2013 Oscar Academy Award Predictions: Who will win?

Every year around the late winter, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences does well to award the best in film. 2012 was a surprising banner year for film, but then again I always say that, every year. Then again, one finds themselves fond of more films than they can count, in this past year. We’ve viewed them all and now it’s time to make our predictions! Of course I have my own favorites--those that would win over obvious academy favorite choices, yet there is still no telling with the Academy, especially in quite a few categories this year. There are plenty of snubs to be infuriated about (Leonardo DiCaprio, “Skyfall”, Kathryn Bigelow, etc.), but for now we’ll focus on the positives and all things good! And with Seth MacFarlane hosting the show this year, there are sure to be many “good vibes” going around…

Here are my predictions of this year’s winners (in bold):

Best Picture

“Amour”
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Django Unchained”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Director

Michael Haneke, “Amour”
Ang Lee, “Life of Pi” (should win)
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Hugh Jackman, “Les Miserables”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master” (should win)
Denzel Washington, “Flight”

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”
Quvenzhane Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi Watts, “The Impossible”

Best Supporting Actor

Alan Arkin, “Argo”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”
Robert De Niro, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained” (should win)

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, “The Master”
Sally Field, “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”
Helen Hunt, “The Sessions” (should win)
Jacki Weaver, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Original Screenplay

Michael Haneke, “Amour”
Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”
John Gatins, “Flight”
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, “Moonrise Kingdom”
Mark Boal, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Adapted Screenplay

Chris Terrio, “Argo”
Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
David Magee, “Life of Pi”
Tony Kusher, “Lincoln”
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook” (should win)

Best Animated Film

“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“ParaNorman”
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” (should win)
“Wreck-It Ralph”

Best Foreign Language Film

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

Best Cinematography

Seamus McGarvey, “Anna Karenina”
Robert Richardson, “Django Unchained”
Claudio Miranda, “Life of Pi”
Janusz Kaminski, “Lincoln”
Roger Deakins, “Skyfall”

Best Production Direction

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

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran, “Anna Karenina” (should win)
Paco Delgado, “Les Miserables”
Joanna Johnston, “Lincoln”
Eiko Ishioka, “Mirror Mirror”
Colleen Atwood, “Snow White and the Huntsman”

Best Documentary Feature

Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi, “5 Broken Cameras”
Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky, & Estelle Fialon, “The Gatekeepers”
David France & Howard Gertler, “How to Survive a Plague”
Kirby Dick & Amy Ziering, “The Invisible War” (should win)
Malik Bendjelloul & Simon Chinn, “Searching for Sugar Man”

Best Documentary Short

Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine, “Inocente” (should win)
Sari Gilman & Jedd Wider, “Kings Point”
Cynthia Wade & Robin Honan, “Mondays at Racine”
Kief Davidson & Cori Shepherd Stern, “Open Heart”
Jon Alpert & Matthew O’Neill, “Redemption”

Best Film Editing

William Goldenberg, “Argo”
Tim Squyres, “Life of Pi”
Michael Kahn, “Lincoln”
Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Dylan Tichenor & William Goldenberg, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Howard Berger, Peter Montagna, & Martin Samuel, “Hitchcock”
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater, & Tami Lane, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Lisa Westcott & Julie Dartnell, “Les Miserables”

Best Original Music Score

Dario Marianelli, “Anna Karenina” (should win)
Alexandre Desplat, “Argo”
Mychael Danna, “Life of Pi”
John Williams, “Lincoln”
Thomas Newman, “Skyfall”

Best Original Song

“Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice” by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from “Ted” by Walter Murphy & Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from “Life of Pi” by Mychael Danna & Bombay Jayashri (should win)
“Skyfall” from “Skyfall” by Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from “Les Miserables” by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer, & Alain Boublil

Best Short Film (Animated)

Minkyu Lee, “Adam and Dog”
PES, “Fresh Guacamole”
Timothy Reckart & Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, “Head over Heels”
David Silverman, “Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare’”
John Kahrs, “Paperman”

Best Short Film (Live-Action)

Bryan Buckley & Mino Jarjoura, “Asad”
Sam French & Ariel Nasr, “Buzkashi Boy”
Shawn Christensen, “Curfew”
Tom Van Avermaet & Ellen De Waele, “Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)”
Yan England, “Henry”

Best Sound Editing

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

Best Sound Mixing

John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, & Jose Antonio Garcia, “Argo”
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, & Simon Hayes, “Les Miserables”
Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill & Drew Kunin, “Life of Pi”
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstorm & Ronald Judkins, “Lincoln”
Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, & Stuart Wilson, “Skyfall” (should win)

Best Visual Effects

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

Daniel Day-Lewis and Anne Hathaway are a shoe-in to win in their categories! And I'm 95% sure Jennifer Lawrence will walk away Sunday night with her first Academy Award ever! Although, Emmanuelle Riva could end up surprising us. Also, I do feel strongly that Joaquin Phoenix returned to the screen with a sterling performance in "The Master" that deserves more buzz than it's getting. And Denzel Washington is rather perfectly unstable in "Flight", so I am torn between who deserves the gold more...

While Steven Speilberg gave us a wonderful historic biopic of one of our nation's best presidents, I do feel that Ang Lee deserves the gold for composing such a special and touching adventure of spirituality. The best music score of the bunch should easily be Dario Marianelli's delicious compositions for "Anna Karenina".

Helen Hunt is at her best in "The Sessions", but her performance is in the shadow of Hathaway's emotional run on "Les Miserables". Kirby Dick's "The Invisible War" is too imperative to not win the Oscar, although I'm almost certain it won't. David O. Russell's adapted script for "Silver Linings Playbook" is profoundly simple in its strange and very human complexities, which is deserving of more attention than what I beleive the Academy will give to the "Argo" or "Lincoln" adaptation. "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Brave" are two Pixar hits, but the underrated animated film of the year, "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" surely deserves it more! And even the stop-motion animated film, "ParaNorman" stole my heart!

Christoph Waltz is a saving grace and deserves to take home the gold for Best Supporting Actor yet again! Although I am still disgusted that the Academy snubbed Leonardo DiCaprio (again!). I do happen to be a torn yet again, between Waltz and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in this particular category. Both are absolutely brilliant in different ways...

What are your predictions for this weekend’s big motion picture awards show? The 85th Annual Academy Awards premieres on ABC this Sunday, February 24th at 8:00 p.m. for those in the Tennessee Valley! Hosted by the always comical Seth MacFarlane.

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