Our correct guesses are now in bold italics. The incorrectly guessed categories are no longer in bold type. John C. guessed 17 out of 24, and Erin V. guessed 16 out of 24, correctly.
John C.’s OSCAR Predictions:
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight) Sean Penn could easily win, but I am still throwing my support behind Mickey Rourke.
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.) If there ever were a true lock, this is it.
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company) She has had five noms, no wins and The Reader is definitely Oscar-bait.
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company) Her fiery, crazy work will likely win her an Oscar.
Best animated feature film of the year
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney•PIXAR), Andrew Stanton I love all three nominees, but it’s a safe bet that Pixar’s latest will win.
Achievement in art direction
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo The film’s art direction is impressive.
Achievement in cinematography
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle Even people in the industry agree, Slumdog is a beautifully shot film.
Achievement in costume design
“The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor The Academy loves 18th century costumes.
Achievement in directing
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle This award almost always goes hand-in-hand with Best Picture.
Best documentary feature
“Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn It’s not usual that a documentary is also a feel-good film. If it doesn’t win than Trouble the Water will come out on top.
Best documentary short subject
“The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki I haven’t seen any of the films, but this one seems to have the edge.
Achievement in film editing
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens Slumdog was brilliantly edited.
Best foreign language film of the year
“Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel If this film wins, it would be a great year for animation.
Achievement in makeup
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom The Academy is a sucker for people getting aged on film.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman I think that the excellent music of Slumdog will be recognized through this win.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney•PIXAR), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel Jai Ho has a good shot at winning, but I hope Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman will take home this award. Why wasn’t Bruce Springsteen nominated for The Wrestler?
Best motion picture of the year
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer When I saw this film back in November I never imagined it would be this big, but it is a great movie and it deserves to win.
Best animated short film
“Presto” (Walt Disney•PIXAR) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland While they may go for something more artistic, Presto is a great homage to classic cartoons.
Best live action short film
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank Again, unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of the films, but this one appears to deal with subject matter that usually appeals to the Academy.
Achievement in sound editing
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney•PIXAR), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood Ben Burtt is a veteran and provides not just sounds for the film, but WALL•E’s voice.
Achievement in sound mixing
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty The music, dialogue and sound effects were mixed together perfectly.
Achievement in visual effects
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron Button will likely win, but the award could also go to The Dark Knight. If Iron Man were to win any of it’s three nominations, it would probably be in this category. In other words, any of the three films could win.
Adapted screenplay
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy I don’t think I need to explain.
Original screenplay
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney•PIXAR), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter If WALL•E wins, it would be the first time an animated film has taken home this award.
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Erin V.’ s OSCAR Predictions:
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features) - Mickey Rourke could easily win this, but I’m going to have to say Sean Penn right now. The academy seems to like him...
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.) - This would definitely be deserving, and I think that this is probably a very likely win.
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company) - After the Golden Globes, it seems like she’s going to finally win an OSCAR, after her many nominations. We’ll find out for sure tomorrow night, I guess.
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company) - Very solid acting by Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. This could easily go her for her performance as Maria Elena.
Best animated feature film of the year
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney•PIXAR), Andrew Stanton - Especially after the Annie Awards, I have a feeling that voting might have been closer on this one than might have been previously thought. I could see WALL•E winning with 34% of the vote, and Bolt and Kung Fu Panda each being a close second with 33% to their names. Sure, we don’t get the actual numbers, but the point is, this race could be that close.
Achievement in art direction
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo - ‘The Curious Case’ feels like the kind of film that could win this award, but what about The Dark Knight?
Achievement in cinematography
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle - Great shots in this film. If Slumdog Millionaire is going to be picking up more awards, than the big ones, then I think that it could be in this kind of category. But can I say for sure? No. Of course not. While Slumdog would be deserving, TCCoBB, of TDK could throw it here.
Achievement in costume design
“The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor - These kinds of period costumes always seem to win, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the result here.
Achievement in directing
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle - Usually, when a film is almost certainly going to win Best Picture, it’s probably going to win here as well.
Best documentary feature
“Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn - While Man on Wire will probably win here, I think my second guess would be Encounters at the End of the World.
Best documentary short subject
“The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki - Absoute blind guess here. I haven’t seen any in this category yet.
Achievement in film editing
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens - This is another area where Slumdog Millionaire could pick up some more awards. The editing on this film was solid. [But... could The Dark Knight win here?]
Best foreign language film of the year
“Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel - This could also go to The Class, but I think that it’s leaning towards ‘Waltz’ right now...
Achievement in makeup
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom - It could be any of the three, but for some odd reason, I think that this could actually end up going to The Dark Knight instead.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman - While this is what everything is pointing to right now, I think that TCCoBB could have a chance here.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel - Again, it’s a toss up, but the two from Slumdog Millionaire could end up cancelling each other out, so I am saying Down to Earth. It’s my favorite of the three anyway.
Best motion picture of the year
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer - I have a strong feeling that this will be taking home the top prize at these awards, like it has at so many others this year - and it definitely deserves the praise that it’s been getting.
Best animated short film
“Presto” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland - This category can be hard to decide, but I would kind of like to see Presto win, and it has a pretty good shot at it too.
Best live action short film
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank - This is kind of a blind guess for me, I will admit, but it sounds like an intriguing short film, so I guess we’ll see what happens tomorrow night.
Achievement in sound editing
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood - This could go to any of the others, [The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Slumdog Millionaire, or Wanted], but I think WALL•E deserves it.
Achievement in sound mixing
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt - What the heck... I’m putting down WALL•E, [even though, again this could easily go to a movie like Slumdog Millionaire, which had a great mix of score and sound that really told the story, not to mention TDK’s amazing sound...].
Achievement in visual effects
“Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan - If Iron Man’s going to win something, I think it could be here. I think this would pretty much tie with my second choice, which would be The Dark Knight, a visually stunning movie to say the least... Then again, TCCoBB is all special FX, since Brad Pitt's face, (aged by computers), is animated on for a lot of the film, (come to think of it, that would have made acting rather difficult, for the parts where he had to just act in a studio room, and get the expressions right)... Oh well. I wanted to put Iron Man down for something. I know that I am just guessing, and am probably wrong on this one...
Adapted screenplay
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy - This awards is most likely going to Slumdog Millionaire.
Original screenplay
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter - I’m guessing WALL•E, but it could be going to Milk.
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