My Oscar Predictions

Time for the fearless Oscar predictions. This year the acting categories seem like a slam dunk while the rest of the awards are so varied it’s almost impossible to pick clear winners. Usually you can look at the film with most nominations and plan accordingly, but this year Dreamgirls may have a bunch of noms (thanks to three songs) but no chance at Best Picture. I assume you know the nominees already, so I’ll just predict who I think will win. (Remember, it’s not who I necessarily want to win, but who I think the Academy will vote for) Here goes from smaller awards to the bigger ones.

Live Action Short Film: West Bank Story
(West Side Story with competing fast food chains. Sounds fun.)
Animated Short Film: Lifted
(Made by some guy who keeps winning this award. Why not again?)
Documentary Short: Recycled Life
(The Academy wants to appear environmentally friendly.)
Sound Editing: Flags of Our Fathers
(War movies are difficult to mix sound for.)
Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls
(They manage to make Eddie Murphy sound even more fantastic than real life.)
Original Score: Babel
(Gotta give it some awards.)
Original Song: “Love You I Do” (Dreamgirls)
(You know it’s gonna be a Dreamgirls song, let’s go with this one.)
Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
(Davy Jones tentacles. Need I say more?)
Make Up: Pan’s Labyrinth
(Creature with eyes on his hands, a disfigured general and a faun. C’mon.)
Costume Design: Curse of the Golden Flower
(Period pieces usually win. It seems more elaborate than Dreamgirls.)
Art Direction: Pan’s Labyrinth
(Something dream like should take the statue.)
Film Editing: Babel
(I think United 93 should win something but it’ll probably go to this one.)
Cinematography: Pan’s Labyrinth
(I do like Children of Men’s chances, but I think they’ll go back to Pan.)
Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
(It made a lot of money, and the Academy may want to support Al Gore)
Animated Feature: Cars
(Actually a difficult category this year but I don’t think Pixar will lose)
Foreign Language Film: Pan’s Labyrinth
(The Lives of Others is supposed to be good, but it’s all Pan.)
Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
(It’d be funny if Borat won but The Departed was pretty sharp.)
Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine
(It’s a runaway hit, especially now that it’s on dvd. It’s bound to win something.)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
(He’s bound to win it now. Unless the Academy enjoys being mean.)
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
(Let’s reward the American Idol girl. It’ll make a fun story.)
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
(There’s always an upset! Eddie Murphy is favoured but people love grandpa.)
Best Actress: Helen Mirren (The Queen)
(My most confident prediction. I will be dumfounded if she loses this one.)
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
(Another almost sure thing. He’s been winning everything lately.)
Picture: Babel
(Little Miss Sunshine may provide the big upset this year. I would be overjoyed that a comedy gets some long overdue attention, but I think Babel is the type of film that the Academy would usually go for. And while I love The Departed, it seems too gritty for the majority of the Academy voter’s taste.)

So let’s see how I do on Sunday. Who are you predicting? Feel free to comment and laugh if you think I’m way off.