The 82nd Academy Awards: Predicting The Winners

Every Oscar party on the planet features a contest in which participants guess the winners of the forthcoming Academy Awards. With the 82nd annual Awards only a day away, now is the time to finalize your Oscar ballots. Some of these Oscar-pools only require guessing the major categories, but die-hard fans will make their guests take a stab at even the most obscure categories (How many people really know the difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing?). To make things a little bit easier, the Editing Staff here at FlickSided got together (via email, of course) and made our picks for this year’s Oscar winners. We heartily agreed on some, and for others…well, you’ll just have to read on to find out.

Best Actor

Adam’s Pick: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart – Bridges walks away with this one in a blowout, and it should be that way. He’s paid his dues and carried that movie like no other actor carried one this year (save maybe the snubbed Sam Rockwell).

Mike’s Pick: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart – Bridges will win this in recognition of his entire career, not for his very good, but overrated performance in Crazy Heart. I’d love to see Firth upset.

Scott’s Pick: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart – Gives an amazing performance and is long overdue.

The Favorite: Jeff Bridges.

Potential Upset: If the Academy goes for a Locker sweep, Renner could sneak in, but it’s doubtful.

Best Supporting Actor

Adam’s Pick: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds – There is only one possibility here. Much like Javier Bardem and Heath Ledger two years ago and last year, respectively, the other nominees should be flattered to be mentioned in the same breath.

Mike’s Pick: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds – Since we all know he’s going to win, rather than explaining why, I’m just going to point out that the “W” in his last name is pronounced like a “V.” I wonder if they’ll get it right when they read the envelope.

Scott’s Pick: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds – He stole the movie. It’s a lock.

The Favorite: Christoph Waltz.

Potential Upset: Ain’t gonna happen.

Best Actress

Adam’s Pick: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious – In the battle of the two young dark horses, Sidibe gets the edge over Carey Mulligan. To award any of the other veteran actresses in this category would be a mistake, because these were easily the two most challenging roles.

Mike’s Pick: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side – She was really good, but not as good as Mulligan or Streep. The Best Pic nod for The Blind Side pretty much locked this one up though.

Scott’s Pick: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side – Doesn’t deserve it, but it’s hers to lose.

The Favorite: Sandra Bullock.

Potential Upset: The media is painting this as a head-to-head between Bullock and Streep, but if there is an upset in this category, look for it to come from one of the two talented young-guns, not Meryl.

Best Supporting Actress

Adam’s Pick: Mo’Nique, Precious – This hairy-legged actress has already won. Biggest no-brainer of the night.

Mike’s Pick: Mo’Nique, Precious – That monologue at the end convinced me she’d be getting quite a few statues this awards-season. It was a role tailor-made for Oscar. That being said, I liked Kendrick.

Scott’s Pick: Mo’Nique, Precious – Another lock and she’s damn good.

The Favorite: Mo’Nique

Potential Upset: This one is also in the bag.

Best Animated Feature

Adam’s Pick: The Fantastic Mr. Fox – Fox over Coraline. These were two brilliantly made, game-changing films. Up was good, but it was by no means Wall-E. The Academy shouldn’t just automatically hand the trophy to Pixar every year.

Mike’s Pick: Up – Pixar doesn’t lose this category. That and the fact that it’s got four other nominations (including Best Picture), pretty much guarantees a win here.

Scott’s Pick: Up – Since it’s also nominated for Best Pic, it only makes sense it will win.

The Favorite: Up

Potential Upset: If any film is going to do it, it would be The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but if you want to win your Oscar pool, stick with Up.

Achievement in Art Direction

Adam’s Pick: Sherlock Holmes – The look of this film really set the tone for what looks to be Hollywood’s newest franchise.

Mike’s Pick: Avatar – There’s just no way the big blue dudes and their fancy planet will lose this one.

Scott’s Pick: Avatar – They created another planet. That’s gotta be enough, right?

The Favorite: Avatar

Potential Upset: The CG rendering of Victorian England in Sherlock Holmes was impressive, but just didn’t incite the same response as the landscapes of Pandora.

Achievement in Cinematography

Adam’s Pick: Avatar – Avatar takes this golden statue home. The film’s revolutionary techniques have changed cinematography and filmmaking forever.

Mike’s Pick: Avatar – They had to invent a completely new type of camera to pull of the cinematography in this film. Plus, it’s the first time 3D has received universal acclaim…which is due to it being shot in 3D, not rendered in post. However, the fact that a lot of the images are computer-generated might hurt its chances.

Scott’s Pick: The White Ribbon – Tough call, but Berger’s B&W images are stunning.

The Favorite: Avatar

Potential Upset: The White Ribbon won the ASC Award, so there’s a chance.

Achievement in Costume Design

Adam’s Pick: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus – Somehow this department made four actors feel like the same person, and the other costumes were dazzling as well.

Mike’s Pick: The Young Victoria – They call it a “costume drama” for a reason, right?

