![I'm still not sure how the documentary "Imposter" didn't score a nomination for Best Documentary Feature, but of the five nominees "Searching for Sugar Man" stands out from the crowd. The story of the singer Rodriguez is inspiring and too-crazy not to be true. I'm expecting it to win over the four other nominated films, all of which seem to carry a bit more weight when it comes to substance. Of the other nominees: "The Invisible War," "5 Broken Cameras," and "The Gatekeepers," the AIDs documentary "How To Survive A Plague" has the best chance at pulling the upset.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/hash/fe/ab/feabbb7761fbff30e15d0b44029d57ae.jpg?itok=PEgBsYi1 "I'm still not sure how the documentary "Imposter" didn't score a nomination for Best Documentary Feature, but of the five nominees "Searching for Sugar Man" stands out from the crowd. The story of the singer Rodriguez is inspiring and too-crazy not to be true. I'm expecting it to win over the four other nominated films, all of which seem to carry a bit more weight when it comes to substance. Of the other nominees: "The Invisible War," "5 Broken Cameras," and "The Gatekeepers," the AIDs documentary "How To Survive A Plague" has the best chance at pulling the upset."){kind=small}
![In the Best Animated Feature category, it is more of a race, but that's nothing "Wreck-It Ralph" isn't used to. It was the 2nd biggest commercial success of the five nominees ("Brave" takes the cake when it comes to dough) but it is the current front-runner. I think that "Wreck-It Ralph" will win over "Frankenweenie," which seems to have a cult following much like most of Tim Burton's films. "Brave" didn't have the same critical support and the other two nominees, "ParaNorman" and "The Pirates: Band of Misfits" don't seem to be generating much steam ("ParaNorman," for the record, is my personal favorite of the five nominees). But it would take a terrible glitch to wreck Disney's newest animated film from taking home Oscar gold.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/hash/0a/a0/0aa05a5324cca3c3c691d3482a8911d3.jpg?itok=mX249DPR "In the Best Animated Feature category, it is more of a race, but that's nothing "Wreck-It Ralph" isn't used to. It was the 2nd biggest commercial success of the five nominees ("Brave" takes the cake when it comes to dough) but it is the current front-runner. I think that "Wreck-It Ralph" will win over "Frankenweenie," which seems to have a cult following much like most of Tim Burton's films. "Brave" didn't have the same critical support and the other two nominees, "ParaNorman" and "The Pirates: Band of Misfits" don't seem to be generating much steam ("ParaNorman," for the record, is my personal favorite of the five nominees). But it would take a terrible glitch to wreck Disney's newest animated film from taking home Oscar gold."){kind=small}
![There seems to be a few more "sure things" at this year's Oscars than usual, and the category of Best Foreign Language film is one of them. The French film "Amour" is just about a lock to win, considering that its appeal reached out beyond even this category to land a Best Picture nomination. The other four nominees: "A Royal Affair," "No," "Kon-Tiki," and "War Witch" are all strong in their own right, but there is no chance that "Amour" won't win.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/hash/04/08/04085ea20e5d34e41f72cf2610bbe611.jpg?itok=pnWYD1qa "There seems to be a few more "sure things" at this year's Oscars than usual, and the category of Best Foreign Language film is one of them. The French film "Amour" is just about a lock to win, considering that its appeal reached out beyond even this category to land a Best Picture nomination. The other four nominees: "A Royal Affair," "No," "Kon-Tiki," and "War Witch" are all strong in their own right, but there is no chance that "Amour" won't win."){kind=small}
The 85th annual Academy Awards are coming this Sunday, Feb 24, 2013 and this week leading up to them is known as "Oscar Week," the official build-up towards movie's most prestigious awards show. So who is going to win at this year's Oscars?
Every day this week, check back to get my picks in all 24 categories. In this first installment of my "Oscar Week Predictions," I'll be looking at the two Documentary categories (feature-length and short), the Live-Action and Animated Short Film categories, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Animated Film.
Click the "List" button below to get started! Be sure to check back all of this week for my predictions in the other categories, leading up to Best Actor, Actress and Best Picture on Friday!
Follow film critic Tom Santilli on Twitter, @tomsantilli.
![There seems to be a few more "sure things" at this year's Oscars than usual, and the category of Best Foreign Language film is one of them. The French film "Amour" is just about a lock to win, considering that its appeal reached out beyond even this category to land a Best Picture nomination. The other four nominees: "A Royal Affair," "No," "Kon-Tiki," and "War Witch" are all strong in their own right, but there is no chance that "Amour" won't win.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/profile_large/hash/bc/7d/bc7d6a4c934f5ad65ae19dff8edb11a8.jpg?itok=MBv0q70r "There seems to be a few more "sure things" at this year's Oscars than usual, and the category of Best Foreign Language film is one of them. The French film "Amour" is just about a lock to win, considering that its appeal reached out beyond even this category to land a Best Picture nomination. The other four nominees: "A Royal Affair," "No," "Kon-Tiki," and "War Witch" are all strong in their own right, but there is no chance that "Amour" won't win.")
