Youngster Joey said:
If Brave wins the Academy loses all credibility.
TBH, I think Brave could win & not affect the Academy's credibility whatsoever. There will always be much more controversy over the Academy snubbing Ben Affleck & Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director than which film wins Best Animated Feature.
I'll go ahead & throw out my predictions to be ridiculed & scoffed at.
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln
Hugh Jackman for Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix for The Master
Denzel Washington for Flight
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva for Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts for The Impossible
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin for Argo
Robert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master
Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln
Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for The Master
Sally Field for Lincoln
Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables
Helen Hunt for The Sessions
Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook
Best Achievement in Directing
Michael Haneke for Amour
Ang Lee for Life of Pi
David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Amour:
Michael Haneke
Django Unchained:
Quentin Tarantino
Flight: John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty: Mark Boal
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Argo:
Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild:
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi: David Magee
Lincoln: Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook: David O. Russell
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Brave: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
Frankenweenie: Tim Burton
ParaNorman: Sam Fell, Chris Butler
The Pirates! Band of Misfits: Peter Lord
Wreck-It Ralph: Rich Moore
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Amour (Austria)
War Witch (Canada)
No (Chile)
A Royal Affair (Denmark)
Kon-Tiki (Norway)
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Anna Karenina: Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained: Robert Richardson
Life of Pi:
Claudio Miranda
Lincoln: Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall: Roger Deakins
Best Achievement in Editing
Argo:
William Goldenberg
Life of Pi: Tim Squyres
Lincoln: Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook: Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty: William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
Best Achievement in Production Design
Anna Karenina: Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:
Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent, Simon Bright
Les Misérables:
Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi: David Gropman, Anna Pinnock
Lincoln: Rick Carter, Jim Erickson
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Anna Karenina: Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables:
Paco Delgado
Lincoln: Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror: Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman: Colleen Atwood
Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock: Howard Berger, Peter Montagna, Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Peter King, Rick Findlater, Tami Lane
Les Misérables:
Lisa Westcott, Julie Dartnell
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Anna Karenina: Dario Marianelli
Argo: Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi: Mychael Danna
Lincoln:
John Williams
Skyfall: Thomas Newman
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Chasing Ice: J. Ralph ("Before My Time")
Les Misérables: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer ("Suddenly")
Life of Pi: Mychael Danna, Bombay Jayshree ("Pi's Lullaby")
Skyfall:
Adele, Paul Epworth ("Skyfall")
Ted: Walter Murphy, Seth MacFarlane ("Everybody Needs a Best Friend")
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Argo: John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, José Antonio García
Les Misérables: Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Simon Hayes
Life of Pi: Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Drew Kunin
Lincoln: Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, Ron Judkins
Skyfall: Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, Stuart Wilson
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Argo: Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained: Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi: Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton
Skyfall: Per Hallberg, Karen M. Baker
Zero Dark Thirty: Paul N.J. Ottosson
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
The Avengers: Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, Daniel Sudick
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
Life of Pi: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik De Boer, Donald Elliott
Prometheus: Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley, Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Phil Brennan, Neil Corbould, Michael Dawson
Best Documentary, Feature
5 Broken Cameras: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi
The Gatekeepers: Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky, Estelle Fialon
How to Survive a Plague: David France, Howard Gertler
The Invisible War: Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering
Searching for Sugar Man: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
.
Going out on a limb for many of these, but WTH -
I wish