Scott’s Pick: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus – They looked nice, I guess.

The Favorite: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Potential Upset: They say the period piece always gets it, so don’t be surprised to see The Young Victoria or Bright Star upset.

Achievement in Directing

Adam’s Pick: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker – This will be the most interesting category of the night, but Bigelow should be the choice. She’s made stars out of Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner.

Mike’s Pick: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker – Bigelow gave the Academy a reason to make history and give this to a female director for the first time, there’s no way they’re gonna pass it up. Plus, even Jimmy Cameron is telling voters to give it to her.

Scott’s Pick: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker – I’m going with the upset.

The Favorite: Kathryn Bigelow

Potential Upset: The King of the World himself, Mr. James Cameron.

Best Documentary Feature

Adam’s Pick: Food, Inc. – Gotta hand this award to the only film I saw in this category.

Mike’s Pick: The Cove – I’d vote for Food, Inc., but The Cove seems to have the momentum.

Scott’s Pick: The Cove – A suspenseful exposé with a message.

The Favorite: The Cove

Potential Upset: Food, Inc. also garnered a lot of praise.

Best Documentary Short

Adam’s Pick: The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant – It just feels like the right movie for the moment.

Mike’s Pick: The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant – The subject matter is timely and its pro-union message should resonate with liberal Hollywood.

Scott’s Pick: China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province – Only one I saw, but it’s an eye-opener.

The Favorite: The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant

Potential Upset: I’ve heard rumblings about both China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province and Rabbit à la Berlin. As with the other two short subject categories, this one is a toss up.

Achievement in Film Editing

Adam’s Pick: Inglourious Basterds – It is time for Sally Menke to get the credit she has long deserved. She’s been to QT what Thelma Schoonmaker has been to Martin Scorsese.

Mike’s Pick: The Hurt Locker – It won the Eddie Award. I’d give it to Menke for her phenomenal work on Basterds, but I think the Academy will also reward Locker for its effective pacing and suspense building, products of its editing.

Scott’s Pick: Avatar – The action sequences are a marvel.

The Favorite: Avatar

Potential Upset: Inglourious Basterds is a film built on pacing and scene placement, it deserves the award and just might pull off the upset. Also, you can never count The Hurt Locker out of any race.

Best Foreign Language Film

Adam’s Pick: A Prophet – I am going to have to take the word of some of my cinephile friends on this one and go with A Prophet. It just won Best Picture in France, so it should have a shot here as well.

Mike’s Pick: El Secreto de Sus Ojos – Academy members are only allowed to vote for this category if they’ve seen all five nominees, usually at an Academy-sanctioned screening. This Argentinean film is said to have garnered a lot of praise after those screenings, whereas presumed favorite, The White Ribbon, supposedly left many voters confused.

Scott’s Pick: The White Ribbon – Powerful stuff from the great Michael Haneke.

The Favorite: The White Ribbon

Potential Upset: Those rumors about El Secreto de Sus Ojos are hard to ignore. A Prophet is also getting some late buzz, including winning nine awards in its sweep of the French equivalent to the Oscars.

Achievement in Makeup

Adam’s Pick: Star Trek – Maybe just because I cherish this film and desperately want to give it an award.

Mike’s Pick: Star Trek – This one can appease the fan-boys who are still pissed that it didn’t get a Best Picture nod.

Scott’s Pick: The Young Victoria – It’s a period drama, so it has to win.

The Favorite: Star Trek

Potential Upset: Don’t underestimate the popularity of period dramas like The Young Victoria with some of the stuffy old Oscar voters.

Best Original Score

Adam’s Pick: Sherlock Holmes – Hans Zimmer’s The Dark Knight collabo with James Newton Howard was fire. He kept his hot streak alive with Sherlock Holmes, and should walk away with an 8-pound golden dude as a result.

Mike’s Pick: Up – This score really did add to the impact of the film, especially in that unforgettable opening montage.

Scott’s Pick: Up – It’s a Disney flick, so it has to win.

The Favorite: Up (Michael Giacchino)

Potential Upset: Zimmer’s score is among the most praised elements of Sherlock Holmes.

Best Original Song

Adam’s Pick: “The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart – Let’s give this splendid little piece of country music cinema as many awards as we can.

Mike’s Pick: “The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart – This is the only nominee that is even remotely listenable.

Scott’s Pick: “The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart – It’s a real toe-tapper.

The Favorite: “The Weary Kind” (Ryan Bingham & T-Bone Burnett)

Potential Upset: Randy Newman is an Oscar favorite, but with two nominations for his work on The Princess and the Frog a split vote for him is likely and an upset is unforeseeable.

Best Animated Short

Adam’s Pick: Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty – The twisted version of the tale was an awesome ride. Made me want to go back and see the whole animated shorts program again at the theaters.

Mike’s Pick: A Matter of Loaf and Death – The only time a Nick Park short lost at the Oscars was to a different Nick Park short. Since there’s no clear front-runner, I’m siding with history.

