Fearless Oscar Predictions for Each and Every Category

Erin Nolan February 10, 2010

The fifty Oscar statuettes to be presented at the 80th Academy Awards ceremony are on display at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "Meet the Oscars" exhibition located on the fourth level of the Hollywood & Highland Center through Saturday, February 23. Admission is free.

With the Super Bowl out of the way, it’s time to start planning your strategy for the office Oscar pool. Here are some fearless predictions to help you out:

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker – Predicted Winner

Inglorious Basterds

Avatar

Precious

Up in the Air

An Education

Up

A Serious Man

Distrct 9

The Blind Side

Thoughts: It’s clearly between The Hurt Locker and Avatar at this point. Most of the voting members of the Academy happen to be actors, and I don’t see them going with a film that not only fails to contain any truly memorable acting performances, but also suggests human actors may become obsolete.

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) – Predicted Winner

James Cameron (Avatar)

Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds)

Lee Daniels (Precious)

Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

Thoughts: Historically, Best Picture and Best Director tend to go hand in hand. Bigelow’s DGA win is a strong indication of which way the Academy is leaning.

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) – Predicted Winner

Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

Carey Mulligan (An Education)

Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)

Helen Mirren (The Last Station)

Thoughts: Bullock’s victory over Streep was sealed with the surprise Best Picture nomination for Blind Side.

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) – Predicted Winner

Colin Firth (A Single Man)

George Clooney (Up in the Air)

Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

Morgan Freeman (Invictus)

Thoughts: The roaring applause for Bridges at the SAG Awards and the Golden Globes show just how badly his peers want to see him triumph in this race.

Best Supporting Actress

Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) – Predicted Winner

Mo’Nique (Precious)

Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)

Penelope Cruz (Nine)

Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)

Thoughts: You always have to plan for one big upset. The surprise nominations of Maggie Gyllenhaal (and to a lesser extent, Penelope Cruz) suggest to me that the Academy’s thinking may not be quite as in sync with the pre-Oscar prizes as we think.

Best Supporting Actor

Cristoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) – Predicted Winner

Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)

Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)

Matt Damon (Invictus)

Cristopher Plummer (The Last Station)

Thoughts: Cristoph Waltz was always the only name in this conversation.

Best Animated Feature

Up – Predicted Winner

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Coraline

The Princess and the Frog

The Secret of Kells

Thoughts: My heart is going with the sublime whimsy of Fantastic Mr. Fox, but my head knows that Up‘s appearance both here and in the Best Picture race locks this one up for Pixar.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Up in the Air (written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner) – Predicted Winner

In The Loop (written by Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, Simon Blackwell, and Jesse Armstrong)

An Education (written by Nick Hornby)

Precious (written by Geoffrey Fletcher)

District 9 (written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)

Thoughts: Two months ago, Up in the Air was considered a front-runner in the Best Picture and Best Actor races. Now it’s going to have to settle for Best Adapted Screenplay as a consolation prize.

Best Original Screenplay

Inglorious Basterds (written by Quentin Tarantino) – Predicted Winner

Up (written by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter)

A Serious Man (written by Joel and Ethan Coen)

The Hurt Locker (written by Mark Boal)

The Messenger (written by Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)

Thoughts: The Academy likes to nominate Tarantino for the top prizes like Best Picture and Best Director to make itself look cool, but in reality the only awards they ever feel comfortable giving him are for writing.

Best Original Score

Up (Michael Giacchino) – Predicted Winner

Avatar (James Horner)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat)

The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)

Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

Thoughts: This is the only award Up stands a chance at that’s not in an animation category.

Best Original Song

“The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart – Predicted Winner

“Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog

“Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog

“Take it All” from Nine

“Loin de Paname” from Paris 36

Thoughts: Jeff Bridges’ front-runner status in the Best Actor race locks this one up for the song he performed in Crazy Heart.

Best Documentary Feature

Food, Inc. – Predicted Winner

Burma VJ

The Cove

The Most Dangerous Man in America

Which Way Home

Thoughts: This category usually just goes to the doc that’s been seen by the most people. With crowd pleasers like Anvil! The Story of Anvil and It Might Get Loud out of contention, that leaves Food, Inc.

Best Documentary Short Subject

The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant – Predicted Winner

China’s Unnatural Disaster

The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner

Music by Prudence

Rabbit a la Berlin

Thoughts: Expect this recession-themed short doc to win due to the timeliness of its subject matter.

Best Foreign Language Film

The White Ribbon (Germany) – Predicted Winner

Ajami (Israel)

The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)

A Prophet (France)

The Secret of their Eyes (Argentina)

Thoughts: Expect the momentum from its Golden Globes win to carry Germany’s entry to victory.

Best Animated Short Film

A Matter of Loaf and Death – Predicted Winner

French Roast

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty

The Lady and the Reaper

Logorama

Thoughts: Honestly, who even gets to see these animated shorts? All I can think to do is pick the one with the most amusing title.

Best Live Action Short Film

Miracle Fish – Predicted Winner

The Door

Instead of Abracadabra

Kavi

The New Tenants

Thoughts: I’m applying the same strategy here I used for the Best Animated Short.

Best Costume Design

The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell) – Predicted Winner

Bright Star (Janey Patterson)

Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)

Nine (Colleen Atwood)

Thoughts: The Academy can never resist those frilly period gowns. And The Young Victoria‘s youthful color palette was particularly inspired.

Best Makeup

Star Trek – Predicted Winner

Il Divo

The Young Victoria

Thoughts: I expect the Academy members voting for this award will find that green girl as irresistible as James T. Kirk did.

Best Art Direction

Avatar – Predicted Winner

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Nine

Sherlock Holmes

The Young Victoria

Thoughts: Here’s where we start getting into the categories where it will be easy for Academy voters to check off Avatar without a second thought. Expect the Na’vi to win everything they’re nominated for from here on out.

Best Cinematography

Avatar (Mauro Fiore) – Predicted Winner

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bruno Delbonne)

The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)

Inglorious Basterds (Robert Richardson)

The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)