The Academy Awards...My Picks

With The Academy Awards airing on ABC this Sunday, it's time that I post my picks for who I think will win their respective categories. At the end of each category, I will make my pick. Some will just include my pick while others will feature a bit of my thought process for why I chose a particular film/actor/actress.

Here we go...

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

*I was going to pick Lincoln to win, but with Argo snagging the Golden Globe for best picture and the SAG award for the best performance by a cast in a motion picutre, I'm going to pick it to win the Oscar for Best Picture.


BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
*Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

*Daniel Day-Lewis all the way. If anyone can upset him on Sunday, it'll be Hugh Jackman, but the chances of that happening are slim.


BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
*Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

*As much as I loved Wallis' performance as Hushpuppy, I see the award going to Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
*Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

*This was a tough one because I can see either Christoph Waltz or Tommy Lee Jones winning. Waltz won the Golden Globe while Jones took home the SAG award (Waltz wasn't nominated). *coin toss* I'm going to predict that Tommy Lee Jones will win the Oscar this Sunday, but if Waltz wins, I won't be surprised.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
*Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

*Anne Hathaway will hear her name called as the winner. After her speech at the Golden Globes, I'm definitely not looking forward to her Oscar speech, though. Might have to hit the mute button.


BEST DIRECTOR
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
*Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

*Lincoln won't win Best Picture, but I see Steven Spielberg taking home the Oscar for Best Director.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty
John Gatins, Flight
Michael Haneke, Amour
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

*I would like to see Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola win for Moonrise Kingdom, but it'll be Quentin Tarantino taking home the Oscar for Django Unchained.


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tony Kushner, Lincoln
David Magee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
*Chris Terrio, Argo

*Argo wins another Oscar.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
*Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

*While I think Brave will win, I have a feeling that two other animated films on the list have a chance, ParaNorman and Wreck-It Ralph.

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

*Life of Pi takes it.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
*Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables, Paco Delgado
Lincoln, Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

*Anna Karenina gets the Oscar.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
*Searching for Sugar Man

*All of the documentaries nominated this year were fantastic (haven't had the chance to see The Gatekeepers yet) and as much as I would like to see 5 Broken Cameras win, I predict that the Oscar will go to Searching for Sugar Man.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
*Inocente, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Kings Point, Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
Mondays at Racine, Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
Open Heart, Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
Redemption, Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

*Have yet to see any of these, but from what I've read, people are picking Inocente to win, so I'm going to do the same.

BEST FILM EDITING
*Argo, William Goldenberg
Life of Pi, Tim Squyres
Lincoln, Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty, Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

*Having a tough time choosing between Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. Um....I'm going with.....Argo.

BEST FOREIGN FILM
*Amour, Austria
Kon-Tiki, Norway
No, Chile
A Royal Affair, Denmark
War Witch, Canada

*Amour takes it, easily.

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Hitchcock, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
*The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

*I say the Oscar goes to The Hobbit.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
Argo, Alexandre Desplat
*Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
Lincoln, John Williams
Skyfall, Thomas Newman

*Life of Pi won the Golden Globe, so I'm going to pick it to win the Oscar.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Before My Time from Chasing Ice, Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted, Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
Pi's Lullaby from Life of Pi, Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
*Skyfall from Skyfall, Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
Suddenly from Les Misérables, Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

*With Adele winning the Golden Globe for Best Song, she's my favorite to win the Oscar for her song Skyfall from the latest James Bond film Skyfall.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
*Anna Karenina, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

*Anna Karenina will win.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Adam and Dog, Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole, PES
Head over Heels, Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare, David Silverman
*Paperman, John Kahrs

*I'm glad I saw Wreck-It Ralph in the theater because Paperman was shown before and because of how much I loved it, I say it'll win the Oscar on Sunday.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Asad, Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys, Sam French and Ariel Nasr
*Curfew, Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw), Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry, Yan England

*Curfew gets an Oscar.

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

*On this one, I'm going with Zero Dark Thirty.

BEST SOUND MIXING
Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
*Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

*Another Oscar for Life of Pi.

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

*Giving this one to Life of Pi.