The Rest of the Races

I don’t specialize in these races, so use with caution.

Cinematography: Three-way race between the Westerns. The maestro (and double nominee) Roger Deakins deserves it for Jesse James but he’ll win for No Country.

Editing: The Coen brothers are both producers, directors, and writers of No Country, and each will win all three of those awards. But because they edited the film under the alias “Roderick Jaynes”, only one award will be bestowed to the non-existent Mr. Jaynes, so the brothers will go home with 7 trophies instead of 8. Criminey.

Art Direction: Either Atonement or Sweeney Todd. I think Sweeney may have more (and more stylized) sets.

Costume Design: Also either Atonement or Sweeney Todd. Again I’m guessing the artier Sweeney has the edge.

Score: The lonely win for Atonement, with its big, swoony music.

Sound Mixing and Editing: These awards go to the popcorn flicks, so I say both categories will go to most respected popcorn flick, The Bourne Ultimatum.

Visual Effects: No idea. I’m guessing Transformers is too shitty a movie and they’ll go with the genteel fantasy of The Golden Compass.

Makeup: Hands down, La Vie en Rose. Old age makeup has never gotten such intimate close-ups and looked so seamless.

Song: This category is completely insane. Lately, the trend has actually been the song that the music branch thinks makes it look hippest (Melissa Etheridge over Dreamgirls, “Hard Out Here For a Pimp” over Dolly Parton, that Uruguayan guy over a mushy Josh Groban ballad) so I guess the intimate duet from the kitchen-sink musical Once will trounce the three shiny Disney songs.

Animated Feature: So obviously Ratatouille. I haven’t seen Persepolis, but I’m assuming I’ll like it better than the slapsticky Pixar offering, so I hope Persepolis kicks some furry little ass.

Foreign Language Film: No idea. The Counterfeiters is about the Holocaust, so…

Documentary Feature: No End in Sight edges out Sicko.