Oscar Predix (Wouldda Couldda Shouldda) 2019 Part 1

Hello Fuzzbuckets! It's here! Oscar weekend 2019! And there are already too many exclimation marks in this paragraph! But who cares, here's another for good measure! Below are my annual "Wouldda, couldda shouldda" predictions, informing you of where to put your money, where you could put your money, and where my heart is in each category. This is part 1 only, with part 2 to follow later this weekend. Let's get started shall we:

**Quick note: the films marked with a * are the ones I've seen. If I've watched all in that category, the category contains a star**

Best Foreign Language Film

- Capernaum (Lebanon) in Arabic – Directed by Nadine Labaki

- Cold War (Poland) in Polish and French – Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski

- Never Look Away (Germany) in German – Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

- Roma (Mexico) in Spanish and Mixtec – Directed by Alfonso Cuarón*

- Shoplifters (Japan) in Japanese – Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Will Win: Roma

Could Win: Cold War – in an absurd, shocking Game of Thrones WTF kind of way.

Should Win: I’d abstain from this having not seen the others, but I’d love to see them all at some stage.

Best Documentary – Feature

- Free Solo – Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill

- Hale County This Morning, This Evening – RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim

- Minding the Gap – Bing Liu and Diane Quon

- Of Fathers and Sons – Talal Derki, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert

- RBG – Betsy West and Julie Cohen

Will Win: Free Solo

Could Win: RGB

Should Win: Having not seen a single one of these, it’s really hard to say

Best Documentary – Short Subject

- Black Sheep – Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn

- End Game – Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman

- Lifeboat – Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser

- A Night at the Garden – Marshall Curry

- Period. End of Sentence. – Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton

Will Win: Black Sheep (according to a reputable source)

Could Win: ??

Should Win: If you’ve read my previous Oscar predictions you’d know by now how I decide this category. It’s all in the name! What’s the one that sounds the coolest. Period. End of Sentence.

Best Original Score

- Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson*

- BlacKkKlansman – Terence Blanchard*

- If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell

- Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat

- Mary Poppins Returns – Marc Shaiman*

Will Win: Tough call, as Globe Winner, First Man, was not nominated (a crime if you ask me). I’d say Beale Street, though Black Panther could surprise here.

Could Win: Black Panther

Should Win: Despite it’s rich visual elements, the first thing I noticed about Black Panther was it’s lively score. I would vote for this one here – though I suspect the duo of Desplat and Anderson in Isle of Dogs is stellar.

Best Original Song

- "All the Stars" from Black Panther – Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith; Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solána Rowe*

- "I'll Fight" from RBG – Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren

- "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns – Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman* 

- "Shallow" from A Star Is Born – Music and Lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt*

- "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Music and Lyrics by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch

Will Win: Shallow

Could Win: Like, if it snowed in Joburg, All the Stars

Should Win: The Place where Lost Things Go is tenderly beautiful (and I can’t wait for Bette Midler’s rendition on Oscar night!), this category should be called “Shallow and its competitors”, because it’s the unstoppable juggernaut that’s still being played excessively on the radio… and our Spotify playlists!

Best Sound Editing*

- Black Panther – Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker

- Bohemian Rhapsody – John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone

- First Man – Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan

- A Quiet Place – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl

- Roma – Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay

Will Win: I feel like First Man and A Quiet Place have the upperhand here, but Bohemian won the precursor to this award, which complicates things slightly. I’d go with First Man as its only win for the evening.

Could Win: A Quiet Place or Bohemian

Should Win: A Quiet Place (or First Man)

Best Sound Mixing*

- Black Panther – Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter J. Devlin

- Bohemian Rhapsody – Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali

- First Man – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis

- Roma – Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio Garcia

- A Star Is Born – Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve A. Morrow

Will Win: Bohemian Rhapsody

Could Win: First Man, Black Panther or A Star is Born, really…

Should Win: First Man

Best Production Design*

-Black Panther – Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart

- The Favourite – Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton

- First Man – Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas

- Mary Poppins Returns – Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim

- Roma – Production Design: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Bárbara Enríquez

Will Win: The Favourite – the Academy loooooves those period pieces in this category

Could Win: Black Panther or First Man

Should Win: Black Panther! The sleek technological world blended with the African landscape was something unique and beautiful to behold.

