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Full Predictions For The 2013 Academy Awards

The 85th Academy Awards are being presented this Sunday night, and while we will have full coverage of the show and winners for you then, I thought it would be good to set the stage before the big event with my personal predictions for the awards.

Best Original Score

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Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli

Argo, Alexandre Desplat

Life of Pi, Mychael Danna

Lincoln, John Williams

Skyfall, Thomas Newman

Though Lincoln is unlikely to win Best Picture, I do think the Academy loves it enough to propel it to victory in many of the below-the-line categories, starting with Best Original Score. It has been a long damn time since John Williams won an Oscar, and his work on Lincoln, some of the best of his career, would be a great opportunity to give him another trophy. He’s the most deserving and likely contender of the five, but if the Academy really, really loves Life of Pi, I could see its completely forgettable score getting the win, and the same goes for a lot of the technical categories.

Will and Should Win: Lincoln, John Williams

Best Original Song

“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice

“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted

“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi

“Skyfall” from Skyfall

“Suddenly” from Les Misérables 

I am going to predict Adele’s exquisite “Skyfall” song for the win here – it is certainly the best in the category – but I would be lying if I said I was confident in that choice. This is always an erratic, loopy category, and a very tough one to call, and I think there are plenty of scenarios where “Suddenly,” “Pi’s Lullaby,” or “Before My Time” win instead. Once again, if the love for Life of Pi is just out-of-control, which it very well might be, it wins here, even though most people, upon hearing of the nomination, did not recall Life of Pi having an original song. If voters are in a ‘show-tunes’ vibe, “Suddenly” wins. If they are in activist mode, “Before My Time” gets the trophy. And if every voter was severely hammered when casting their ballots, the Ted song wins. Luckily, I don’t think that is a very likely option.

Will and Should Win: “Skyfall” from Skyfall

Best Sound Editing

Argo

Django Unchained

Life of Pi

Skyfall

Zero Dark Thirty

Will Win: Life of Pi

Should Win: Django Unchained

Best Sound Mixing

John Goodman and Ben Affleck in Argo

Argo

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Skyfall

Will and Should Win: Les Miserables

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