Oscar Death Race part Sound

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

- Avatar - Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, and Tony Johnson
- The Hurt Locker - Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
- Inglourious Basterds - Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, and Mark Ulano
- Star Trek - Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, and Geoffrey Patterson


Best Achievement in Sound Editing

- Avatar - Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
- The Hurt Locker - Paul N.J. Ottosson
- Inglourious Basterds - Wylie Stateman
- Star Trek - Mark P. Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
- Up - Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Who Should Win?: Here's the thing. I know Sound Design is important in movies and I'm definitely affected by it when I'm in theater, but I'd just be pretending if I told you I could pick good from bad. So on this count, I abstain.

Who Will Win?: I try to look for reason in these categories every year. I know mixing's the one that once in a while goes to a movie that involves music (like Ray, Dreamgirls, Chicago, even Eastwood's Bird), but that's not an issue this year. I know Editing is the one that always goes to a really loud movie, but Transformers is nominated for Mixing! I know Mixing's the one that more often goes with the Best Picture, but Transformers is nominated for Mixing! The three in the last ten that have swept both categories have been Oscar heavyweights The Bourne Ultimatum, King Kong, and The Matrix. So who the hell knows?

Yet if you're gonna win your Oscar Pool, these will probably be important, especially in this year of seemingly sure things up top. In two categories that obviously have no fear of rewarding action movies, Star Trek could be a dark horse, especially because it missed out on a Best Picture nomination to that it was kind of supposed to get with the category expansion. But I'm gonna go with The Hurt Locker for Editing, because big, real explosions and gunshots are so integral to its plot. I'll split and take Avatar for mixing, because it's gotta win some shit, right?

Best Original Score

- Avatar - James Horner
- Fantastic Mr. Fox - Alexandre Desplat
- The Hurt Locker - Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders
- Sherlock Holmes - Hans Zimmer
- Up - Michael Giacchino

Who Should Win?: I guess one could complain that Michael Giacchino's score for Up relies too much on one theme, but it's such a great theme. Of these 5 scores, I only really remember moments from Up and Sherlock Holmes, and I remember the former much more fondly.

Who Will Win?: I think Up will take it, actually. BAFTA, Golden Globes, and Crithatics Choice all bought it, and I see no reason that AMPAS shouldn't follow up. I'd imagine James Horner could play spoiler, especially if Avatar does well overall, but I'm not gonna bet on it.

Best Original Song

- "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart, written by T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham
- "Loin de Paname" from Faubourg 36, written by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
- "Take It All" from Nine, written by Maury Yeston
- "Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog, written by Randy Newman
- "Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog, written by Randy Newman

Who Should Win?: "The Weary Kind" is the best of these. It's not amazing, or anything, but it works in the movie. "Take It All" is the best choice from Nine, I think, but that's not saying much.

Who Will Win?: I'ma put my money on the one that's sung by the guy who's gonna win Best Actor, written by a guy who looks exactly like James Cameron and the other guy who plays a guitarist in the movie and, in real life, has the same name as George Clooney in Up in the Air and is a bull rider turned songwriter. That's "The Weary Kind". It just seems so Oscary (especially with Randy Newman vote split, everybody hating Nine, and the other song being from a French movie that a total of 4 people in this country have seen).