Best Cinematography

- Cold War – Łukasz Żal

- The Favourite – Robbie Ryan*

- Never Look Away – Caleb Deschanel

- Roma – Alfonso Cuarón*

- A Star Is Born – Matthew Libatique*

Will Win: Roma

Could Win: Cold War (because black and white film making is like, very in this year)

Should Win: Roma was shot so beautifully! Though A Star is Born captured the drama of stardom more than any episode of American Idol ever could.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

- Border – Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer

- Mary Queen of Scots – Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks

- Vice – Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney*

Will Win: Vice (always look to the category with more than one nominees for this category)

Could Win: I don’t even know what Border is, TBH

Should Win: *shoulder shrug emoji* Black Panther wasn’t nominated here – and it should’ve been!

Best Costume Design

- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Mary Zophres

- Black Panther – Ruth E. Carter*

- The Favourite – Sandy Powell*

- Mary Poppins Returns – Sandy Powell*

- Mary Queen of Scots – Alexandra Byrne

Will Win: The Favourite (just like production design, period pieces often win just because they’re period pieces – and replicating history is hard)

Could Win: Black Panther

Should Win: Black Panther

Best Film Editing*

- BlacKkKlansman – Barry Alexander Brown

- Bohemian Rhapsody – John Ottman

- The Favourite – Yorgos Mavropsaridis

- Green Book – Patrick J. Don Vito

- Vice – Hank Corwin

Will Win: Bohemian Rhapsody and The Favourite won the precursor awards and Vice won the BAFTA, so it’s between them… Bo Rap is actually very poorly edited though, and I don’t really consider The Favourite to be a standout in terms of its editing. I’d go with Vice

Could Win: the other two

Should Win: Vice

Best Visual Effects

- Avengers: Infinity War – Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick*

- Christopher Robin – Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould

- First Man – Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J. D. Schwalm*

- Ready Player One – Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk*

- Solo: A Star Wars Story – Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy*

Will Win: People are betting on Avengers: Infinity War, but I’m not so sure. A few years ago I thought Mad Max: Fury Road had this in the bag, but Ex Machina won. This suggested to me that even when you have a fantastic blockbuster contender (which this category is known to be filled with) the academy would still vote for a smaller, indie-type film. For that reason, I’m picking First Man here

Could Win: Avengers

Should Win: Avengers (and if it does, it will – along with Black Panther – be the first academy award win for the MCU – a bizarre fact considering the amazing accomplishments of this franchise… but that’s another article all on its own.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2!

Best Picture 2014 - predictions

Well, here we are again. A year later with a brand new slate of films to scrutinize, celebrate, ridicule and fall completely in love with! Three month of Oscar tracking and it comes down to one encompassing evening. Tomorrow night. That being said, let’s get right to it shall we. My 2014 Oscar Predictions! Enjoy.

Best picture

“12 Years a Slave”

“American Hustle”

“Captain Phillips”

“Dallas Buyers Club”

“Gravity”

“Her”

“Nebraska”

“Philomena”

“The Wolf of Wall Street”

The sitch: I’m quite proud of myself for catching 7 of the 9 best picture nominees before the big night (the other two are still to be released in SA, although a big thank you to Ster Kinekor for arranging pre-release screenings for the hardcore enthusiasts that had time on their hands this week. I know they kind of say this every year, but man, what a line up of incredible films! What makes it more incredible though is that in the best picture category (and most other categories this year) the slate of talent is so top notch, that I really don’t mind who wins – most of them are that good! Oscar voters get told to rank this category from most to least favourite. They can fill in 1 film, or 9, its up to them. If I were a voter (please, Lord, one day) my list would look something like this:

