 (The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
My talented writers of the Awards Circuit have all chimed in with their final predictions and who they thought should have been mentioned throughout the year. It’s time to roll the dice, and foresee any potential surprises that are coming our way on Oscar night. Before the controversial picks are revealed (and obliterated by people who think they “know” what’s going to happen), this was the HARDEST set of predictions constructed in my decade of covering the Oscar race. I STILL have no idea what’s going to happen. I can only pray and think this is going to turn out just fine but I stay suspect.
First of all, I want to thank the entire staff, both current and that have moved on to other opportunities, for their contributions to AwardsCircuit.com. We turn 5 years old in May and the team in place is one of the most talented and creative minds this side of the internet. Most importantly, our entire readership deserves all the praise for contributing, correcting, and letting loose on different topics throughout the year. We appreciate you all and hope you stick around with us for the rest of the year as we kick off new series, both Oscar and non-Oscar related.
Without further ado, the FINAL Oscar Predictions are down below:
Read more on Oscars 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Editor Clayton Davis)…
I knew this day would come, and it is with a sense of both excitement and sadness. By the end of my long deployment, I will have earned the most difficult and significant achievement of my life – Surface Warfare Officer Qualification, and finally perform the mission that my ship and I have been training toward for over a year. On the other hand, I must sacrifice the time and effort I have placed into a site that has grown so much in such a short time.
As our Editor himself would agree, what makes me value Awards Circuit is the staff – all the different backgrounds and perspectives on film from all walks of life. To proudly welcome Nicole and Tiff into our family, I will be assisting Clay in integrating them into the staff top tens dating all the way back to 2000 before my departure. After that, for operational security purposes, you will not be hearing from me for a while. But I will not be gone forever! One of my shipmates advised me a long time ago not to let the Navy become my sole identity, and I will hold to that. Come late 2013/early 2014, I will be back to resuming my full staff writer duties. Read more on Oscars 2013: Will Win/Should Win (Hamer)…
Categories: Article Tags: Amour, Argo, awards season, Beasts of the Southern Wild, divisive films, great performances, Holy Motors, How to Survive a Plague, Lincoln, Looper, Magic Mike, oscar predictions, Robert Hamer, Tabu, The Turin Horse, Will Win/Should Win
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
An annual tradition at The Awards Circuit, I once again humbly present to you my picks for who/what Will Win as well as who/what Should Win at the Oscars. Before we get started though, a few quick thoughts. This was obviously perhaps the most wide open race in history until a few weeks ago, so I’ve actually never been less confident in my predictions than I am currently. I was literally up all night second guessing myself. So many possibilities ran through my mind, but below you can see what I came up with. We’re going to find out in a few days who actually wins, but for now, here’s my yearly contribution to our Will Win/Should Win series!
Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Joey Magidson)…
Can Argo cross the finish line?
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
The most wide-open and unpredictable Oscar season in modern history is set to twilight in less than 100 hours and perhaps the biggest surprise Oscar has in store for us is that there will be no surprises. An anti-climactic ending would be fitting to a season that, for one year at least, has rewritten so many of the hard and fast rules we Oscar pundits and prognosticators have come to rely on in making our predictions.
Read more on Oscar 2013: Will Win/Should Win (Mike)…
Categories: Article Tags: Amour, Anne Hathaway, Argo, Buzkashi Boys, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Mondays At Racine, Paperman, Searching for Sugar Man, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Tommy Lee Jones, Will Win/Should Win, Wreck-It Ralph
 (The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
Best Picture
Will Win: Can it be anything other than Argo at this point? When you win the BFCA, Globe, DGA, PGA, SAG, Scriptor and WGA Awards, it’s clear that industry really loves your movie.
Should Win: Lincoln ranks one spot higher than Argo on my top 10 films of the year and I would love to see it win on Oscar night. Spielberg teamed up with Tony Kushner to create a biopic that was tightly focused, expertly acted and just executed very well.
