I was a little too late to the game last year, so I didn’t post up any Oscar predictions. Part of it might be I’m more interested in the results than watching the actual program. I watched The Academy Awards ceremony last year and it was fairly boring for me; I mostly just watched it because there hadn’t been anything else pressing for me to attend to at the time. For the most part though, I don’t mind at all hearing about the results the next day.
For the fun of it I’ve decided to post my predictions below. I will also be tacking on which films I plan to see soon (at the end of the entry), as unfortunately I have not been able to catch all that I wanted to see this year. Since I haven’t seen quite a few of these, most of my “will win” predictions are based on how much positive buzz I’ve been hearing about them from friends, fellow bloggers, tweets, etc. Just to make things simpler for me, aside from the best actor/actress type categories, I’m just going to list the names of the movies and not the individuals. By the way, when I say “should” win, I mean based on what’s listed. There are a handful of choices where I didn’t particularly agree with anything, so it was more of a “if I absolutely had to choose” kind of situation.
Best Picture
Who I think will win: Argo
Who I think should win: Argo
Best Actor
Who I think will win: Denzel Washington
Who I think should win: Hugh Jackman
Best Actress
Who I think will win: Jennifer Lawrence
Who I think should win: Quvenzhané Wallis
Best Supporting Actor
Who I think will win: Alan Arkin
Who I think should win: Alan Arkin
Best Supporting Actress
Who I think will win: Jacki Weaver
Who I think should win: Jacki Weaver
Best Animated Feature Film
Who I think will win: Wreck-It Ralph
Who I think should win: Brave
Best Cinematography
Who I think will win: Django Unchained
Who I think should win: Anna Karenina
Best Costume Design
Who I think will win: Anna Karenina
Who I think should win: Les Misérables
Best Directing
Who I think will win: Silver Linings Playbook
Who I think should win: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Documentary Feature
No clue here, as I haven’t heard of any of these aside from Searching for Sugar Man, and I’m not sure if that one is even on anyone’s minds.
Best Documentary Short
Again, same issue as the best documentary feature section.
Best Film Editing
Who I think will win: Life of Pi
Who I think should win: Argo
Best Foreign Language Film
Unfortunately, this is one year where I haven’t watched any foreign films at all…pretty sad given that I really enjoy foreign films. If I had to take a stab at it though, I’d guess Amour for this section.
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Who I think will win: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Who I think should win: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Best Original Score
Who I think will win: Skyfall
Who I think should win: Anna Karenina
Best Original Song
Who I think will win: “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from Ted
Who I think should win: “Suddenly” from Les Misérables
Best Production Design
Who I think will win: Anna Karenina
Who I think should win: Les Misérables
Best Animated Short Film
Who I think will win: “Paperman”
Who I think should win: “Paperman”
Best Live Action Short Film
No idea as I haven’t seen or heard of any of these.
Best Sound Editing
Who I think will win: Django Unchained
Who I think should win: Skyfall
Best Sound Mixing
Who I think will win: Argo
Who I think should win: Les Misérables
Best Visual Effects
Who I think will win: Marvel’s The Avengers
Who I think should win: Marvel’s The Avengers
Best Adapted Screenplay
Who I think will win: Argo
Who I think should win: Toss-up between Argo and Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Original Screenplay
Who I think will win: Django Unchained
Who I think should win: Moonrise Kingdom
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Now, as for what I’d like to see, that list is quite long this year, which is both a good and a bad thing. Good, because this year seems to have been a better year for movies, not to mention it will give me something to watch during those weeks where nothing exciting seems to be out in theaters. Bad, because that makes 27 films/shorts/documentaries that I haven’t gotten to prior to the Oscars. I usually don’t get this far behind in my movie-watching. Anyway, below are the lists (in alphabetical order).
Domestic Films:
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Flight
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
The Impossible
The Master
Foreign Films:
Amour
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki
Animated Shorts:
“Adam and Dog”
“Fresh Guacamole”
“Head Over Heels”
Short Films:
Curfew
Death of a Shadow
Henry
Documentaries:
5 Broken Cameras
How to Survive a Plague
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption
Searching for Sugar Man
The Gatekeepers
The Invisible War
Cutting Edge Creativity 
In general, this seemed like a bad year for animated films. Pixar’s Brave didn’t seem to get the overwhelming praise you would expect for a Pixar film. Normally, as soon as a Pixar movie is made, then it ceases to be a fair competition between that Pixar film and the other animated movies to have come out that year, but it’s not the case here. Ghibli films also ceased to be contenders as soon as Miyazaki Hayao stepped down.
Agreed on both counts. The only animations I enjoyed were Rise of the Guardians and the Paperman short.
There’s going to be a Brave 2, by the way. Oddly enough, the sequel, if done right, has the potential to be better.
Also, I think Django Unchained had phenomenal cinematography. That said, I think Skyfall gives it some pretty serious competition. My favorite scene was the Bond/Patrice fight in Shanghai in the skyscraper purely because of the melange of light and shadow.
I don’t know why I continue to be amazed at how lame and out of touch the Academy is. Every year they vote for the same schlock. It’s become predictable and boring. I am was shocked that Affleck wasn’t nominated for best Director. Also Moonrise Kingdom deserved a shot at best picture and best director for Anderson.
Nice list though, I am sure the guys will be coming up a prediction list of our own soon. We will have to compare notes! I will be working the twitter again this year for sure as well during the awards.
Haha yeah, we need a new, more open-minded panel for sure. Looking forward to seeing what you guys think. How accurate were ya’ll last year?