WHOSE OSCAR WILL IT BE?

Well... here it is... with just a little over an hour before show time, here are my official predictions for every single Oscar category, listed in the order of probability... or what we Earth people call 'likelihood' that it'll win -- with the top choice, of course, being the projected winner:

BEST PICTURE

Argo

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Les Miserables

Zero Dark Thirty

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Amour

Django Unchained

DIRECTOR

Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)

David O'Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Behn Zenlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Michael Hanake (Amour)

ACTOR

Daniel Day Lewis (Lincoln)

Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)

Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)

Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

Denzel Washington (Flight)

ACTRESS

Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

Emmanuel Riva (Amour)

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Quevenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Robert DeNiro (Silver Linings Playbook)

Alan Arkin (Argo)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

Sally Field (Lincoln)

Helen Hunt (The Sessions)

Amy Adams (The Master)

Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)

ANIMATED FEATURE

Wreck It Ralph

Brave

Frankenweenie  

ParaNorman

The Pirates: Band of Misfits

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Amour

Kon-Tiki

A Royal Affair

War Witch

No

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Zero Dark Thirty

Django Unchained

Moonrise Kingdom

Amour

Flight

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Argo

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Life of Pi

Beasts of the Southern Wild

COSTUME DESIGN

Anna Karenina

Les Miserables

Lincoln

Mirror Mirror

Snow White and the Huntsmen

ORIGINAL SONG

"Skyfall"  (Skyfall)

"Suddenly"  (Les Miserables)

"Pi's Lullaby"  (Life of Pi)

"Everybody Needs A best Friend"  (Ted)

"Before My Time"  (Chasing Ice)

ORIGINAL SCORE

Life of Pi

Argo

Lincoln

Skyfall

Anna Karenina

DOCUMENTARY

Searching for Sugar Man

The Gatekeepers

How to Survive a Plague 

The Invisible War

5 Broken Cameras

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Innocente

Open Heart

Mondays at Racine

Redemption

Kings Point

MAKEUP/HAIRSTYLING

Les Miserables

The Hobbit

Hitchcock

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Anna Karenina

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

The Hobbit

FILM EDITING

Argo

Life of Pi

Zero Dark Thirty

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Life of Pi

Skyfall

Lincoln

Django Unchained

Anna Karenina

SOUND EDITING

Argo

Skyfall

Life of Pi

Zero Dark Thirty

Django Unchained

SOUND MIXING

Les Miserables

Argo

Life of Pi

Skyfall

Lincoln

VISUAL EFFECTS

Life of Pi

The Hobbit

Prometheus

The Avengers

Snow White and the Huntsman

ANIMATED SHORT

Paperman

Adam and Dog

Head Over Heels

Maggie Simpson in The Longest daycare

Fresh Guacamole

LIVE ACTION SHORT

Curfew

Death of a Shadow

Buzkashi Boys

Asad

Henry

"PI" TAKES THE CAKE!

The buzz around ARGO continues to build as it racks up accolades galore, making it the new frontrunner in the "best picture" Oscar category, and squeezing LINCOLN out of that slot.  It seems that with just a little over a week to go before the big night, ARGO is the film to beat.  However, while the Academy and Hollywood in general are celebrating Ben Affleck's taut and tantalizing thriller, I finally made my way to catch Ang Lee's masterful LIFE OF PI, and let me tell you, if Oscars were assigned by yours truly, PI would be the hands-down winner of the top prize.  Will it happen on Oscar night?  Probably not - almost definitely not - but if it did, it would not only be justified, but it would be an amazing twist of fate that would reverse Ang Lee's fateful night of some years ago, when his battle horse, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, lost the coveted statuette to CRASH.

LIFE OF PI is a visual poem; a film of such striking beauty and depth, it defies classification. Without delving much into the story, which is fascinating and fantastic, to say the least, let's just give credit where credit is due.  Boasting the best and most effective use of 3-D photography since AVATAR, Ang Lee's epic tale goes beyond the multiple dimensions perceived by the human eye.  The 3-D in PI is also applicable to its emotional and intellectual levels.  The film takes one on a journey unlike any ever seen before on film.  This is not a shipwreck picture, nor is it merely the story of a boy and his tiger.  This is a deep, existential study of human endurance, facing the fiercest forces of Mother Nature, and doing so on Her turf and terms.  LIFE OF PI proves once again that director Ang Lee is a true master of his craft and that he understands exactly how to shape meaningful significance (redundancy pun very intended) into pure entertainment and visual delight.

Having said that, here's my list (in order of preference) of how I'd classify the nine Best Picture nominees, if the vote were entirely up to me:

Best Picture of the Year: LIFE OF PI
Runner-up:  ARGO
followed by SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, LES MISERABLES, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, LINCOLN, ZERO DARK THIRTY, DJANGO UNCHAINED, and the not applicable AMOUR (which I didn't see and have about the same desire to see it as I had for the past three French films nominated for Oscars -- oh wait, it's an Austrian film, you say... right, but they speak French, so... I guess I'll wait till the sequel to BETTY BLUE is ready for prime time).

Here's how I think it's going to play out on Oscar night (in order of likelihood):

BEST PICTURE: ARGO
LIFE OF PI if voters came to their senses prior to casting their final votes.
LINCOLN if voters just ignored pop culture of the past four weeks.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK if voters are still pissed AS GOOD AS IT GETS didn't win.
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD if voters give little Ms. Wallis an Oscar.
LES MISERABLES if Russell Crowe hadn't been cast in it.
ZERO DARK THIRTY if a James Cameron film had been nominated against it.
DJANGO UNCHAINED if it had been as good as INGLORIOUS BASTERDS
AMOUR if voters had seen it... AND it's going to win for Foreign Language Film, so it's all good.

That's it for now... My final predictions before next week's end!