Fanboys Anonymous

Every year, I like to do my best to predict the winners of the Academy Awards. Previously, I held those predictions on my other blog, Out on Limbs for 2010, 2011 and 2012. The following are the nominees, my predictions, and eventually the results as well as my review on the results.

NOTE: At first, I tend to make very generalized predictions. After I start watching the movies that are officially nominated, I then continually edit my predictions until the week before the awards ceremony. As such, keep checking back here for more updates on both the 85th Academy Awards nominations as well as my 2013 Oscars predictions.

BEST PICTURE
NOMINEES: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Les Misérables, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty

PREDICTION: The frontrunner seems to be Zero Dark Thirty, but I really hope it doesn't win. I didn't think it was special in the slightest bit and I wouldn't even recommend it to anyone, let alone think it deserves to be called one of the best films of all time. I can't see it being Argo, Django, or Silver Linings for what they were either. Amour is ruled out, as they'll just give that Best Foreign Language Film instead and that will be adequate. I wouldn't mind Les Miserables winning at all. I haven't seen the rest, but I'll comment as soon as I can on them.

RESULT: Argo

BEST ACTOR
NOMINEES: Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day Lewis (Lincoln), Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Denzel Washington (Flight)

PREDICTION: Daniel Day Lewis is who I'd expect to win. I liked Hugh Jackman a lot, so I wouldn't mind him winning, and I thought Cooper was ok but the nomination suffices without the award. As far as Washington goes, I hated Flight and I thought he's done massively better in other films and was nothing noteworthy in this.

RESULT: Daniel Day Lewis

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
NOMINEES: Alan Arkin (Argo), Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

PREDICTION: Christoph Waltz was my favorite part of Django Unchained, so I'd love to see him win. Some people think Alan Arkin will win, but I don't think so. Robert De Niro, as much as I like the guy, doesn't even deserve a nomination for this film. I haven't seen Lincoln or The Master, but I'm guessing Tommy Lee Jones wins this.

RESULT: Christoph Waltz

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

PREDICTION: Smart money is on either Chastain or Lawrence with the edge going to Chastain, but I hope she doesn't win as I would rather someone win for doing more than just pouting for 2 and a half hours. Even though Lawrence pulls off the role, I still don't think that qualifies for a Best Actress award either, but I'd rather her win than Chastain.

RESULT: Jennifer Lawrence

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Amy Adams (The Master), Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)

PREDICTION: Anne Hathaway, I'm hoping. I don't think Jacki Weaver was anything memorable in Silver Linings and I can honestly only remember her basically standing in the background.

RESULT: Anne Hathaway

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

PREDICTION: I'm not sure...but I could see this being a random award for Zeitlin if they don't just go the standard Spielberg route.

RESULT: Ang Lee

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
NOMINEES: Amour, Django Unchained, Flight, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty

PREDICTION: Better not be Flight, which I hated. This will be either Django or Zero Dark Thirty and I hope it goes to Django as I was really disappointed in Zero Dark Thirty.

RESULT: Django Unchained

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
NOMINEES: Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook

PREDICTION: This is really up in the air and the one I feel the least comfortable in predicting. They could give it to Argo (but I hope not) and I'd rather see Silver Linings Playbook win, which I think has a good chance, but then again, they could also just use this as a sweep year and give it to Lincoln.

RESULT: Argo

BEST FILM EDITING
NOMINEES: Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty

PREDICTION: Zero Dark Thirty probably will win but I hope not. I can't see Silver Linings Playbook having any shot at this, nor Argo.

RESULT: Argo

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
NOMINEES: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Life of Pi, Marvel's The Avengers, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman

PREDICTION: Either Life of Pie or The Hobbit.

RESULT: Life of Pi

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
NOMINEES: Anna Karenina, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall

PREDICTION: Life of Pi, I'm fairly certain.

RESULT: Life of Pi

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
NOMINEES: Anna Karenina, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln

PREDICTION: Les Misérables should win this.

RESULT: Lincoln

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
NOMINEES: Anna Karenina, Les Misérables, Lincoln, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman

PREDICTION: Les Misérables will probably edge out the others due to the sheer volume of historical pieces.

RESULT: Anna Karenina

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
NOMINEES: Hitchcock, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Misérables

PREDICTION: They screwed Looper over here. I'm surprised Lincoln isn't nominated as well. If Hitchcock got nominated, that's a surprise that probably shouldn't be overlooked, but then again, they could just as easily go with Les Misérables due to how EVERY damn character needed to be grunged up.

RESULT: Les Misérables

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
NOMINEES: Anna Karenina, Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall

PREDICTION: I need to listen to these before I make a prediction, but it won't be Skyfall. I don't remember Argo's score at all, so it must not have been that memorable.

RESULT: Life of Pi

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

PREDICTION: Please give it to Skyfall!!! Les Miserables is going to win enough awards, at least throw them this bone!

RESULT: Skyfall

BEST SOUND EDITING
NOMINEES: Argo, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Skyfall, Zero Dark Thirty

PREDICTION: I'd love for Skyfall to win but until I watch Life of Pi, I'm expecting Zero Dark Thirty to win SOLELY because of the end raid sequence. Argo wouldn't make much sense to me.

RESULT: Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall (yes, there was a tie)

BEST SOUND MIXING
NOMINEES: Argo, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall

PREDICTION: Les Misérables or Life of Pi, I guess. As stated above, I'd rooting for Skyfall, but wouldn't be surprised if that or Argo had no shot.

RESULT: Les Misérables 

BEST ANIMATED FILM
NOMINEES: Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Wreck-It Ralph

PREDICTION: Wreck-It Ralph. Good movie.

RESULT: Brave

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
NOMINEES: Adam and Dog, Fresh Guacamole, Head over Heels, Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare, Paperman

PREDICTION: As much of a Simpsons fan as I am, I'm hoping Paperman wins this. I loved that in front of Wreck-It Ralph.

RESULT: Paperman

BEST DOCUMENTARY
NOMINEES: 5 Broken Cameras, The Gatekeepers, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, Searching for Sugar Man

PREDICTION: No idea. I typically don't guess the categories that I know absolutely nothing about.

RESULT: Searching for Sugar Man

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
NOMINEES: Inocente, Kings Point, Mondays at Racine, Open Heart, Redemption

PREDICTION: No idea. I typically don't guess the categories that I know absolutely nothing about.

RESULT: Inocente

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
NOMINEES: Amour, Kon-Tiki, No, A Royal Affair, War Witch

PREDICTION: Amour. C'mon. If it's nominated for Best Picture itself, it has to win this.

RESULT: Amour

BEST SHORT FILM
NOMINEES: Asad, Buzkashi Boys, Curfew, Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw), Henry

PREDICTION: No idea. I typically don't guess the categories that I know absolutely nothing about.

RESULT: Curfew


There were a lot of movies that I felt didn't deserve to be even nominated this year, let alone win. Argo, for instance, is not something I could see people grouping together with the greatest films of all time like The Godfather and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and so forth. I would have been fine with Les Mis winning, so that was disappointing. I'm very happy Christoph Waltz took the Oscar as well as Paperman. I'm not surprised about some winners that I'm not exactly thrilled about, but it is what it is. Check the podcast below to hear more in-depth thoughts on this year's Oscars!