Craig Skinner On Film

I’ve never particularly liked the Oscars and I rarely care too much who wins but I’ve always found them oddly compelling.

As someone who reads a lot of film sites, magazines and listens to a lot of film podcasts the Oscars are also impossible to avoid and every year the volume of coverage seems to get greater and greater. This year I decided that in order to try and combat awards fatigue I would place some bets on the BAFTAs and Oscars, thereby providing me with a manufactured reason to care about the ‘Oscar Race’.

For the most part it’s worked and thanks to a number of critics writing interesting, insightful pieces about many of the Oscar nominated films this awards season has been an occasionally interesting and not too infuriating one to follow.

Last week I was asked by Indiewire to try and predict the Oscar winners and also suggest who I think should win (from those nominated). Having followed the run up to the Oscars reasonably closely I decided to have a go. Below you can read the list that I submitted and also my picks for the other categories not covered by Indiewire’s poll.

As the winners are announced this evening I will also be updating the list, so bookmark this page to see all the winners and find out how many I got right.

Best Picture
Will Win: Argo
Should Win: Amour
The Winner: Argo

Best Director
Will Win: Steven Spielberg
Should Win: Michael Haneke
The Winner: Ang Lee

Best Actor
Will Win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Should Win: Daniel Day-Lewis
The Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis

Best Actress
Will Win: Emmuelle Riva
Should Win: Emanuelle Riva
The Winner: Jennifer Lawrence

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win: Robert De Niro
Should Win: Phillip Seymour-Hoffman
The Winner: Christoph Waltz

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win: Anne Hathaway
Should Win: Anne Hathaway
The Winner: Anne Hathaway

Best Original Screenplay
Will Win: Amour
Should Win: Amour
The Winner: Django Unchained

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Win: Argo
Should Win: Lincoln
The Winner: Argo

Best Foreign Film
Will Win: Amour
Should Win: Amour
The Winner: Amour

Best Documentary Feature
Will Win: Searching for Sugar Man
Should Win: The Invisble War
The Winner: Searching for Sugar Man

Best Animated Feature
Will Win: Frankenweenie
Should Win: Frankenweenie
The Winner: Brave

Best Cinematography
Will Win: Life of Pi
Should Win: Skyfall
The Winner: Life of Pi

Best Original Score
Will Win: Argo
Should Win: Argo
The Winner: Life of Pi

Original Song
Will Win: Skyfall
Should Win: Chasing Ice
The Winner: Skyfall

Production Design
Will Win: Les Miserables
Should Win: Les Miserables
The Winner: Lincoln

Costume Design
Will Win: Les Miserables
Should Win: Les Miserables
The Winner: Anna Karenina

Film Editing
Will Win: Argo
Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty
The Winner: Argo

Makeup
Will Win: Hitchcock
Should Win: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Winner: Les Miserables

Sound Editing
Will Win: Argo
Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty
The Winner: Zero Dark Thirty/Skyfall

Sound Mixing
Will Win: Les Miserables
Should Win: Skyfall
The Winner: Les Miserables

Visual Effects
Will Win: Life of Pi
Should Win: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Winner: Life of Pi

Documentary Short
Will Win: Open Heart
Should Win: [Abstained]
The Winner: Inocente

Live Action Short Film
Will Win: Curfew
Should Win: [Abstained]
The Winner: Curfew

Animated Short Film
Will Win: Paperman
Should Win: Paperman
The Winner: Paperman