2013 Oscar predictions: full list

This has been a difficult category to discern. If I were to pick my choice would be Naomi Watts for her very brave performance in "The Impossible," but the film has not had as much as exposure as the other nominated films in this category. Both Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playboook" and Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty" were Golden Globe winners in January, and Jennifer Lawrence was the SAG winner. But I think the winner should be, and most likely will be Emmanuelle Riva for her mesmerizing performance in "Amour." Riva's character ages in front of us and it is seamless and authentic. It is the kind of performance that actress hopes for just once in a lifetime, and Emmanuelle Riva deserves recognition for it. Both Lawrence and Chastain are very young, and will most likely have other chances at claiming Oscar gold. For 2013, I believe that Emmanuelle Riva will covet this award.All season long Daniel Day-Lewis has been unbeatable in this category. His portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Speilberg's film "Lincoln" is amazing to say the least. Although the other nominees Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook," Hugh Jackman for "Les Misérables," Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master" and Denzel Washington in "Flight" - all had amazing performances, it is Day-Lewis' performance that stands out as the best, and I predict that Daniel Day-Lewis will become victorious and win his third Oscar.This one category is the most difficult category to discern. With Ben Affleck of "Argo," Kathryn Bigelow of "Zero Dark Thirty" and Tom Hooper of "Les Misérables" missing from the nomination list, it is definitely a strange list of nominations. Usually, the DGA (Director's Guild of America) yearly winner also wins the Oscar, but Ben Affleck was their choice and he is not even nominated. Steven Spielberg has done a masterful job in "Lincoln," but at the same time Affleck was snubbed by the Academy, "Lincoln" lost its steam and energy during award season. So, by excluding Spielberg, the next logical choice is Ang Lee for "Life of Pi." Many believed that a film adaptation of the book "Life of Pi" was impossible. And having the vision and ability to make the impossible come to life on screen deserves the Oscar for Best Achievement in Direction.View the list »
No doubt in my mind about this award. At the beginning of award season "Lincoln" seemed to be the sure winner. But when the Oscar nominations were released and the director of "Argo" was snubbed by the Academy by not getting a nomination for Best Director, the whole dynamic of the Oscar race changed. Suddenly, "Argo" was unstoppable. And I am confident that "Argo" will be Oscar's next Best Motion Picture of the Year.

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The 85th Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 24 and will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. The night will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane live on ABC and will be televised in more than 225 countries worldwide. The Academy Awards is the premiere movie award show and recognizes the best in film during the previous year. Predicting Oscar wins can be challenging, but by going through the process one can learn more about their favorite films and how they became Oscar winners.

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This year the Oscar race was turned upside down when Ben Affleck was snubbed by the Academy and was not nominated for Best Director for his film "Argo." But by reading through my predictions, it will be obvious that Affleck's snub was the best gift he could ever receive. "Lincoln" has received the most nominations - 12 in fact and was poised to win Best Picture, Best Director and sweep through some other categories as well. Not only will Affleck's snub bring Affleck his second Academy Award it will allow some other films to receive some limelight as well.

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-Kay Shackleton is a film historian with special focus on Silent Films, see her work at SilentHollywood.com