1. 12 Years a Slave*   2. Gravity*   3. Dallas Buyers Club   4. Her   5. American Hustle   6. The Wolf of Wall Street   7. Philomena   8. Nebraska   9. Captain Phillips

From the bottom up: I really didn’t like the way Captain Phillips celebrated the navy’s rescue of the captain. It felt like “oh look at how great we are as Americans”. It was a good movie, no doubt, but not a fantastic one. Haven’t seen Nebraska or Philomena, but I recon I would still like them a lot more than Phillips. Wall Street was a very interesting film, with some great moments, but hell, was it long! If it was half an hour shorter it would be in my top three. American Hustle had a great cast with a great concept, but my goodness, so many people scamming the other that it was so flippen difficult to keep track. What made the film were definitely its actors! The concept behind Spike Jonez’ Her is just incredible. So well thought out and brilliantly executed it was definitely one of my favourites of the year. I only saw Dallas Buyers Club today. Had I written this entry yesterday, it would have been number 8. But its just such a fantastic film, that literally took everything to make it (just google “Dallas Buyers Club making of” and you’ll see what I’m talking about). The performances also carry this story so well, its just amazing – I didn’t think that after having HIV/AIDS shoved down my throat by the South African education system (OBE days) for 7 years, that I could ever feel this way about a film about the disease. Then there’s Gravity, a film that did what Avatar did for visual effects-driven films 4 years ago and then some. It has a brilliant concept, with enough depth to keep the philosophers and critics happy and enough special effects and action to keep audiences happy. To have a 3D film as a front-runner in the Best picture race is truly remarkable, and definitely a step forward when it comes to the snobbery of the awards and those who vote for them. 

Then there’s my #1 film of the year. 12 Years a Slave. Is it the most brilliant movie ever made, no. Is it an important film, absolutely! Everything about this film is so incredibly solid. It feels like a machine in which all the parts come together so well that there’s really no tearing it apart. The one and only thing that bothered me about the film was Brad Pitt playing the role of the hero towards the end of the film – it felt like Solomon’s freedom was not as powerful because of it, which really hurt its chances of being #1 in my books. Having said that, I have actually changed my mind again: Gravity is actually my #1 which, if you talk to my lecturers, might illustrate my reputation to change my mind too often, but could also illustrate how close this race truly is!

What will win: 12 Years a Slave (Gravity and American Hustle would be spoilers)

What should win: If Gravity wins, I’ll be happy. If slaves wins I’ll be happy. Both are solid, both can comfortably wear the label of ‘best’ of the year!

(Stay tuned for the other category break-downs later today!!!)

Oscars - Final Cut

So here it is, the last of the Oscar predictions. Enjoy!
(As a side note, i am aware of the fact that the links on the previous post - as well as this one - come from Wikipedia. They are accurate, I'm sorry if this does not suit referencing standards or whatever, I was looking for quick and easy!)

Best Animated Feature:

• Brave – Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
• Frankenweenie – Tim Burton
• ParaNorman – Sam Fell and Chris Butler
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits – Peter Lord
• Wreck-It Ralph – Rich Moore

One of my FAVOURITE categories! I haven't yet seen Frankenweenie... OR ParaNorman, so that's sad... Anyway the category is really filled with meaty dishes this year and so for a change there isn't really a distinct (Pixar) winner. As much as i loved the animation in Brave, I didn't enjoy the story half as much. Pirates! is fantastic in its humour, animation and story, but just doesn't have enough momentum to win. Then i saw Ralph and it totally blew me away. It has everything a great animated film requires: appeal for adults and kids alike, gamers and non gamers too. It's funny, it's beautifully animated, it plucks the heart strings and comes together in a solid clump of awesomeness! In case you haven't realised it, I want Ralph to win this.

