Saturday, March 13, 2010
Weather: , °

The 81st Annual Academy Awards: Predicting All the Winners (Part 2)

by Freeman Montaque
02/18/2009

Now we wrap up the predictions with all the technical categories. I've also included a winners tally at the end, according to how I've predicted who will win what when this thing's all said and done.

11. ART DIRECTION – SET DECORATION
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” < ***projected winner***
“The Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”

The fantasy world created by “Benjamin Button” is just too pretty and extravagant to ignore.

12. CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire” < ***projected winner***

Roger Deakins, I feel for you. 2 nominations last year, and you didn’t win. And you probably won’t win this year for “The Reader”, either. I think “Slumdog” will walk off with this one.

13. COSTUME DESIGN
“Australia”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Duchess” < ***projected winner***
“Milk”
“Revolutionary Road”

I just don’t see anybody else’s costume designs coming close to matching those of the period drama “The Duchess.”

14. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Betrayal” (Nerakhoon)
“Encounters at the End of the World”
“The Garden”
“Man on Wire” < ***projected winner***
“Trouble the Water”

“Man on Wire”. End of Story.

15. DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“The Conscience of Nhem En”
“The Final Inch”
“Smile Pinki”
“The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306” < ***projected winner***

There are 3 categories I have absolutely, absolutely, absolutely no idea about. This is one of them. Usually, the one with the best name wins, or the first one listed alphabetically. I like the way “The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306” sounds, so let’s go with that.

16. FILM EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire” < ***projected winner***

Another category, another award for “Slumdog.”

17. MAKEUP
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” < ***projected winner***
“The Dark Knight”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”

In terms of actual best makeup, “Hellboy” wins that competition. But I don’t think the Academy will give it anything, so look for “Benjamin Button” to rack up a win here.

18. MUSIC SCORE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Alexandre Desplat)
“Defiance” (James Newton Howard)
“Milk” (Danny Elfman)
“Slumdog Millionaire” (A.R. Rahman) < ***projected winner***
“Wall-E” (Thomas Newman)

All the scores are good, and I personally would love to see Thomas Newman (who composed “American Beauty”, “The Shawshank Redemption”, and “Finding Nemo” among others) finally win. But A.R. Rahman keeps winning for “Slumdog”, so I’d expect to see that happen one last time.

19. ORIGINAL SONG
Down to Earth, “Wall-E”
Jai Ho, “Slumdog Millionaire” < ***projected winner***
O Saya, “Slumdog Millionaire”

The Fox Searchlight camp has officially thrown the song O Saya under the bus and gone all in for Jai Ho. Again, I would love to see Thomas Newman win for scoring the music or composing the lyrics for Down to Earth, but I think Jai Ho may be a little too catchy.

20. SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”
“Lavatory – Lovestory”
“Oktapodi”
“Presto” < ***projected winner***
“This Way Up”

No. I. Dea. I saw “Presto” during Wall-E, so I’ll say that.

21. SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
“Auf Der Strecke (On the Line)”
“Manon on the Asphalt” < ***projected winner***
“New Boy”
“The Pig”
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

Yeah, your guess is as good as mine. Whichever title sounds the most original, I’ll go with. “Manon on the Asphalt”? Sure.

22. SOUND EFFECTS EDITING
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“Wall-E” < ***projected winner***
“Wanted”

Remember when “The Incredibles” beat out “Spider-Man 2” in 2004? Yeah, I think we will see a similar situation here, with “Wall-E” winning over the live action competition.

23. SOUND MIXING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight” < ***projected winner***
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“Wall-E”
“Wanted”

I would hope “The Dark Knight” would win this. There’s no denying it deserves it. “Slumdog” could win it, depending on just how crazy the Academy is over it, but in general, the academy makes good on its promise and gives this award to the film with the actual best sound, and that’s Nolan’s baby.

24. VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” < ***projected winner***
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”

This would have to be “Benjamin Button”.

So, here’s my winner’s tally:

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (7 wins out of 10 nominations) – Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Original Song, Score

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (3 wins out of 13 nominations) – Art Direction, Makeup, Visual Effects

THE DARK KNIGHT (2 wins out of 8 nominations) – Supporting Actor, Sound

MILK (2 wins out of 8 nominations) – Actor, Original Screenplay

WALL-E (2 wins out of 6 nominations) – Animated Feature, Sound Editing

THE DUCHESS (1 win out of 2 nominations) – Costume Design

MAN ON WIRE (1 win out of 1 nomination) – Documentary Feature

MANON ON THE ASPHALT (1 win out of 1 nomination) – Short Film (Live Action)

PRESTO (1 win out of 1 nomination) – Short Film (Animated)

THE READER (1 win out of 5 nominations) – Actress

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (1 win out of 1 nomination) – Supporting Actress

WALTZ WITH BASHIR (1 win out of 1 nomination) – Foreign Language Film

WITNESS FROM THE BALCONY OF ROOM 306 (1 win out of 1 nomination) – Documentary Short Subject

Tune in to the Oscars on Sunday, February 22 at 8pm on ABC to see if I have I know what I’m talking about, or just to see who wins.

Technorati Tags

Oscars Academy Award Best Picture Nominations Film Movie Awards

Comments [post a comment]

Comments are closed

more film

more from freeman montaque