Should Have Been Nominated: A nomination for Cloud Atlas here would have sent me over the moon but given the support for Skyfall in the Tech categories, I’m amazed it didn’t make it in. Considering they changed the rules to allow for well regarded blockbusters to make it in, you would think the “best” Bond film in the series could have been nominated. Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections(Terence)…
Categories: Article Tags: Amour, Anne Hathaway, Argo, Chris Terrio, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Day-Lewis, David O. Russell, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Haneke, Searching for Sugar Man, Terence Johnson, Will Win/Should Win, Wreck-It Ralph
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
It’s here, the Big One. The Oscars are finally upon us, generating a frenzy of excitement and a torrent of ever-changing predictions in its path to the big stage on Sunday. This is the highly anticipated annual organized free-for-all when ideals shatter, frustrations bubble over, and sometimes (though not often) pleasant surprises challenge the odds. The final results could go any which way, and especially in such a quality-loaded year, it’s been a dizzying process trying to peg the sway of Academy Voters. Finally dashing aside unrealistically hopeful designs of one candidate over another, I’ve joined my Awards Circuit colleagues in settling on the probable winners, though not without putting up a fight for my preferred winners. In the spirit of the games, here are my “Win Will/Should Win” Oscar Selections: Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Melkonian)…
Categories: Article Tags: Argo, Bradley Cooper, Brave, Daniel Day-Lewis, David O. Russell, Disney, Jacki Weaver, Jennifer Lawrence, Joaquin Phoenix, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Mark Boal, oscar predictions, Paul Thomas Anderson, Prometheus, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro, Roman Coppola, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Steven Spielberg, the dark knight rises, The Secret World of Arietty, Wes Anderson, Will Win/Should Win, Wreck-It Ralph, Zero Dark Thirty
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
Ah-hah! What beautiful weather it has been! Blizzards in the north and hailing in the south, and here comes the 2013 Academy Awards! Another night of glamourous outfits, men in penguin suits, and gossip everywhere! Along with the speculation, hundreds of reporters and hundreds of thousands watching from home, for Seth McFarlane and Emma Stone to keep us entertained. And, well, here are my ideals and Oscar predictions for 2013!
Best Picture:
Will Win: Argo — After all the snubbing and gossip, and awards being won regardless of the best director snub, a win in the night feels inevitable and well deserved. I made a comment elsewhere about it being more of a pity vote, but I do feel the Academy has a balance and by taking away from Affleck, they will reward him in one way or another. Best Picture is an honor and I feel that, over all, altogether, ‘Argo‘ deserves some attention and acknowledgement from the Academy.
Should Win: Life of Pi — I fell in love with the beauty of the film, the difficult and emotional story, along with the overall composition and elements in the film. If judged on the same chart, I feel Life of Pi has out done many of the movies nominated!
Should Have Been Nominated: The Impossible and Moonrise Kingdom were, easily, the biggest snubs of the 2013! From emotional and overall, a super heavy story, the performances behind both films were excellent and deserved recognition. Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Chai)…
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Young)…
Categories: Article Tags: Amour, ang lee, Anna Karenina, Anna Young, Anne Hathaway, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Brave, Chris Terrio, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Django Unchained, Emmanuelle Riva, End of Watch, Holy Motors, Inglourious Basterds, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, John Goodman, John Hawkes, Joss Whedon, kathryn bigelow, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Logan Lerman, Mark Boal, Moonrise Kingdom, oscar predictions, Oscar snubs, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Quentin Tarantino, Robert DeNiro, Samantha Barks, Samuel L. Jackson, Searching for Sugarman, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Stephen Chbosky, Steven Speilberg, The Academy Awards, the avengers, the dark knight rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Impossible, The Sessions, Tommy Lee Jones, Will Win/Should Win, Wreck-It Ralph, Zero Dark Thirty
“I’m the motherf**er who should win the Oscar…but won’t.”
