I’m going to be posting about the BAFTA’s shortly, but suffice to say, there were surprises. It seems like we can never truly know what Oscar voters will go for until the big night. All we can do is guess. This is a category that seems to have a pretty clear frontrunner, but you never know.

Our first nominee is Captain Phillips, and this could pull off a surprise win. The sound mixing is very good, particularly during any scene on the submarine. And it is a Best Picture nominee, which means that a lot of voters will have the film on their mind. However, both the quality and quantity of the sound are surpassed in…

…Gravity. Even if it doesn’t end up winning Best Picture, I can hardly imagine it losing this award. The film is realistic in it’s depiction of sound in space, or rather, lack there of. So there are radio communications, sounds coming through the spacesuit, and pure silence where most movies would be terribly loud. What this film does is actually kind of revolutionary, and it should take this in a spacewalk.

Oh, yeah. The other nominees. The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug. Uh, I think this nomination has surprised a lot of people. Why did the sound branch fall in love with this movie? Because it has a dragon in it? Where was the sound branch when this movie came out? The point is, it’s not winning. The academy is pretty much done with Middle Earth.

Next up is Inside Llewyn Davis. Now don’t get me wrong, It will get votes. People certainly did see (and like) the film. But it won’t get enough. The academy clearly weren’t over the moon about the film as some people were. The sound mixing is good, But academy voters certainly want to go, go shooting’ into outer space.

And finally, there’s Lone Survivor. Some people saw it. Some people didn’t. It doesn’t really matter. It’s not gonna win. It’s not even gonna come close. And that’s all I have to say. I’m just padding out this paragraph right now. Uh, Lone Survivor isn’t winning. Gravity‘s winning. MONKEY!

WILL WIN: Gravity
RUNNER UP: Captain Phillips
SHOULD WIN: Gravity