Final Oscar predictions

The Oscars are always a bittersweet time for me.  It's always fun to see who will win, but ultimately my pick almost never gets the top prize of Best Picture. The Social Network lost to the King's Speech. My least favorite film of the nominees won last year: The Artist. So, it is with a sad heart that I write this final prediction list, for a superior film will lose to a less memorable one.

There are some categories that I am not familiar with, so I will not predict them.  If you want to skim (not sure why you would), then you can see my predictions in Red.  So, without further fanfare, here we go!

Best Animated Feature

I am not absolutely positive on this one, but I think that Wreck-it Ralph will end up taking it home.  This brings joy to my heart that it's in a position to win this prestigious award.  It is cinematic perfection along the lines of Toy Story 3.  It was my favorite movie of 2012 and I think it deserves every accolade it gets.  If it doesn't win, it's likely that Brave will, or possibly even Frankenweenie (which I despised).  

Best Animated Short

There's no doubt in my mind that the masterpiece known as Paperman will win in this category.  It is brilliant to watch and is everything that these voters like.  It is also my pick. If you haven't seen it, click here.

Best Cinematography

This is a difficult category for me to choose my favorite in, but there's little doubt about who will win: Life of Pi.  I really didn't like Life of Pi.  However, I will admit that the cinematography was great.  My pick is probably Lincoln, although Skyfall was amazingly shot.  

Best Actor
This is one of the surest bets of the night: Daniel Day-Lewis will become the first actor in academy history to take home the gold for a third time. Many have done it twice in this category, but never a third. And it is well deserved. His depiction of arguably the greatest President is the best performance of any actor in recent memory.

Best Actress
This is a toss up between Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence, although I really think Lawrence will ultimately win. She's my pick and my prediction. She is the one of the most talented and beautiful actresses in Hollywood right now.

Best Supporting Actor
This is the most volatile race of the acting categories.  Tommy Lee Jones is likely to give Lincoln another win. However, Robert De Niro just might pull it off for his amazing performance in Silver Linings Playbook.  I don't feel really strongly about it, but in the end De Niro is my pick. 

Best Supporting Actress
The easiest prediction of the evening is Anne Hathaway winning Best Support Actress.  Her performance in Les Miserables was the only thing that made said movie tolerable.  Kudos to whichever publicist successfully marketed her performance.  It worked.

Best Director

Because Ben Affleck was not even nominated as directory of Argo, Steven Spielberg will no doubt take home the award for only the second time in his career.  It's a tragedy that he hasn't gotten more gold over the years.  He is the finest director since Frank Capra. 

Best Picture

If Argo doesn't win this category, I will eat my hand.  If you are looking to bet on Best Picture, you have to put down $5,000 to win even a $100 on Argo.  I really had hoped that Lincoln would pull it off, but there's really no hope of that happening at this point.  Know this: although Argo was a great movie and is definitely near the top of my list of the year, it will win because of protest votes over the 'snub heard round the world.'  If Ben Affleck hadn't been left out of the Best Director category then I really think that we would be heading into Sunday night with much less clarity than we currently have. Argo is a very tight movie.  But It will be forgotten 10 years from now, whereas Lincoln will live in infamy as the definitive movie about not just Lincoln, but ANY President.