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
As a filmgoer, it’s often difficult to swallow the pill of truth when it comes to the Academy Awards. You’re favorite film will likely lose more than win, or worse yet finish the night empty-handed. As an Oscar pundit, however, I’ve learned — more so this year than any other — that you absolutely must separate your own personal feelings from the duty of prognostication. Solid predictions come from tracing patterns, taking note of momentum, and using precursor stats to help make the most accurate projections possible. You are forced to become objective when it comes to the subjective. In other words, the Academy Awards are nothing more than a pageant where the most popular film, in essence the prom king or queen, is deemed the “best” of the year. Take the word “best” with a grain of salt, and I promise you won’t be hung-up by any results that come your way on Oscar night. However, this annual series that The Awards Circuit prides itself on is a way for us to finally let our irritations come to the surface, but with the full knowledge that our wishes won’t match reality. All of our passion will be on display, as will our final predictions. With that said, I give to you my own “will win/should win” selections… Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Braverman)…
With pleasure…
With 1,001 good and not so good distractions keeping me away from my movie-watching life this month, I recognize I am late to the game on offering my take on this particular Oscar season. I commend my colleagues for their incredible work this year and while I may not have contributed as much as them, either in volume or in content, I have loved being a part of the Awards Circuit team for nearly one full year. I therefore recognize that once Billy Crystal tells us goodnight Sunday evening, everyone will exhale, purge all their memories of the good and bad of the 2011 Oscar year, and recharge their batteries in anticipation of which next great film will emerge out of the ether and leap off the page.
A year ago when I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to join the Awards Circuit, no one knew that a clever and loving ode to the silent film era would become the frontrunner to win Best Picture. For the few of us who are still passionate about The Artist, it takes great comfort that the film has withstood a backlash that would have derailed other films. You can call it “slight”, “understated”, “nothing all that memorable” if you choose to. However, I guarantee that Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, and the team behind The Artist never, in their wildest dreams, envisioned that they would be in this position with their humble little film. If The Artist does indeed walk away with Best Picture, it will be a thrill because not only does that film work indelibly well with me, almost inexplicably so, but it marks something different and unique. For everyone who railed against the older Academy reverting back to their recliners and heating pads in selecting The King’s Speech last year, The Artist does feel like the safer, older-skewing choice but I would argue that the selection of The Artist falls more in line with an Academy who tested the unpopular waters in selecting the low budget, ambitious, and festival worn The Hurt Locker in 2009.
Excited as I anticipate being with the final call of the night, I am reminded of many films that are not here and this year provided many more disappointments than successes for me as an Oscarwatcher; or more accurately, an Awards Circuiter (I am registering the trademark…). To those who mention that this was not a good year in film, it absolutely was. However, to borrow a tired narrative for American politics, the youth vote stayed home while the older vote came out in droves. Take out the nominations for Jonah Hill and Rooney Mara this year, and the Academy plugged in older names and older-themed dramatic work to recognize this year, discarding bold and innovative cinematic offerings that would have ushered in a new crop of talented actors and filmmakers, receiving profound and global attention for the first time this weekend.
Read more on Oscar 2012: Will Win/Should Win (Ward)…
 An annual tradition at The Awards Circuit, I humbly present to you my picks for who/what Will Win as well as who/what Should Win at the Oscars. Before I get into it though, a few quick thoughts. After it being such a wide open season in terms of what films and performances could wind up Academy Award nominees and then winners, we’ve come now to a situation where things are both the same and different. Very few categories are locked up, but there’s a general consensus about how almost every category will wind up going. I find that rather fascinating. So much could go one way or the other, but most prognosticators (myself included, as you’ll see below) are leaning in the same direction. The main questions still to be answered are just how well ‘The Artist’ and ‘Hugo’ will do. Could the former pull off the elusive sweep? We’re going to find out in a few days, but for now, here’s my yearly contribution to our Will Win/Should Win series!