![In the Best Animated Feature category, it is more of a race, but that's nothing "Wreck-It Ralph" isn't used to. It was the 2nd biggest commercial success of the five nominees ("Brave" takes the cake when it comes to dough) but it is the current front-runner. I think that "Wreck-It Ralph" will win over "Frankenweenie," which seems to have a cult following much like most of Tim Burton's films. "Brave" didn't have the same critical support and the other two nominees, "ParaNorman" and "The Pirates: Band of Misfits" don't seem to be generating much steam ("ParaNorman," for the record, is my personal favorite of the five nominees). But it would take a terrible glitch to wreck Disney's newest animated film from taking home Oscar gold.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/profile_large/hash/59/cc/59cc062cc312c39f4287d09c6dcf256b.jpg?itok=U1YkLuSd "In the Best Animated Feature category, it is more of a race, but that's nothing "Wreck-It Ralph" isn't used to. It was the 2nd biggest commercial success of the five nominees ("Brave" takes the cake when it comes to dough) but it is the current front-runner. I think that "Wreck-It Ralph" will win over "Frankenweenie," which seems to have a cult following much like most of Tim Burton's films. "Brave" didn't have the same critical support and the other two nominees, "ParaNorman" and "The Pirates: Band of Misfits" don't seem to be generating much steam ("ParaNorman," for the record, is my personal favorite of the five nominees). But it would take a terrible glitch to wreck Disney's newest animated film from taking home Oscar gold.")
![I'm still not sure how the documentary "Imposter" didn't score a nomination for Best Documentary Feature, but of the five nominees "Searching for Sugar Man" stands out from the crowd. The story of the singer Rodriguez is inspiring and too-crazy not to be true. I'm expecting it to win over the four other nominated films, all of which seem to carry a bit more weight when it comes to substance. Of the other nominees: "The Invisible War," "5 Broken Cameras," and "The Gatekeepers," the AIDs documentary "How To Survive A Plague" has the best chance at pulling the upset.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/profile_large/hash/76/58/7658717c55e29587854ae35870727468.jpg?itok=62Oi2Q6x "I'm still not sure how the documentary "Imposter" didn't score a nomination for Best Documentary Feature, but of the five nominees "Searching for Sugar Man" stands out from the crowd. The story of the singer Rodriguez is inspiring and too-crazy not to be true. I'm expecting it to win over the four other nominated films, all of which seem to carry a bit more weight when it comes to substance. Of the other nominees: "The Invisible War," "5 Broken Cameras," and "The Gatekeepers," the AIDs documentary "How To Survive A Plague" has the best chance at pulling the upset.")
![I'll be honest, I haven't seen but one of the nominees in this category, as the Documentary Short films seem to be the hardest to track down. But Oscar Buzz surrounds "Open Heart," described on its website as: "The story of eight Rwandan children who leave their families behind and embark on a life-or-death journey to receive high-risk open-heart surgery in Africa’s only free-of-charge, state-of-the-art cardiac hospital, the Salam Center run by Emergency, an Italian NGO." ](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/profile_large/hash/52/dc/1361225670_2068_open%20heart.jpg?itok=Gh0V11HO "I'll be honest, I haven't seen but one of the nominees in this category, as the Documentary Short films seem to be the hardest to track down. But Oscar Buzz surrounds "Open Heart," described on its website as: "The story of eight Rwandan children who leave their families behind and embark on a life-or-death journey to receive high-risk open-heart surgery in Africa’s only free-of-charge, state-of-the-art cardiac hospital, the Salam Center run by Emergency, an Italian NGO." ")
![Oscar buzz in the Live-Action Short category is surrounding a film called "Curfew," which quite frankly for me, was the weakest entry in this year's race. The trippy imagination of "Death of A Shadow" could win, where as the films "Asad" and "Buzkashi Boys" carry with them a bit more social relevance. But above all of the nominees, the most deserving by far is the film, "Henry." It is a powerful story that puts you in the mind of a aged man and it is brutal and breath-taking in what it manages to do in just a short time. Click this link to view "Henry" online.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/profile_large/hash/8b/25/8b25750cd9e16e263c7c3d4288e4bb0b.jpg?itok=_sF_XDB1 "Oscar buzz in the Live-Action Short category is surrounding a film called "Curfew," which quite frankly for me, was the weakest entry in this year's race. The trippy imagination of "Death of A Shadow" could win, where as the films "Asad" and "Buzkashi Boys" carry with them a bit more social relevance. But above all of the nominees, the most deserving by far is the film, "Henry." It is a powerful story that puts you in the mind of a aged man and it is brutal and breath-taking in what it manages to do in just a short time. Click this link to view "Henry" online.")
![Overall, the Oscar Animated Short category didn't produce as many memorable entries as in year's past, but that's not to say there weren't some solid ones. "Head Over Heels" was perhaps the most inventive and has a chance at scoring an upset win. "Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare" was cute but probably is not going to score any points for being ground-breaking. As far as a challenging visual style, the under two-minute long "Fresh Guacamole" is indeed fresh, but too quick to really cement itself as the front-runner. That leaves Disney's "Paperman," which was shown in theaters in front of "Wreck-It Ralph," and "Adam and Dog," a silent genesis-themed film about, well, Adam and presumably the world's first dog. Both are effective in their creativity and story-telling, but "Adam and Dog" resonated more with me as the better film. But don't count out "Paperman" when it comes to who will take home the Oscar.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/profile_large/hash/e6/53/e653b9b022b7abe898a2d4689bf73ebb.jpg?itok=y-vzAB0z "Overall, the Oscar Animated Short category didn't produce as many memorable entries as in year's past, but that's not to say there weren't some solid ones. "Head Over Heels" was perhaps the most inventive and has a chance at scoring an upset win. "Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare" was cute but probably is not going to score any points for being ground-breaking. As far as a challenging visual style, the under two-minute long "Fresh Guacamole" is indeed fresh, but too quick to really cement itself as the front-runner. That leaves Disney's "Paperman," which was shown in theaters in front of "Wreck-It Ralph," and "Adam and Dog," a silent genesis-themed film about, well, Adam and presumably the world's first dog. Both are effective in their creativity and story-telling, but "Adam and Dog" resonated more with me as the better film. But don't count out "Paperman" when it comes to who will take home the Oscar.")
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