THE DAILY MOJO by Adam Daniel

Just scraping in, but decided it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t post my Oscar predictions (and hopefully the traditional running diary post Oscars).

Listed below, each of the categories, who I think deserves to win and who I think will win. Feel free to post your predictions in the comments (in the 13 hours you will have before the Oscars telecast starts).

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Personal Pick:
Haven’t seen Bridges yet, and firmly think he is in the “career achievement award” zone where they award you an Oscar for your whole resume. Out of the performances I have seen, Jeremy Renner was my favourite as the dedicated yet possibly insane bomb disposal expert.
Who Will Win:
Jeff Bridges, for the aforementioned reasons.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Personal Pick:
Christoph Waltz for embodying one of the most despicable, piteous and memorable villains of recent memory.
Who Will Win:
Waltz should take this out in a category that doesn’t have much competition.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Personal Pick:
Yikes. Haven’t seen a single nominee in this category. That’s pathetic.
Who Will Win:
Sandra Bullock, in another classic case of the Oscars rewarding a subpar performance from a onscreen darling.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Personal Pick:
Vera Farmiga. Loved her portrayal of Alex in ‘Up In The Air’, a perfect female counterpoint to Clooney.
Who Will Win:
Mo’Nique. She’s cleaned up most of the pre-Oscar awards, and she also qualifies as the underdog choice, given her minimal resume.

Best animated feature film of the year
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up”

Personal Pick:
“Up”. Again, lack of knowledge of the other nominees makes my opinion pretty limited.
Who Will Win:
“Up”. Pixar FTW.

Achievement in art direction
“Avatar”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine”
“Sherlock Holmes”
“The Young Victoria”

Personal Pick:
“Avatar”. The others are all strong competition but I think “Avatar” will clean up in as many technical categories as possible to make up for it losing out on the big award.
Who Will Win:
See above.

Achievement in cinematography
“Avatar” – Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” – Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” – Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” – Christian Berger

Personal Pick:
I thought Barry Ackroyd’s work in the “The Hurt Locker” was brilliant. Shooting a cinematic film like a documentary to put you in the moment was a masterfully effective choice.
Who Will Win:
I think “Avatar” takes this one for the technical achievement of pioneering the 3D camera process on a big Hollywood film.

Achievement in costume design
“Bright Star” – Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” – Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” – Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” – Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” – Sandy Powell

Personal Pick:
Another one where I’m clueless…. so I’m picking “Bright Star” because I’m sure Abbie Cornish makes any wardrobe 10x better.
Who Will Win:
“Bright Star”. Because I said so.

Achievement in directing
“Avatar” – James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” – Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” – Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” – Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” – Jason Reitman

Personal Pick:
Kathryn Bigelow. “The Hurt Locker” resonated the most for me, and I think it was mostly due to Bigelow’s creative choices to put you in the moment with the character’s of the film. “Avatar” was an amazing technical achievement but felt hollow in comparison.
Who Will Win:
Bigelow. The Academy has been itching to award it to a woman who deserved it, and Bigelow is the perfect candidate.

Best documentary feature
“Burma VJ”
“The Cove”
“Food, Inc.”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
“Which Way Home”

Personal Pick:
“The Cove”. Only because it has got the most print and the slaughter of dolphins is something that deserved serious scrutiny.
Who Will Win:
“The Cove”. Because I said so.

Best documentary short subject
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
“Music by Prudence”
“Rabbit à la Berlin”

Personal Pick:
“The Last Truck” sounds like a pretty apt choice considering the economic and social climate of the U.S.A. at the moment.
Who Will Win:
“The Last Truck”. Because I said so.

Achievement in film editing
“Avatar” – Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9″ – Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” – Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
“Inglourious Basterds” – Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” – Joe Klotz

Personal Pick:
“The Hurt Locker”. The perfect pacing of the scenes and the chest-squeezing drama built from simple moments all sprang from immaculate choices in the editing room.