Read more on Oscar 2012 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Magidson)…
The brightest light of Oscar's Best Pictures…
Four days left. From time to time during my first year as The Awards Circuit’s staff writer, I have been regarded as the snobby, deliberate contrarian who panned popular movies just to get a reaction. Those kinds of accusations are to be expected in this profession these days, but it also belied the number films I genuinely enjoyed this year, including surprisingly quite a few that improved in my eyes when giving them a second chance. Even flawed films like Shame, A Dangerous Method and Sleeping Beauty lingered far longer in my mind than most films one would label as a “disappointment.” In fact, not since 2007 have I been so fond of so many movies, and while I am not a fan of the majority of Oscar’s Best Picture nominees, the unlikely inclusion of my #1 of the year is enough for me to cheer their judgment this time. Indeed, I could not have hoped for a more exciting year to be drafted here, as it is the unpredictability of this year’s Oscar race that has yielded a surfeit of pleasant surprises and shifting bets. There were thankfully few early frontrunners that will “coast” their way to a win, with the current leaders only taking shape in the past few days. I of course have published my own ideas as to what qualified as the most award-worthy film achievements of 2011, because why should the Academy have all the fun? Here are my Oscar 2012 Will Win/Should Win/Should Have Been Nominated selections:
Read more on Oscar 2012 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Hamer)…
 It’s the most wonderful time of the year… Well, stressful at the same time but hey, it’s the Oscar’s. Now that the Oscar’s are less than a week away all of us here at the Awards Circuit are scratching our heads trying to figure who the winners will be while wishing our favorites *cough* Melissa McCarthy *cough* will win. Our predictions change daily and it’s never actually final until the moment before the envelope is opened revealing the winner. But while it’s always so stressful making the final decision, it’s always so much fun.
Read more on Oscar 2012 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Belickis)…
"Hey Mom, I coulda been a contender…(In 'The Tree of Life')."
Oh boy, where do I even begin. All of us at The Awards Circuit had many of our predictions thrown back in our faces when the 2012 Academy Award Nominations were announced last month. None of us had a clue how many films would be up for “Best Picture,” and what kind of surprises were in store for us concerning the new Oscar voting system, where only the top selected film from each Academy member’s list would garner a nomination if it received 5% of the total vote. Actually, our predictions weren’t too spot off collectively, but this awards season certainly wasn’t an easy one for us prognosticators. We now find ourselves making our final Oscar predictions, just one week shy of the Academy Award ceremony. This time, however, we not only have the enjoyment of predicting the winners of this year’s Academy Awards, but we also get to have a little bit of fun with some personal discourse by stating who we think should win from this year’s list of nominees. Finally, it’s high time the staff at the Awards Circuit discussed snubs that angered us to the core by contributing our choices for “Who Should Have Been Nominated.” Here are my Oscar 2012 Will Win/Should Win/Should Have Been Nominated selections:
Read more on Oscar 2012 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Braverman)…
 As is always the case here at The Awards Circuit, we bring to you our picks for how the Oscars will go, along with our choices for how they should go in a perfect world. For my part, I also include a quick word on a contender that I thought should have been nominated but wasn’t. This year, it really comes down to if ‘The King’s Speech’ is going to sweep or not. If it does, then that’s all she wrote, but if it’s not going to, that makes room for ‘The Social Network’ to perhaps sneak back in and get some wins in some major categories, even Best Picture. How do I see the race turning out? Well, await the answer no more.
Here…we…go:
Best Picture-
Will Win: The King’s Speech
This is one of the closest Oscar races in recent memory (even though last year was a decently close one too), with plenty of math to support either ‘The King’s Speech’ or ‘The Social Network’ taking the top prize. You’ve seen that all enough at this point, so I’ll just say this (not counting my obsession over just how important it is that ‘The Social Network’ won the ACE Eddy award for Film Editing…does
that mean something or not? TELL ME!!!)…what it comes down to for me is how the average Academy voter will vote. While I have no doubt that they liked ‘The Social Network’ (no pun intended), I can’t shake the feeling that they adored ‘The King’s Speech’ and will have it atop their ballots. I could easily be wrong, and I wouldn’t be as shocked as some if the inverse occurred, but at the moment I see this film taking Best Picture on Oscar night.
Should Win: The Social Network
The second best film of the year and the most important film of the new century, this movie holds a mirror up to us as a society while also being a classical tale of betrayal and power. If I had a vote, it would go to ‘The Social Network’.
Should have been nominated: Blue Valentine
My favorite film of the year, ‘Blue Valentine’ was the most powerful film of the year, with both the best acting and most emotional resonance of anything I saw in 2010. Not only would I have voted to nominate it, but I would have voted for it to win as well.
Read more on WHO WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN…
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(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
