7 days to go!

    With only seven days left to the Oscars, I will post a breakdown for the major categories each day (hopefully), starting tomorrow. Now I will face a difficult challenge and predict all the feature film categories. There seem to be no room for surprises which just makes me think: Where are we wrong? There are ALWAYS some surprises! Some! Please!
    I will do my charts, and add a possible spoiler, that my hunch is telling me to mention, so in 8 days time I can say: I told you so, dammit!


   So here we go! Remember to look up the OSCAR RACE leaderboard page!

  ALL THE FEATURE FILM CATEGORIES!

BEST PICTURE
1. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
2. Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)
3. American Hustle (David O. Russel)
4. Philomena (Stephen Frears)
5. Dallas Buyers Club (Jean-Marc Vallee)
6. Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass)
7. Her (Spike Jonze)
8. Nebraska (Alexander Payne)
9. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)

Possible spoiler (a total surprise - thanks to the preferential vote): Dallas Buyers Club


BEST DIRECTOR
1. Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
2. Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
3. David O. Russel (American Hustle)
4. Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
5. Alexander Payne (Nebraska)

Possible spoiler (voters might attach him as a winner to their BP vote for the film) - Steve McQueen


BEST ACTOR
1. Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
2. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
3. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
4. Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
5. Christian Bale (American Hustle)

Possible spoiler (just because his performance is excellent and the best of his so far): Leonardo DiCaprio


BEST ACTRESS
1. Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
2. Amy Adams (American Hustle)
3. Judi Dench (Philomena)
4. Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
5. Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Possible spoiler (because she is lovely and most definitely deserves some recognition for her work, and who knows, maybe it's the last time she is nominated ;) ): Judi Dench


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
2. Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
3. Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
4. Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
5. Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)

Possible spoiler (because everyone would love to see him win): Barkhad Abdi



BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
2. Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
3. June Squibb (Nebraska)
4. Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
5. Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)

Possible spoiler (for the same reason that Dench, she is also very good in the movie, and seems like a perfect way out of the Nyong'o - Lawrence clash down): June Squibb



BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1. Her (Spike Jonze)
2. American Hustle (Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russel)
3. Nebraska (Bob Nelson)
4. Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack)
5. Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)

Possible spoiler: American Hustle (seems like the only other way it could go)



BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1. 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
2. Philomena (Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope)
3. Captain Phillips (Billy Ray)
4. Before Midnight (Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater)
5. The Wolf of Wall Street (Terrence Winter)

Possible spoiler: Captain Phillips (might be the one to beat 12 Years a Slave & Philomena, won the WGA)



BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
2. Inside Llewyn Davis (Bruno Delbonnel)
3. Nebraska (Phedon Papamichael)
4. The Grandmaster (Phillipe Le Sourd)
5. Prisoners (Roger A. Deakins)

Possible spoiler: Nebraska (The black&white makes it look more artistic than it actually is, has interesting and static photography)



BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
1. Gravity (Steven Price)
2. Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)
3. Her (Arcade Fire)
4. Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)
5. The Book Thief (John Williams)

Possible spoiler: Philomena (A great soundtrack, Desplat is very overdue. Gravity might seem too populist)



BEST ORIGINAL SONG
1. "Let it Go" (Frozen)
2. "Ordinary Love" (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)
3. "Moon Song" (Her)
4. "Happy" (Despicable Me 2)

Possible spoiler: "Ordinary Love" (Seems the best song, and it won a Globe, definitely a deserving choice, also U2.)



BEST FILM EDITING
1. Captain Phillips (Christopher Rouse)
2. Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger)
3. 12 Years a Slave (Joe Walker)
4. American Hustle (Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers & Alan Baumgarten)
5. Dallas Buyers Club (Martin Pensa & John Mac Murphy) --> Murphy is Vallee's pseudonym

Possible spoiler: 12 Years a Slave (very brave editing, risky at times, might interest the voters with that)



BEST COSTUME DESIGN
1. The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
2. American Hustle (Michael Wilkinson)
3. 12 Years a Slave (Patricia Norris)
4. The Invisible Woman (Michael O'Connor)
5. The Grandmaster (William Chang Suk Ping)

Possible spoiler: 12 Years a Slave (as the only obvious BP choice among these, it can attract voters' eyes as the one that they think should win. They don't necessarily have to know what they're doing. Tech branches voters mainly - a period film, a good won --> let's vote for that)



BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
1. The Great Gatsby   (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
2. Gravity   (Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin & Joanne Woollard)
3. 12 Years a Slave   (Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker)
4. Her   (K.K. Barett, Gene Serdena)
5. American Hustle   (Jude Becker, Heather Loeffler)

Possible spoiler: 12 Years a Slave (the same reason as above + it's simply a great production design)



BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
1. Frozen 
2. The Wind Rises 
3. Despicable Me 2
4. Ernest & Celestine
5. Croods

Possible spoiler: Ernest & Celestine (It's wonderful, a low budget small wonder that attracts with the fact that it is so amateur in comparison with the rest)



BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
1. Gravity   (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk & Neil Corbould)
2. Star Trek Into Darkness   (Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann & Burt Dalton)
3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug  (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton & Eric Reynolds)
4. The Lone Ranger   (Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams & John Frazier)
5. Iron Man 3   (Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash & Dan Sudick)

Possible spoiler: Gravity is a LOCK.

BEST SOUND EDITING

1. Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)

2. Captain Phillips (Oliver Tarney)

3. The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug (Brent Burge & Chris Ward)

4. Lone Survivor (Wylie Stateman)

5. All Is Lost (Steve Boeddeker & Richard Hymns)

Possible spoiler: Captain Phillips (Like in film editing Captain Phillips might me the one to steal it from Gravity)

BEST SOUND MIXING

1. Gravity    (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead & Chris Munro)

2. Captain Phillips    (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith & Chris Munro)

3. Inside Llewyn Davis    (Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff & Peter F. Kurland)

4. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug    (Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick & Tony Johnson)

5. Lone Survivor    (Andy Koyama, Beau Borders & David Brownlow)

Possible spoiler (again): Captain Phillips

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

1. Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee & Robin Mathews)

2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Stephen Prouty)

3. The Lone Ranger (Joel Harlow & Gloria Pasqua-Casny)

Possible spoiler: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (as the Academy's prank)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1. The Great Beauty (Italy)

2. The Hunt (Denmark)

3. The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)

4. Omar (Palestine)

5. The Missing Picture (Cambodia)

Possible spoiler: The Hunt

AND THAT'S FINALLY IT!   The 1st Oscar breakdown tomorrow! --> Best Supporting Actor.

Burt Mizaki