Student Thought

Best Picture

Should win: Hugo

Will win: The Artist

In that list of films, which all in all is pretty bad, my favourite film is Hugo. Martin Scorsese’s beautifully told 3D story is a fantastic homage to the early days of cinema and is a wonderfully heartfelt story. The Artist however is the clear favourite in this category and has been throughout the awards season. Expect it to do well.

Best Director

Should win: Michel Hazanavicius

Will win: Michel Hazanavicius

Credit where credit’s due. I thought The Artist was astoundingly good and that is mainly down to the director, who absolutely has crafted a film that shouldn’t have worked. But it does so very, very well.

Best Actor

Should win: Gary Oldman

Will win: George Clooney

Because The Artist is going to get so much attention tonight I feel that despite the groundswell for Jean Dujardin, George Clooney will take the cake. He’s a much loved Hollywood presence and he makes films for that audience. However the best performance of last year was Gary Oldman’s in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and he thoroughly deserves the nomination, which didn’t look like it was going to happen for a while.

Best Actress

Should win: Meryl Streep

Will win: Viola Davis

Meryl Streep is the best thing in a bad film and she is excellent as Margaret Thatcher, but as the film stunk and has been reasonably poorly received it could count against her. Enter Viola Davis, who is nominated for her turn in The Help, a loved film in Hollywood, about themes that Hollywood likes to award because it makes them look liberal.

Best Supporting Actor

Should win: Christopher Plummer

Will win: Christopher Plummer

Because any other answer is stupid.

Best Supporting Actress

Should win: Melissa McCarthy

Will win: Octavia Spencer

Melissa McCarthy’s awesome, scene stealing turn in Bridesmaids is what deserves the win. But the Academy doesn’t like comedy so they’ll likely give the award to Spencer, again for The Help, for the same reason as Viola Davis. It’s a good performance in a film which deals with themes that Hollywood likes to reward. Spencer is good but her co-nominee in this category: Jessica Chastain, is better. McCarthy better than both. Had Chastain been up for The Tree of Life, this may have been a different story.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Should win: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Will win: Moneyball

Tinker Tailor’s screenplay was a fantastic example of how to approach dense literary material and compact it into two hours whilst keeping it coherent and ever so watchable. Due to Moneyball’s raft of nominations I think the Academy will want to give it some love here. Written by Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, both Academy favourites this one would be hard to deny.

Best Original Screenplay

Should win: Bridesmaids

Will win: Midnight in Paris

It’s a clash between comedies and Bridesmaids was great. Midnight in Paris however is Woody, they love him and they’ll chuck him another tonight. Just for the sheer volume of work he manages to crank out. One film every year is deeply impressive, even if he hasn’t made a decent on since Bullets Over Broadway.

Best Animated Feature: Rango

Best Foreign Language Feature: A Separation

Best Art Direction: Hugo

Best Cinematography: The Tree of Life

Best Costume Design: The Artist

Best Film Editing: The Artist

Best Makeup: The Iron Lady

Best Original Score: The Artist

Best Original Song: Man or Muppet

Best Sound Editing: Drive

Best Sound Mixing: Hugo

Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Documentary, Feature: Hell and Back Again

Best Documentary, Short: Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Best Live Action Short: The Shore

Best Animated Short: Dimanche