Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Cinematography

The competition: Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The White Ribbon

Previous winners: Slumdog Millionaire, There Will Be Blood, Pan’s Labyrinth, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Aviator
My winner: A Single Man
Who should win: Avatar
Who will win: There are two veteran nominees in this category, two-time nominee Bruno Delbonnel (“A Very Long Engagement” and “Amelie”) up for “Harry Potter,” and two-time winner Robert Richardson (“The Aviator” and “JFK”), up for “Inglourious Basterds.” That’s not too relevant, however, since it’s usually about the film voters like to look at best rather than the resume of the cinematographer, and first-time nominees have triumphed every year since Richardson last won. This is probably just the first of many technical categories where “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” will duke it out, and I have a feeling that the groundbreaking visual nature of Avatar will result in Mauro Fiore winning his first Oscar.