Scott’s Pick: The Lady and the Reaper – It was my favorite, so I’ll roll with it.

The Favorite: A Matter of Loaf and Death (this is a really shaky guess)

Potential Upset: Can there really be an upset when there’s no solid favorite?

Best Live-Action Short

Adam’s Pick: Instead of Abracadabra – I am a sucker for magic and comedy, so I am sure I am biased here, but this was my favorite out of an excellent crop of shorts.

Mike’s Pick: The Door – The New Tenants is definitely the best of the bunch, but The Door plays like Oscar-bait and I think the Academy will fall for it.

Scott’s Pick: The New Tenants – It’s so good, I was mad when it ended.

The Favorite: The New Tenants

Potential Upset: This one is also a total toss up, so nobody would really be an “upset.”

Achievement in Sound Editing

Adam’s Pick: Star Trek – Have you watched this on Blu-Ray yet? Almost everything sounds good at the theatre, but this film’s sound mixing is just breathtaking.

Mike’s Pick: Avatar – I think Avatar and The Hurt Locker are going to split the two sound categories. I don’t know what the split is going to be, so I’m picking Avatar for both and hoping to go 50/50.

Scott’s Pick: Avatar – You can’t compete with this film on a technical level.

The Favorite: Avatar

Potential Upset: The Hurt Locker. Sorry, Adam, but I don’t think Star Trek has a chance here.

Achievement in Sound Mixing

Adam’s Pick: Star Trek – Same as sound editing. Smooth, sharp sound mixing that amplified the sounds of Star Trek.

Mike’s Pick: Avatar – Again, I think Avatar deserves it, but Locker might nab it. We’ll see what happens.

Scott’s Pick: Avatar – See above.

The Favorite: Avatar

Potential Upset: Star Trek does have a better shot here, the mixing was fantastic. The Hurt Locker could nab this one in a sweep too.

Achievement in Visual Effects

Adam’s Pick: Avatar – If this goes to anything but Avatar, my TV is straight getting turned off.

Mike’s Pick: Avatar – I don’t think there’s a bigger lock this year…or has there ever been, any year, in any category.

Scott’s Pick: Avatar – The whole movie is one giant visual effect.

The Favorite: Avatar

Potential Upset: Don’t make me laugh.

Adapted Screenplay

Adam’s Pick: Precious – I’ve never read the book, but I don’t know if it could be more of a gut-wrenching, and ultimately uplifting, tale than the film ended up being.

Mike’s Pick: Up in the Air – The writing is definitely the best part of this film, but, more importantly, this is the Academy’s only real opportunity at rewarding this excellent movie. It’ll be cool to see Reitman accept his statue.

Scott’s Pick: Precious – A sad, but oddly uplifting story.

The Favorite: Precious

Potential Upset: Reitman and Turner took home the Golden Globe and Writers’ Guild Awards, so they could repeat here.

Original Screenplay

Adam’s Pick: Inglourious Basterds – If we’re purely speaking dialogue here, this script might even top Pulp Fiction. Naw, but it’s close.

Mike’s Pick: Inglourious Basterds – You simply can’t compete with Tarantino’s dialogue.

Scott’s Pick: The Hurt Locker – Tarantino is deserving, but not this year.

The Favorite: Inglourious Basterds

Potential Upset: Mark Boal’s The Hurt Locker screenplay seemed a bit minimalistic to me, but it did take home the WGA Award, so, clearly, the experts may feel differently.

Best Picture

Adam’s Pick: Avatar – It came down to the big movie that didn’t require much of an emotional investment over two little movies that were poignant gut punches (The Hurt Locker and Precious). In the end, I think we’d look back at snubbing Avatar as one of those monumental snubs we always talk about.

Mike’s Pick: Inglourious Basterds – Come Sunday night, I will either look very foolish or like a complete genius. I’m thinking the presumed head-to-head race between Avatar and The Hurt Locker will result in those two films getting around the same amount of first-place votes, but with neither earning a majority. This sets up the preferential ballot, instant runoff, where Basterds has the most number-two and number-three votes (and a decent amount of number-one ballots), thus becoming the winner. It’s a long shot, but for some reason I can’t help but go with it (maybe it’s just wishful thinking).

Scott’s Pick: The Hurt Locker – No sci-fi film has ever captured the award. I’m guessing the fuddy-duddy Academy members will keep the trend alive.

The Favorite: The Hurt Locker

Potential Upset: With a race this close, no matter who wins it will be considered by some to be an upset. If we are considering The Hurt Locker the front-runner, then the biggest chance for an upset comes from Avatar. But, with the new balloting system, anything can happen, and the eventual victor of this statue is perhaps the most unpredictable of the night.

So, it looks like it’s going to be a big night for Avatar on the technical side of things and The Hurt Locker will take home the two big ones. It will be interesting to look back on this tomorrow and see how we did!