iglesias), War Horse (John Williams).
Who will win: The Artist.
Who I think should win: The Artist.
ANIMATED SHORT FILM:
Dimanche/Sunday (Patrick Doyon), The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg), La Luna (Enrico Casarosa), A Morning Stroll (Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe) , Wild Life (Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby).
Who will win: La Luna.
Who I think should win: No opinion.
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:
The nominees: Pentecost (Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane), Raju (Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren), The Shore (Terry George and Oorlagh George), Time Freak (Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey), Tuba Atlantic (Hallvar Witzø).
Who will win: Pentecost.
Who I think should win: No opinion, although I like the cleverness of the Elvis title.
SOUND EDITING:
The nominees: Drive (Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Ren Klyce), Hugo (Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl), War Horse (Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom).
Who will win: Hugo.
Who I think should win: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
SOUND MIXING:
The nominees: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson), Hugo (Tom Fleischman and John Midgley), Moneyball (Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick), Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin), War Horse (Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson).
Who will win: Hugo.
Who I think should win: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
VISUAL EFFECTS:
The nominees: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson), Hugo (Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning), Real Steel (Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier).
Who will win: Rise of The Planet of the Apes.
Who I think should win: Harry Potter.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
The nominees: The Descendants (Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon &
Jim Rash), Hugo (Screenplay by John Logan), The Ides of March (Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon), Moneyball (Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan).
Who will win: The Descendants.
Who I think should win: The Descendants.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
The nominees: The Artist (Written by Michel Hazanavicius), Bridesmaids (Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig), Margin Call (Written by J.C. Chandor), Midnight in Paris (Written by Woody Allen), A Separation (Written by Asghar Farhadi).
Who will win: Woody Allen.
Who I think should win: Woody Allen - but wouldn't be too disappointed with A Separation.