Best Film Editing:

• Argo – William Goldenberg
• Life of Pi – Tim Squyres
• Lincoln – Michael Kahn
• Silver Linings Playbook – Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
• Zero Dark Thirty – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

I have a feeling Argo's taking this along with best picture. The others are all good, but Argo is possibly a few centimeters ahead (yes, we use centimeters here).

Best Cinematography:

• Anna Karenina – Seamus McGarvey
• Django Unchained – Robert Richardson
• Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
• Lincoln – Janusz Kamiński
• Skyfall – Roger Deakins

I loved Life of Pi! But part of me feels its cheating to use so much green screen (you're left with a kind of "is it cinematography or special effects" kind of dilemmas). Because of this I'm gonna want Skyfall to win, even though I think it's going to go to Pi.

Best Original Screenplay:

• Amour – Michael Haneke
• Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino
• Flight – John Gatins
• Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
• Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal

Because Flight and Moonrise have few nominations, they are sort of at the back of the pack. Either one of the remaining three could take it. As of today i have still only seen Django, so i think this category is out for me in terms of who should win. Who i think will win? Django, with Amour and ZDT in tie for second - but it is STILL anyone's to take really...

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Argo – Chris Terrio from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez & The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman
• Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin from Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar
• Life of Pi – David Magee from Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• Lincoln – Tony Kushner from Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell from The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Whoever takes Best Picture should take this one too, whether its Argo, Licoln, Silver Linings Playbook or even Life of Pi. Beasts still has a chance, but unfortunately they don't have the bulk support of the academy behind it. Lincoln's screenplay is AMAZING, and Tony Kushner should be the one making a speech tonight, but i have a feeling that its gonna be now front-runner, Argo instead. Silver Linings could come from behind and produce an upset too though.

Best Supporting Actor:

• Alan Arkin – Argo as Lester Seigel
• Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook as Pat Solitano Sr.
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master as Lancaster Dodd
• Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln as Thaddeus Stevens
• Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained as Dr. King Schultz

On Awardsdaily, this category was voted the most unpredictable category of the evening. I'm rooting for Waltz, just because I enjoyed his performance so thouroughly. But it's really anyone's game. If Lincoln manages to pull off this win for Lee Jones, then they have a shoe in for their other categories too. If Arkin wins, its all over, and you could probably call it for Argo right at the start of things, before the event even gets going. Hoffman and De Niro are also brilliant (leaning towards Hoffman out of the two of them, but then again Hoffman reminded me very much of the mysterious Father Flynn in Doubt...). This will definitely be an interesting one!

Best Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams – The Master as Peggy Dodd
• Sally Field – Lincoln as Mary Todd Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables as Fantine
• Helen Hunt – The Sessions as Cheryl Cohen-Greene
• Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook as Dolores Solitano

This category is Hatheway's to lose. She's won countless precursors and is set to win the gold in a couple of hours. The only possible upset is Fields (who's performance was absolutely phenominal). That said, it would be awesome for Silver Linings to take all of the Acting awards, but as you're about to see, that is kind of a longshot.

Best Actor:

• Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook as Pat Solitano Jr.
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln as Abraham Lincoln
• Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables as Jean Valjean
• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master as Freddie Quell
• Denzel Washington – Flight as William "Whip" Whitaker

Danile Day-Lewis. That is all.
okay, as much as i'd love to leave it there, i have so say something about the other performances I've seen: Cooper certainally surprised a few people with his ability to balance the dramatic and the comic, Jackman was also amazing, but perhaps a little too melodramatic for some voters. Pheonix is also incredible, and if Day-Lewis doesn't get it, I'd possibly vote for him. Haven't seen Flight yet.

Best Actress:

• Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty as Maya
• Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook as Tiffany Maxwell
• Emmanuelle Riva – Amour as Anne
• Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild as Hushpuppy
• Naomi Watts – The Impossible as Maria Bennett

Two weeks ago Lawrence was 9 tenths of the way to a lock, then Riva won the BAFTA which totally messed with the heads of voters (not to mention my head too). As much as Jennifer Lawrence and I have a scret love affrair (whoops!) and as much as I loved her in the film, I'd rather Riva gets it as a "life Time Achievement Award" kind of thing. Castain (so I've hear) is also phenominal, but I think she'd take home the bronze if this were an Olympic event.

and finally...

