ORIGINAL SCORE

What Got Left Out
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's Dragon Tattoo didn't follow in The Social Network's Oscar footsteps. Alberto Iglesias's The Skin I Live In couldn't make him a double nominee because the Academy absolutely cannot go without doubling up on John Williams whenever he doubles up. And perhaps most strangely Extremely Loud's score by new Oscar favorite Alexander Desplat didn't place despite the movie being well liked enough for Best Picture.

Who Will Win?
This could be a win for The Artist unless The Year of Movie Nostalgia makes the Academy remember how long it's been since they handed John Williams the gold.

ORIGINAL SONG

 "Man or Muppet"
Bret McKenzie's comic soul searching for Jason Segel

"Real in Rio" Somehow it survived their crazy voting system!

 nope, they didn't!

 nope, they didn't!

Who Will Win: I think it'll be "Man or Muppet" but who cares. If Oscar doesn't believe in this category why should we?

30+ Eligible Songs and Oscar don't like none of them! So there. When will the media rise up against Oscar's music branch. They're crazier than the documentarians or foreign film committees with their bizarre voting systems. Either you want this category or you don't. Stop fooling around with it if you don't. Here's the article (with music videos)

• "The World I Knew" from "African Cats"
• "Lay Your Head Down" from "Albert Nobbs"
• "Star Spangled Man" from "Captain America: The First Avenger"
• "Collision of Worlds" from "Cars 2"
• "Dakkanaga Dugu Dugu" from "DAM999"
• "DAM999 Theme Song" from "DAM999"
• "Mujhe Chod Ke" from "DAM999"
• "Rainbird" from "Dirty Girl"
• "Keep On Walking" from "The First Grader"
• "Where the River Goes" from "Footloose"
• "Hello Hello" from "Gnomeo & Juliet" Globes and BFCA
• "Love Builds a Garden" from "Gnomeo & Juliet"
• "Bridge of Light" from "Happy Feet Two"
• "The Mighty Sven" from "Happy Feet Two"
• "Never Be Daunted" from "happythankyoumoreplease"
• "Hell and Back" from "Hell and Back Again"
• "The Living Proof" from "The Help"
• "Coeur Volant" from "Hugo"
• "It's How We Play" from "I Don't Know How She Does It"
• "When the Heart Dies" from "In the Land of Blood and Honey"
• "Ja Nao Estar" from "José and Pilar"
• "The Keeper" from "Machine Gun Preacher" Globes 
• "Life's a Happy Song" from "The Muppets"
• "Pictures in My Head" from "The Muppets"
• "Summer Song" from "The Music Never Stopped"
• "Imaginary Friends" from "Olive"
• "Sparkling Day" from "One Day"
• "Taking You with Me" from "Our Idiot Brother"
• "The Greatest Song I Ever Heard" from "POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"
• "Hot Wings" from "Rio"
• "Let Me Take You to Rio" from "Rio" 
• "Shelter" from "Take Shelter"
• "Gathering Stories" from "We Bought a Zoo"
• "Pop" from "White Irish Drinkers"
• "Think You Can Wait" from "Win Win"
• "The Backson Song" from "Winnie the Pooh"
• "So Long" from "Winnie the Pooh"

SOUND MIXING Predictions

What Got Left Out
CAS nominees Hanna, Super 8 and Pirates of the Caribbean 4 were left off the list. As were the animal sounds of Rise of the Planet of the Apes . No animated films or superhero films made it either.

Who Will Win?
Who knows? I'll guess Hugo but really... isn't this a five way race? It's tough to say what the general Oscar voter (not the sound branch) is looking for when they check off the boxes in the sound categories.

SOUND EDITING

What Got Left Out
Super 8 did well with all the sound guilds but mysteriously missed both Oscar categories. As did Hanna and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Who Will Win?
Who knows? I'll guess Hugo but really... isn't this a four way race -- Oscar obviously not liking Drive very much (their loss)?  It's tough to say what the general Oscar voter (not the sound branch) is looking for when they check off the boxes in the sound categories.