Final Predictions - Sound Mixing and Editing

Nominees - Sound Mixing

“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Should Win/Will Win - Inception
Could Win - True Grit, The Social Network, or The King's Speech

Commentary: Okay, sorry to Salt, but there is no way you are winning this award. Now the other four films are all in the running. The Social Network is probably the next weakest link, as it has lost its steam in the last couple of weeks overall. If The King's Speech sweeps, then it could shock everyone and take this prize as well. Finally it comes down to True Grit vs. Inception. Now True Grit winning the CAS is no fluke, and it definitely could take the prize. But my guess is that the larger Academy will go for the flashier sound of Inception, as they did in 2007 when they overlooked another Coen Bros/CAS winner, No Country For Old Men.

Nominees - Sound Editing

“Inception” Richard King

“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey

“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Should Win/Will Win - Inception

Commentary - Now, the MPSE and the Academy do not always match up because they tend to pick their winners based on the quality of the Sound Editing and the Academy not so much. Furthermore, the MPSE has so many different categories that it is hard to decipher which ones end up playing a big role. I will say that over the last ten years, at least one of the MPSE category winners has usually gone on to win the big prize. It just doesn't correlate with a specific subcategory. My guess is that Inception takes the Big Three of Flashy if you will, as in Sound, Sound Editing, and Visual Effects, as it is simply that kind of movie. Also, the other category winners of MPSE, The Social Network and How to Train Your Dragon, were not nominated.