Simon's Oscar Preview 2013: Art & Design

Simon's Oscar Blog is back for its third year! As usual, I'll be spending the week breaking down every category in anticipation of the big show this Sunday. We've got a bit of a weird year of nominations on our hands, but I'm doing my best to make sense of it all. Be sure to watch the awards on Sunday to see if I was right.

This week's schedule:
Monday - Art & Design, Music
Tuesday - Technical Achievements
Wednesday - Short Films, Special Feature Films
Thursday - Writing & Directing, Acting
Friday - Best Picture

Films I haven't seen are marked accordingly.

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Nominees: Anna Karenina, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln

Who Will Win: Anna Karenina
Who Should Win: Anna Karenina

We kick things off with Production Design, the Award Formerly Known as "Art Direction." There are three real nominees here: Anna Karenina, Les Misérables and Lincoln. Les Mis may be the safest bet, what with all the costumes and the grime and so forth, but I'm picking Anna Karenina as a slight dark horse winner here. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I urge you to track it down, simply for the design elements. The film as a whole doesn't always cohere, but, my god, the beauty and images they get on screen are jaw-dropping. I'm going to avoid cynicism and guess that the Academy will agree with me here.

COSTUME DESIGN
Nominees: Anna Karenina, Les Misérables, Lincoln, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman

Who Will Win: Anna Karenina
Who Should Win: Anna Karenina

We see many of the same faces here in Costume Design, along with dueling Snow White adaptations. This should be a much clearer Anna Karenina victory, with Keira Knightley's stunning red dress leading the charge. A begrudging nod should also be given to Mirror Mirror, which functions solely as a vehicle for excellent costuming. Finally, the makers of Snow White and the Huntsman get to say they made an Oscar-nominated film. Isn't that adorable?

MAKEUP & HAIR

Nominees: Hitchcock, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Misérables

Who Will Win: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Who Should Win: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

A lightweight category, full of dwarves, Frenchmen and flabby, old men.  No amount of dirt slathered over Hugh Jackman should prevent The Hobbit from winning this one. As for Hitchcock, the Academy is likely too terrified of Anthony Hopkins' quivering jowls to give him the award. I'd have loved to see Looper nominated (and even win) here, but oh well. Time to head into the ol' time machine and change that mistake...