Academy Award Predictions 2010

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• “Avatar”  James Horner
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox”  Alexandre Desplat
• “The Hurt Locker”  Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
• “Sherlock Holmes”  Hans Zimmer
• “Up”  Michael Giacchino

Prediction: I don’t see Up not winning, but this category is often wild.

Pick: Up

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”  Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”  Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36″  Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
• “Take It All” from “Nine”  Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
• “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart”  Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Prediction: It’s hard to imagine Crazy Heart isn’t going to take this one at this point.

Pick: I care as much as you. None of them exactly blow me away. Let Crazy Heart have it.

Best motion picture of the year

• “Avatar”
• “The Blind Side”
• “District 9″
• “An Education”
• “The Hurt Locker”
• “Inglourious Basterds”
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• “A Serious Man”
• “Up”
• “Up in the Air”

Prediction: The Hurt Locker seems to be okay going into this, but it’s a crazy race, and the odd 10 nominee thing we threw in isn’t having a great opening effort. District 9? Like the film, but the odds you can get in Vegas are approximately – one dollar will get you Vegas.

Pick: An Education. It’s not close.

Best animated short film

• “French Roast” A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production Fabrice O. Joubert
• “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty”  A Brown Bag Films Production Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
• “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production Javier Recio Gracia
• “Logorama” An Autour de Minuit Production Nicolas Schmerkin
• “A Matter of Loaf and Death”  An Aardman Animations Production Nick Park

Prediction: This is the craziest race you can imagine every year, and no one in the general viewing populace of the awards show has the slightest clue what any of them are. That’s just in a normal year. Who will win? I’ve heard a lot of talk leaning toward Logorama, but it’s hard to tell.

Pick: If I say French Roast, will you make sure to see it? No. Much like short documentaries, this is just a weird category, and the nominees are often such wildly different efforts that it’s hard to compare them.

Best live action short film

• “The Door” An Octagon Films Production Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
• “Instead of Abracadabra” A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
• “Kavi” A Gregg Helvey Production Gregg Helvey
• “Miracle Fish” A Druid Films Production Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
• “The New Tenants” A Park Pictures and M & M Production Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Prediction: C. Or, whatever is the equivalent on Oscar ballots.

Pick: I haven’t seen any of these films, and you never will either. I pick Kavi.

Achievement in sound editing

• “Avatar”
• “The Hurt Locker”
• “Inglourious Basterds”
• “Star Trek”
• “Up”

Prediction: Really? I’m a sound editor now? Don’t blink, or you’ll missing sound mixing. I know a few films that I really hope don’t win sound editing. I’m going to say Avatar, because it’s going to get votes.

Pick: I lean a bit toward Inglourious Basterds on this one.

Achievement in sound mixing

• “Avatar”
• “The Hurt Locker”
• “Inglourious Basterds”
• “Star Trek”
• “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Prediction: See, my theory is that Casting Directors should have an award, because this here is basically the award for – some shit that no one knows what it means, but realize it is tangentially related to the overall product, and certain geeks will pretend they can tell good sound mixing from bad. Meanwhile, Casting Directors are the unsung heroes of the industry. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Avatar may take it.

Pick: I pick Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, because that sound was all mixed up in here Yo.

Achievement in visual effects

• “Avatar”
• “District 9″
• “Star Trek”

Prediction: Whatever.

Pick: It’s the only thing Avatar has, even I pick it.

Adapted screenplay

• “District 9″  Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
• “An Education”  Screenplay by Nick Hornby
• “In the Loop”  Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”  Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
• “Up in the Air”  Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Prediction: This is sort of tricky really, but it seems like Up in the Air is what gets the talk right at the moment. Precious could sneak in, and it’s nice to see In the Loop get nominated, but my guess as to what is going to happen has to be Up in the Air.

Pick: An Education.

Original screenplay

• “The Hurt Locker”  Written by Mark Boal
• “Inglourious Basterds”  Written by Quentin Tarantino
• “The Messenger”  Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
• “A Serious Man”  Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Up”  Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Prediction: Rough stuff here. This could be one of those that goes to whoever people didn’t vote for in some other category as the consolation prize. I have a feeling Inglourious Basterds may take it, but it could easily be The Hurt Locker, or even Up.

Pick: Inglourious Basterds.

There it is.

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About Marc Eastman

Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

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Tagged as: Academy Award Predictions, Academy Awards, Film, Movies, Oscar Picks, Oscars