Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Film Editing

The competition: The Artist, The Descendants, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, Moneyball

Previous winners: The Social Network, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Departed, Crash
My winner: “Fast Five”
Who should win: “The Artist”
Who will win: In the past forty years, this award has only gone to a film not nominated for Best Picture four times. It doesn’t always go to the winner, however, and so that leaves the field pretty open. I wouldn’t count on either “The Descendants” or “Moneyball” triumphing here since they’re hardly as technically competent or dramatic as the other three. Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter won last year for “The Social Network” and could repeat for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” though Scorsese regular – and three-time winner – Thelma Schoonmaker is a real threat for “Hugo.” It’s hard to stop the sweep sometimes, though, and therefore I think it could well be about the new guys, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist”. It’s hardly set in stone, but I think they’re looking good.