84th Academy Award Predictions

The Award season has just started with BFCA and NYFCC giving their nominations and wins later this week, so here's my *famous* Oscar predictions. I'll first start with techies as usual, and it seems like films like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hugo, Transformers - Dark of Moon and Rise of the Planet of Apes are probably going to dominate these categories. Let's get off with Best Original Score.

#1 War Horse - John Williams
Its safe to say that John Williams' return to film music after 6 years is going to be rewarded with top prize. Williams' has also scored another Spielberg movie, Adventures of Tintin, which I'll discuss later. War Horse is a film about a boy and his horse in the backdrop of WW1, and we all know the film itself is as Oscar baity as the word "baity" goes. Here is my favorite track Reunion:

#2 Hugo - Howard Shore
With sky high critic ratings and Scorsese's and Howard Shore's name, and also with brilliant score, Hugo has most chance of sweeping out techies after Potter 7.2. Shore's score showcase 18th century music, with some interesting instrumentation like accordion. My favorite is A Train Arrives in the Station (download, right click and save target as, courtesy Paramount).

#3 The Artist - Ludovic Bource
A silent back and white French film - it does takes guts to make such a film. The film is universally acclaimed, and is being honoured at many film festivals. Music, is indeed
the biggest part of a silent film and it seems like composer Ludovic Bource as done a great job - straight from some 1940's film. The below track is called, The Artist Ouverture.

#4 Alexandre Desplat - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

So the Potter film series is finally over. Unlike many other popular blockbuster films these days, Harry Potter series is most beloved, by both audiences and critics alike. The proof is that the last film has grossed 1.3 Billion USD is third highest grossing film worldwide, and has rocket high 96% at Rotten Tomatoes and 87 at metacritic. Composer Desplat had a busy year, but he composed some of the captivating tracks for the film film. My favorite is Lily's Theme -

#5 The Girl with Dragon Tattoo - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Previous year's winners are back again this December for another Fincher's film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, remake of Swedish thriller. The score is full of electro mix and unconventional instrumentations. Check it out-

#6 Adventures of Tintin : Secret of Unicorn - John Williams
Another JW's score, albeit disappointing one. Yes, there are something interesting here and there, but this particular score fails to develop any strong theme over the entire runtime. But there is quite possibility of two nominations for Williams, so "never say never". Check out the main track from the film -

Also in race:

• #7 Moneyball - Mychael Danna - Another major best picture contender.
• #8 Ides of March - Alexandre Desplat - Its his second possibility.
• #9 A Dangerous Method - Howard Shore - Its his second possibility.
• #10 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Alexandre Desplat - Jeez, this man is all over the frame. The film is still to be released, but strong BP buzz is there.