The 81st Oscar Predictions, Part II

Best Foreign Language Film

• Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
  
• Entre les murs (The Class)
  
• Revanche
  
• Okuribito
  
• Vals Im Bashir (Waltz With Bashir
  

Who will win and should win:

This year, Waltz With Bashir could have been nominated for either best animated film, best documentary or in this one. With these nominees, and just the fact that it was a possibility for this film to be in all three of those categories, Waltz With Bashir absolutely deserves the win here. However, The Class, which has been a critical favorite, could make a surprise upset.

Who should have been nominated:

Fatih Akin's Turkish film The Edge of Heaven was truly one of the great surprises of 2008, constantly changing expectations and preconceived notions for an outstanding achievement of Turkish filmmaking.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

• "Jai Ho"-A.R. Rahman, Gulzar, for Slumdog Millionaire
  
• "O Saya"-A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam, for Slumdog Millionaire
  
• "Down to Earth"-Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman, for WALL-E
  

Who should win:

When the camera pans out to earth and the emotions have hit the ceiling, there was something completely gorgeous about Gabriel's "Down to Earth" that felt almost cathartic, that truly made this a great song to go with a great movie.

Who will win:

Pretty much any song from Slumdog Millionaire however I think that "Jai Ho" does have a better chance in that it completely encompasses the spirit of Slumdog Millionaire. Yet, this has been a big year for M.I.A. who sings in "O Saya", so a win for her wouldn't be completely unexpected.

Who should have been nominated:

Ugh, SOO many should have made this list that didn't. Let me knock the obvious one out of the way with Bruce Springsteen for The Wrestler. A great song should remind the viewer of the film and bring them the same emotion that they felt when first watching it, transporting the listener back to the theatre. Springsteen's song furthered Rourke's performance and constantly reminds how he is still The Boss. Other nominees that should have been include Clint Eastwood's simplistic singing in "Gran Torino", as much as I hate to say it but John Travolta and Miley Cyrus for "I Thought I Lost You" from Bolt and most importantly, Jason Segel for the hilarious "Dracula's Lament" from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Defiance
• Milk
• Slumdog Millionaire
• WALL-E

Who should win:

Once again, I have to go with WALL-E. Thomas Newman's score here was bleak, yet exhilarating, making the world that WALL-E lived in seem huge and empty. Music played such an important part of this film and the score definitely deserves the win.

Who will win:

Slumdog Millionaire's was loved by many, so it will be no surprise it wins once again in this category.

Who should have been nominated:

For a while, there was a huge controversy that The Dark Knight would not be able to be nominated in this category. The decision was overturned but there is still no nomination. All I know is that every time the simplistic score popped up whenever The Joker appeared, I felt the score doing something incredible that I didn't feel about any other film this year.

Best Achievement in Makeup

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Who should win and will win:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's utilized makeup in a very realistic way, aging actors Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and Taraji P. Henson in such a way that seemed almost too real.

Who should have been nominated:

For the same reason that Benjamin Button was nominated, so should The Reader. The transformation seen by Kate Winslet and the performance by Lena Olin are both enhanced simply and beautifully by makeup in this film.

Best Achievement in Costume Design:

• Australia
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Duchess
• Milk
• Revolutionary Road

Who should win and will win:

Here, I am torn between two: Australia and The Duchess. If there's one thing that Australia does is it makes some beautiful costumes that make the characters pop in incredible ways. On the other hand, the Academy likes to nominate period pieces, like The Duchess, and rightfully so. The costumes in The Duchess are as elaborate as they are gorgeous. Either here deserves the win.

Who should have been nominated:

For a year in which simplistic costumes from films like Benjamin Button, Milk and Revolutionary Road are nominated, I will throw out a complex one: The Dark Knight. Looking at the costumes of The Joker and Batman, they both feel like they were made to be the exact opposite of each other. One dark, cold and sleek, the other crazy, colorful and out there. These two costumes were both intricate and perfect for these characters.

Best Achievement in Art Direction

• Changeling
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• The Duchess
• Revolutionary Road

Who should win and will win:

Director David Fincher has always had a dark and disturbing mood to his films. From Seven to Fight Club and Zodiac, each film felt very significantly like his own. The same can be said about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But unlike those other films, he does bring a warmth to them. He shows here that he knows how to create a mood that can be very effective.

Who should have been nominated:

Guillermo del Toro has also shown a great use of mood in his films such as Pan's Labyrinth. He also did a great job this year with Hellboy II: The Golden Army in making a world of his own and making it beautiful and believable. Also, love it or hate it, but Michel Gondry utilized the D.I.Y. spirit of Be Kind Rewind and really gave that film a feeling all of its own.

Best Achievement in Editing:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• Slumdog Millionaire

Who should win and will win:

Slumdog Millionaire tells a story with three different actors playing three different time periods at three different ages and moves from the past to present fluidly in a very lyrical and imaginative way, and never makes the audience feel lost or confused. A very impressive feat.

Who should have been nominated:

Gus Van Sant's other film this year, Paranoid Park took audiences through a high school perspective and showed Sant's further evolution as a experimental director and worked very well. Also, the way that The Wrestler was pieced together, going back and forth from Rourke's wrestling matches to his "real life", was done very uniquely.

Best Achievement in Cinematography

• Changeling
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

Who should win and will win:

The Dark Knight's has such a dark and ominous look that is constant with Christopher Nolan's vision as a director. What he has done here is nothing sort of a masterpiece and the Academy will most likely reward The Dark Knight here after snubbing Nolan for best director.

Who should have been nominated:

The two biggest snubs here are Australia, which had many problems, but always looked beautiful to the point of almost being unrealistic, and The Fall, in which every frame was visually striking and seemed like a work of art.