Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Final Oscar Predictions: Part 1/2

It's difficult to believe that "The Hurt Locker" took home the Best Picture prize almost a year ago, but here we are again. I always love Awards Season, but these last few weeks have seemed particularly long, tumultuous, and bitter, so it'll be kind of a welcome relief when we have a whole host of OTHER films to talk about.

For now, here are my final Oscar predictions for the fourteen categories that aren't the perceived "big eight":

Animated Feature

"How to Train Your Dragon"
"The Illusionist"
"Toy Story 3"

Predicted Winner: "Toy Story 3"
My Favourite: "The Illusionist"

The single best year for this category will surely see a repeat of last year's "Up" winning, crowning "Toy Story" in consolation for their expected loss in the Best Picture category. The nomination is the reward.

Art Direction

"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"

Predicted Winner: "The King's Speech"
My Favourite: "Inception"

I'm holding off on predicting a Speech sweep, but this should be one of the easier gets for the period piece.

Cinematography
"Black Swan," Matthew Libatique
"Inception," Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech," Danny Cohen
"The Social Network," Jeff Cronenweth
"True Grit," Roger Deakins

Predicted Winner: "True Grit"
My Favourite: "Black Swan"

It could go to Cohen (god forbid) or Pfister (up-and-comer) but doesn't it seem like it's Deakins turn by now? The film probably won't win anything else.

Costume Design

"Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood
"I Am Love," Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King's Speech," Jenny Beavan
"The Tempest," Sandy Powell
"True Grit," Mary Zophres

Predicted Winner: "Alice in Wonderland"
My Favourite: "I Am Love"

It's Atwood or Beavan, but they like SHOWY.

Documentary Feature

"Exit through the Gift Shop"
"GasLand"
"Inside Job"
"Restrepo"
"Waste Land"

Predicted Winner: "Waste Land"
My Favourite: "Exit through the Gift Shop"

Perhaps the case of a split? Inside Job's topic is formal, and Exit's is too out-there. Word on Waste Land is that it's a crowd-pleaser, so why not?

Documentary (Short Subject)

"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
"Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"

Predicted Winner: "Poster Girl"

Judging from the themes of each doc, Poster or Strangers seem the most sympathetic. Children in a school, or fallen war hero? Plumming for the latter.

Film Editing

"Black Swan," Andrew Weisblum
"The Fighter," Pamela Martin
"The King's Speech," Tariq Anwar
"127 Hours," Jon Harris
"The Social Network," Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Predicted Winner: "The Social Network"
My Favourite: "The Social Network"

Going to go for this, because I only think the film will win 1 or 2 awards elsewhere.

Foreign Language Film

"Biutiful" (Mexico)
"Dogtooth" (Greece)
"In a Better World" (Denmark)
"Incendies" (Canada)
"Outside the Law" (Algeria)

Predicted Winner: "In a Better World"
My Favourite: "Dogtooth"

"Biutiful" and "Incendies" are both unrelentingly heavy, and without a great deal of sentiment. I think they'll go for Susanne Bier's film.

Original Score

"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman
"The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Predicted Winner: "The King's Speech"
My Favourite: "How to Train Your Dragon"

Original Song

"Coming Home," from "Country Strong"
"I See the Light," from "Tangled"
"If I Rise," from "127 Hours"
"We Belong Together," from "Toy Story 3"

Predicted Winner: "Country Strong"
My Favourite: None of them.

Makeup

"Barney's Version"
"The Way Back"
"The Wolfman"


Predicted Winner: "The Wolfman"


The most obvious styling of the bunch.



Short Film (Animated)



"Day and Night"
"The Gruffalo"
"Let's Pollute"
"The Lost Thing"
"Madagascar, a Journey Diary"


Predicted Winner: "Day and Night"


Pixar.

Short Film (Live Action)

"The Confession"
"The Crush"
"God of Love"
"Na Wewe"
"Wish 143"


Predicted Winner: "Wish 143"


Cancer.

Sound Editing

"Inception"
"Toy Story 3"
"Tron: Legacy"
"True Grit"
"Unstoppable"


Predicted Winner: "Inception"
My Favourite: "Inception"

Sound Mixing


"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"Salt"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"


Predicted Winner: "Inception"
My Favourite: "Salt"

Visual Effects


"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Hereafter"
"Inception"
"Iron Man 2"


Predicted Winner: "Inception"

1 comment:

Alex Constantin said...

don't you like I See The Light from Tangled? I think it's gorgeous :) I wish voters would actualy know the songs and not just go with TS3. Both Light and If I Rise and nice pieces of music.
I'm still predicting Tangled there.


I wish the porn story about the King's Speech set would've come up earlier. It would've helped Alice or Inception win :)