State of the Oscar Race: Final Nomination Predictions - Best Director and Sound Mixing

In light of today's events, the CAS (Sound Mixing) and DGA (Directing), here are my final predictions for Best Director and Best Sound Mixing

Best Director
Ben Affleck "Argo"
Tom Hooper "Les Miserables"
Ang Lee "Life of Pi"
Steven Spielberg "Lincoln"
Kathryn Bigelow "Zero Dark Thirty"

Other Contenders - Michael Haneke "Amour" David O. Russell "Silver Linings Playbook", Paul Thomas Anderson "The Master", Quentin Tarantino "Django Unchained"

Commentary - Four slots seem like they are locked and loaded. Bigelow, Affleck, and Spielberg will battle it out for the prize, and it looks like more and more that Ang Lee will join them. But it is that last slot that is causing me trouble. Something tells me that one of the more high-minded directors will get in, someone like Haneke, Anderson, or Tarantino. But which one? Or will the more populist choice of David O. Russell rule the day? At this point, I honestly can't determine which of these makes the cut. So I'll stick with the five the DGA has chosen, knowing that there is a good chance that one of them is left out. In this tight of a schedule, it is simply the hand we are dealt.

Best Sound Mixing
Django Unchained
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Zero Dark Thirty
Les Miserables
Skyfall

Other Contenders - Lincoln, Life of Pi, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises

Commentary - I will now be relooking at my Sound Editing nods before my final list tomorrow night, as the Academy likes to match at least three nominees in both categories. I say that Skyfall, Les Mis, and ZDT are in, but that of the CAS nominees, at least one will be out. Lincoln is my favorite film, and The King's Speech did manage a nod a few years ago, but conventional wisdom says that it will be left out in favor of something like Django (or Avengers/TDKR/Life of Pi). Watch The Hobbit as well. It may be a techincally stunning film, but not that popular of one.