View the list
  • No doubt in my mind about this award. At the beginning of award season "Lincoln" seemed to be the sure winner. But when the Oscar nominations were released and the director of "Argo" was snubbed by the Academy by not getting a nomination for Best Director, the whole dynamic of the Oscar race changed. Suddenly, "Argo" was unstoppable. And I am confident that "Argo" will be Oscar's next Best Motion Picture of the Year.
  • This one category is the most difficult category to discern. With Ben Affleck of "Argo," Kathryn Bigelow of "Zero Dark Thirty" and Tom Hooper of "Les Misérables" missing from the nomination list, it is definitely a strange list of nominations. Usually, the DGA (Director's Guild of America) yearly winner also wins the Oscar, but Ben Affleck was their choice and he is not even nominated. Steven Spielberg has done a masterful job in "Lincoln," but at the same time Affleck was snubbed by the Academy, "Lincoln" lost its steam and energy during award season. So, by excluding Spielberg, the next logical choice is Ang Lee for "Life of Pi." Many believed that a film adaptation of the book "Life of Pi" was impossible. And having the vision and ability to make the impossible come to life on screen deserves the Oscar for Best Achievement in Direction.
  • All season long Daniel Day-Lewis has been unbeatable in this category. His portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Speilberg's film "Lincoln" is amazing to say the least. Although the other nominees Bradley Cooper for "Silver Linings Playbook," Hugh Jackman for "Les Misérables," Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master" and Denzel Washington in "Flight" - all had amazing performances, it is Day-Lewis' performance that stands out as the best, and I predict that Daniel Day-Lewis will become victorious and win his third Oscar.
  • This has been a difficult category to discern. If I were to pick my choice would be Naomi Watts for her very brave performance in "The Impossible," but the film has not had as much as exposure as the other nominated films in this category. Both Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playboook" and Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty" were Golden Globe winners in January, and Jennifer Lawrence was the SAG winner. But I think the winner should be, and most likely will be Emmanuelle Riva for her mesmerizing performance in "Amour." Riva's character ages in front of us and it is seamless and authentic. It is the kind of performance that actress hopes for just once in a lifetime, and Emmanuelle Riva deserves recognition for it. Both Lawrence and Chastain are very young, and will most likely have other chances at claiming Oscar gold. For 2013, I believe that Emmanuelle Riva will covet this award.
  • This category has a plethora of great performances, from Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook," the outrageously funny Alan Arkin in "Argo," the fabulous portrayal of a cult leader in "The Master," played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and the stand-out performance of Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln," it is very clear that Christoph Waltz will waltz away with his second Academy Award for his work in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained." Waltz has won just about every award he can win and I predict that his winning-streak will not end on Oscar night.
  • Sometimes, come Oscar night we know there is one actor or actress that it is just their year and so goes for Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables." It is Hathaway's singing portrayal of Fantine in the musical based on Victor Hugo's novel and her heart-breaking rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream," that was a show-stopping moment in the film and thus will lead the young actress to her first Academy Award win.
  • Almost always the film editor the the film named Best Picture also wins an Oscar as well. This was stunningly not true when last year when Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter won Oscars for editing "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and Best Picture went to "The Artist." But this year I think that "Argo" not only will get honored for Best Film, but should get honored for the fine editing as well. William Goldenberg did a masterful job editing a film that features several story lines that meld into one.
  • I think that this award has two possible winners - Disney's "Brave" and the Annie Award winning film "Wreck-It Ralph." Both films have seen many awards this movie season, but my money is on director Rich Moore and his film "Wreck-It Ralph" to bring home the Oscar.
  • Not only do I think "Amour" will be recognized for the brilliant performance by Emmanuelle Riva, I think the film itself is a slam-dunk to win for Best Foreign Language Film. The film has been stunning audiences since it took home to the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival last May, and I think that Austria will be bringing home an Oscar for its submission film "Amour."
  • One trick to predicting Oscar nominations is to watch the films that get a large amount of nominations. For example, "Hugo" had 11 nominations and 5 wins and the Best Picture winner "The Artist" has 10 nominations and 5 wins. So, this year Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" has 11 nominations and it should be expected to get a few wins as well. It is my opinion that the amazing photography in "Life of Pi" will bring its Cinematographer,  Claudio Miranda an Academy Award for "Life of Pi."
  • Without a doubt, this award belongs to Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott for "Life of Pi." This film was thought to be impossible to make and the extraordinary visual effects artists helped to create the story of Pi for Ang Lee. From the mastery of the ocean, a mystical-living island and the plethora of sea creatures in the in the film there should be no doubt that "Life of Pi" is the clear choice to win this award.