Who Will Win:
“The Hurt Locker”. The Academy will definitely give a few technical nods the “Locker” way.

Best foreign language film of the year
“Ajami”
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos”
“The Milk of Sorrow”
“Un Prophète”
“The White Ribbon”

Personal Pick:
Seen none of them again. What an insightful blog this is. “The White Ribbon”‘s promotional photo is black and white. Sounds like a good enough reason to back it.
Who Will Win:
“The White Ribbon”. Because I said so.

Achievement in makeup
“Il Divo”
“Star Trek”
“The Young Victoria”

Personal Pick:
Weirdest group of nominees of the night…. I’m going “Star Trek” to show my Nerd Love. Spock’s ears were amazing.
Who Will Win:
“The Young Victoria”. No one is going to allow “Star Trek” to win an Oscar.

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

Personal Pick:
I wasn’t blown away with the score for the “The Hurt Locker” (See what I did there?), and “Avatar”‘s score was fairly typical of a big budget sci-fi epic. I’m going out on a limb and choosing Alexandre Desplat for the “The Fantastic Mr. Fox”.
Who Will Win:
“Avatar”. Most people are suckers for the overblown theatrical sound.

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

Personal Pick:
“The Weary Kind”. I love the hard-bitten sound, and it seems like movies about musicians always do well here.
Who Will Win:
“The Weary Kind”. Because I said so. And Randy Newman doesn’t need another Oscar.

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”

Personal Pick:
“The Hurt Locker”. My favourite amongst the nominees, and also the most expertly balanced film in terms of creative and technical achievements. The emotional resonance of living a soldier’s life is something that most viewers find hard to escape.
Who Will Win:
“Avatar”. Just to frustrate me. Hey, I’m no “Avatar” hater, but to me it’s like giving “Aliens” or “Terminator 2″ a Best Picture Oscar. They are great spectacles, and effortlessly rewatchable classics, but they simply don’t have the depth of films like “Unforgiven”, “Platoon” or the “The Deer Hunter”. “The Hurt Locker” is in that class.

Best animated short film
“French Roast”
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty”
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)”
“Logorama”
“A Matter of Loaf and Death”

Personal Pick:
“The Lady and the Reaper”. Because it sounds Deep for an animated film.
Who Will Win:
“A Matter of Loaf and Death”. Purely for the title. And deservedly so.

Best live action short film
“The Door”
“Instead of Abracadabra”
“Kavi”
“Miracle Fish”
“The New Tenants”

Personal Pick:
“The New Tenants”. I like the creepy premise of this film. And I don’t even know if its genre.
Who Will Win:
“The Door”. Again, just to mess with me.

Achievement in sound editing
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Up”

Personal Pick:
“The Hurt Locker”. Though I never really understand the difference between sound mixing and editing.
Who Will Win:
“Avatar”. It’s going to split these two with “Locker”, like children halving a Kit Kat bar. And I will pick it wrong, just you watch.

Achievement in sound mixing
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Personal Pick:
“Avatar”. Just to get it wrong.
Who Will Win:
“The Hurt Locker”. See above.

Achievement in visual effects
“Avatar” – Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9″ – Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” – Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Personal Pick:
Is there really any doubt?
Who Will Win:
“Avatar”. And deservedly so. It’s opened a whole new realm of storytelling where provided you have the $, any world is possible.

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

Personal Pick:
“Up In The Air”. Brilliant character development, laugh out loud dialogue and a heartfelt and moving message buried within a simple story. Gets better with every viewing.
Who Will Win:
“Up In The Air”. It’s a consolation prize for a film that would have won it all last year.
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

Personal Pick:
“The Hurt Locker”. Loved the subtle, realistic character development; the funny yet authentic dialogue, and the carefully established structure.
Who Will Win:
“The Hurt Locker”. Because I said so dammit!

Enjoy the show folks, will be back on Tuesday with a rundown.