Best Director:

• Michael Haneke – Amour
• Ang Lee – Life of Pi
• David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
• Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
• Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

With Ben Afflck's snub (the most talked about travesty this awards season), and his momentum in the BP category, who on earth wins this!? I believe most would call it for Spielberg, but lately I've been reading that some would'nt want him to win it because, well, you don't hand a 'god' a prize for being a god. If it's not him, it could be Silver Linings or Pi. But then again either of the other two could shock the way they did at the nominee announcement. My vote would be for Spielberg, with Zeitlin in second, just because Beast's was unlike anything I've seen before on cinema. It was this year's "Tree of Life" on creative steroids! The script was incredible, solid performances and score to boot. It's my film of the year...

Okay! So with less than a week to go before the world (for a very small percentage of us) will revert back to normal and we'll hang up our Oscars thinking caps after our celebration (of post mortem) reports are written. With best Picture covered already, i move on to those "lower categories" before we have a look at the remaining "big ones:

Best Documentary Short:

• Inocente – Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
• Kings Point – Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
• Mondays at Racine – Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
• Open Heart – Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
• Redemption – Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Can't comment on, haven't seen or heard about any of them

Best Live Action Short:

• Asad – Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
• Buzkashi Boys – Sam French and Ariel Nasr
• Curfew – Shawn Christensen
• Death of a Shadow (Dood Van Een Schaduw) – Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
• Henry – Yan England

Ditto, South Africa needs to jack up plans to bring these to deep, dark Africa.

Best Animated Short:

• Adam and Dog – Minkyu Lee
• Fresh Guacamole – PES
• Head over Heels – Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
• The Longest Daycare – David Silverman
• Paperman – John Kahrs

I've only seen one of them, twice actually, and it was so beautiful! Paperman is able to take you on such a relatable journey, adding their dose of magic to a love story. The animation is unique and making most of the film in black and white helped The Artist win an award last year (you know, a few little trinkets), which i think helps Paperman stand out amongst the competition. I'm planning to view Head over Heals today though, so i'll let you know if that alters my opinion...

Best Documentary Feature:

• 5 Broken Cameras – Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
• The Gatekeepers – Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky, and Estelle Fialon
• How to Survive a Plague – David France and Howard Gertler
• The Invisible War – Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering
• Searching for Sugar Man – Malik Bendjellouland Simon Chinn

Although i haven't seen any of them, several people i have spoken to regard Searching for Sugarman as the best of this lot. However, South African's do have a slight bias seeing as though our country is featured in the film. There's also a large amount of internet buzz for this film, not to mention it has already won a few of the major precursors (BAFTA, Critics Choice, Special Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance last year). How to Survive a Plague is also incredibly compelling (again, so I've heard), but Sugarman should take this.

Best Original Song:

• "Before My Time" from Chasing Ice – J. Ralph
• "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from Ted –Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane
• "Pi's Lullaby" from Life of Pi – Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri
• "Skyfall" from Skyfall – Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
• "Suddenly" from Les Misérables – Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer, and Alain Boublil

Okay, so with Skyfall winning the Golden Globe for its title song, many would think that this is in the bag for Adele. yet, i can't seem to shake the feeling that the Academy is going to do something incredibly stupid this year (like they did last year with Man or Muppet - but that's a whole 'nother post all on its own), i feel like Ted could get this, and maybe even Suddenly. I'm rooting for Skyfall, but don't feel comfortable betting on it to win.