  • "Searching for Sugar Man," the documentary on the search of the South African musician Rodriguez, has been dominating the documentary feature category at every award show and I believe that it will continue its victory path come this Sunday.
  • Picking short film winners is an art all to its own. Some say picking a name out of a hat has better odds, but I go with film the best showcases a filmmakers technique. Although I personally enjoyed "Curfew," I think the surrealistic science fiction film "Death of a Shadow" shows the most promise.
  • "Maggie Simpson: The Longest Daycare" may have the huge throng of fans from the hit FOX television show and "The Paperman" had visibility as it appeared along side the very popular animated film "Wreck-It Ralph" last fall. But my favorite is the claymation film "Head over Heels." It's a clever story shown in a unique way.
  • My pick to win best Documentary Short film is "Monday at Racine." The film depicts a store that caters to the needs of cancer victims. It brings the stories of people with cancer and their everyday changes to light in a compassionate way.
  • There are only three films vying for Oscar here and I think the clear choice is "Les Misérables." Not only do the costumes from this period film have a wide variety of looks - basically from poor to the very rich, but the makeup application and hairstyling cover a large period of time and a massive cast during the French Revolution. Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell should be picking up Oscar statuettes come Sunday evening for their fine work in "Les Miserables."
  • This category is really a race between two period films: "Anna Karenina" and "Les Misérables." I loved the delicate black lace that covered Keira Knightley's face and her long ball gowns, but I equally loved Amanda Seyfried's wedding gown in "Les Misérables." But as in the makeup and hairstyling category I am going to go with the massive cast that had to be clothed in "Les Misérables." Not only women's clothing, but all of Javert police uniforms and the freedom fighters looks. It was an amazing feat and Paco Delgado should be recognized for his magnificent effort.
  • I am going to sound like a broken record here. But I think "Les Misérables" should also be recognized for the production design, art direction and set decoration. From the massive set of 18th century Paris, to the inn in the "Master of the House" sequence and to the barricade, no other film is this category had such a wide variety of sets to produce and a large span of time to be considered as in "Les Misérables." My choice is fully for Eve Stewart (Production Design); Anna Lynch-Robinson (Set Decoration) and all their diligent work.
  • This award go very easily go to any of the nominees, but my choice for bringing the various musicians from around the world and integrating this sound into Ang Lee's "Life of Pi," that composer Mychael Danna should be win for Best Musical Score. Being the 50th celebration of Bond, Thomas Newman stands a good chance as well for his blend of musical themes in "Skyfall."
  • Just one word: "Skyfall!" Adele and Paul Epworth are absolutely going to win for Best Song. First of all it is the best original song of the year and secondly is perfect timing to pay tribute to Bond and the song's the film franchise is so synonymous with the name James Bond.
  • Don't let this category name fool you. This is the award for creating sounds. For instance, many of the gun shots, arrow shots and rope slides you see and hear on the screen are not created seamlessly while filming. Many of these sounds must be manufactured in post production. War films and action films are usually winners in this category. But this is not a usual year for Oscars. I'm leaning toward "Life of Pi" winning in this category. Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton should win in my opinion.
  • Unless you have been living under a rock over the last few months, you have most certainly seen at some point the cast of "Les Misérables" describe the unusual way this all musical film was made. According to Anne Hathaway the cast singing on set "had never been done before" was a bit untrue, it has - but never so well! Mixing the on-set music with the orchestra tracks along with the plethora of other sounds created during the barricade scenes, makes "Les Misérables" the clear choice for Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes to win for Best Sound Mixing.
  • The writing categories are very difficult to call this year but 80% of the Writing Guild Award winners end up getting Oscars. So, I am going to play it safe and predict that the Best Adapted Screenplay Award will go to Chris Terrio for "Argo." Just a few days ago I would have gone with David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook," as the film is about a character that suffers with Bi-Polar disease as does Russell's own son. But, with the WGA Award going to Chris on Sunday and "Argo" most likely to win Best Picture, I think Terrio will be winning his first Oscar.
  • This award is either going to go to the WGA winner Mark Boal for "Zero Dark Thirty" or to the Golden Globe winner Quentin Tarantino. The way I see it - writers will vote for Boal as they did in the guild awards and actors will vote for Tarantino (since they all want to be in his films). I am thinking that there are more actors in the Academy than writers, so I am being a bit risky and side with Quentin Tarantino for "Django Unchained."
View the list

, Movie Awards Examiner

Kay Shackleton is a film critic and covering film news nationally and for the Palm Springs area. She is known around Palm Springs as The Movie Gal and hosts the website: TheMovieGal.com. She is an expert on the various film award shows, including the Academy Awards, which she attended in person...

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