Best Sound Mixing:

• Argo – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, and Jose Antonio Garcia
• Les Misérables – Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, and Simon Hayes
• Life of Pi – Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill, and Drew Kunin
• Lincoln – Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, andRonald Judkins
• Skyfall – Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, andStuart Wilson

Both Sound categories are tricky (heck, i have know idea what was intended to be heard and and blotted out, mixed together and balanced properly), however, I do think that Les Mis and Skyfall are stand outs here, along with possibly Argo. In the end I think if Argo gets Best Picture, its gonna need other awards to provide backing as to what makes it the Best Picture. if not, I'm backing Les Mis.

Best Sound Editing:

• Argo – Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
• Django Unchained – Wylie Stateman
• Life of Pi – Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
• Skyfall – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
• Zero Dark Thirty – Paul N. J. Ottosson

Argo, Skyfall and Pi, feature in both categories which I think gives them a leg up. In the end I'm going with Skyfall (because I'd really hate to see them walk home with nothing if Ted wins song).

Best Visual Effects:

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, and R. Christopher White
• Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer, and Donald R. Elliott
• Marvel's The Avengers – Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick
• Prometheus – Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley, and Martin Hill
• Snow White and the Huntsman – Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould, and Michael Dawson

If the Academy is looking for a film which best integrates the real with the unreal, then they'd go with Prometheus or The Hobbit. If they're looking for a special-effects-driven commercial film, then they'd go with Snow White or The Avengers, but The Academy is the Academy, and i feel as though Pi is a few strokes ahead of its competitors. Although some of the visuals are quite noticeably unreal, they way the film was able to tell an incredible story utilising the many advances of visual effects in recent years the way Martin Scorsese and David Fincher used them for Hugo and Benny Button, tells me that Pi is almost certain to win (a Best Picture nomination, solid usage of 3D and over 500 million at the box office don't hurt its chances either).

Best Make up and Hairstyling:

• Hitchcock – Howard Berger, Peter Montagna, and Martin Samuel
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater, and Tami Lane
• Les Misérables – Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Let's ask ourselves an important question here: why is Hitchcock even here? Last time i checked anyone could put on a prosthetic nose and a fat suit and it wouldn't be considered marvelous film-making, but then again i haven't managed to see the film yet (it's due out in SA within the month). The Hobbit (like Benny Button) is able to blurr the boundaries between what is make up and what is special effects, which actually may work as a disadvantage. In terms of realistic make up, Les Mis wins, if its pushing the boundaries of what could be done with a brush, please voters, give it to The Hobbit!

Best Costume Design:

• Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
• Les Misérables – Paco Delgado
• Lincoln – Joanna Johnston
• Mirror Mirror – Eiko Ishioka
• Snow White and the Huntsman – Colleen Atwood

I'm just discarding Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman straight off the bat because, if I'm honest, i really did not like either of them enough to give them ANY award (sorry costumers, but great job anyway). I'd like to say Les Mis, or Lincoln because of the sheer mass of costumes and detailing that went into producing them - heck, Mary Todd's ball gown was replicated from scratch - beads, buttons and ugly frilly things in between. But i have a feeling Anna Karenina will sneak in here and walk away out the back door with an award in hand.

Best Production Design:

• Anna Karenina – Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent, and Simon Bright
• Les Misérables – Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson
• Life of Pi – David Gropman and Anna Pinnock
• Lincoln – Rick Carter and Jim Erickson

This is one impressive category, which could really go 20/20/20/20/20. In the end i feel like whoever gets costume design will get Production design as well. however, I'm hoping for The Hobbit to come out from the back row of the theatre and collect.

Best Foreign Language Film:

• Amour (Austria)
• Kon-Tiki (Norway)
• No (Chile)
• A Royal Affair (Denmark)
• War Witch (Canada)

Do we even need to debate this one? Amour is nominated for four other awards including Best Picture... (BUUUUUT The Academy does some stupid things, and many people could say that Amour's many nominations, award them automatically? - Stranger things have happened)

The other awards to be posted by the end of the week (I say this with great hope and  faith in my horrid time management skills)

Peace, Love and Other Things