For our fifteenth Rundown article, two aural categories and a category with a new face every year. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Best Makeup & Hairstyling as well as general commentary about the race. Wednesday, we approach the end with two categories that create the perfect endings.

Best Sound Mixing

Winner Predictions

• 13 Hours
• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Rogue One

Runner-Up Predictions

• Arrival (PP O)
• Hacksaw Ridge (WL O) (TB R) [New] (TL O)

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Wesley Lovell: It seems like La La Land is preparing to steamroll through the Oscars and one of the categories it’s likely to pick up is this one. Although there are other better films on the list, the combination of musical and adoration should give it a boost. Arrival might go home empty-handed without this award, which might give some the idea to recognize it somewhere, but Hacksaw Ridge won the Motion Picture Sound Editors prize, which suggests it may have some support in the sound community. This is voted on by the entire membership, though, so don’t expect it to go very far outside of expectations.
Peter J. Patrick: This will probably go to presumed favorite La La Land, but I would vote for the imaginative sounds of Arrival.
Tripp Burton: Musicals tend to do well in this category, with Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash the latest taking the prize a few years ago, so La La Land should be able to win this award on its presumed sweep.
Thomas La Tourrette: Musicals do well in this category, and La La Land has long seemed to be the frontrunner in this category. A win from the Cinema Audio Society cements the frontrunner status. I do not see anything standing in its way for the win. Hacksaw Ridge, Rogue One, and 13 Hours all have lots of explosions and shootings, which might better suit them to win in sound editing. Arrival was the quietest of the nominees and seems like it should be a possibility. However, if anything were to supplant La La Land, it would probably be Hacksaw Ridge. I just do not see that happening, and La La Land lands another trophy.

Best Sound Editing

Winner Predictions

• Arrival (TB R) [New]
• Deepwater Horizon
• Hacksaw Ridge (WL O) (PP R) [New](TL O)
• La La Land
• Sully

Runner-Up Predictions

• Arrival (WL O)
• Deepwater Horizon (PP R) [New]
• Hacksaw Ridge (TB R) [New]
• La La Land (TL O)

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Wesley Lovell: Hacksaw Ridge won at the Motion Picture Sound Editors awards taking two prizes, the only film to win more than one. The Academy loves to give its sound awards to war movies, so it doesn’t seem like a stretch to believe otherwise. Of course, some think that La La Land is going to go on a big streak at the Oscars and this could be one of the prizes, but my bet is that it loses and the runner-up is Arrival instead.
Peter J. Patrick: Probably the sounds of battle in Hacksaw Ridge, with the explosions in Deepwater Horizon its closest runner-up.
Tripp Burton: Hacksaw Ridge just won the MPSE award, which has had a strong track record for this award in recent years, but this could also be the best chance voters have to award Arrival. Then there is La La Land, which may seem an odd choice for an award for sound effects but could also get marked down on its way to a sweep.
Thomas La Tourrette: With two wins from their guild in sound editing, Hacksaw Ridge looks poised to win this award. War movies often do well in this category, so it seems the likely winner. The only thing standing in its way could be a sweep by La La Land, which is a distinct possibility. It won a guild award for its music, but did not compete directly with Hacksaw in any category. The quieter films of Arrival, Sully, and Deepwater Horizon probably do not stand a chance of winning, so it comes down to the top two. La La Land could win, but I think that the addition of all the explosions and other disparate sounds will put Hacksaw Ridge over the top.

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Winner Predictions

• A Man Called Ove (PP O)
• Star Trek: Beyond (WL O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Suicide Suad

Runner-Up Predictions

• A Man Called Ove (TB O)
• Suicide Suad (WL R) [New] (PP R) [New](TL O)

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Wesley Lovell: Two of these nominees were winners at the Make-Up and Hair Stylists Guild awards, Suicide Squad and Star Trek: Beyond. The latter is the film that won the special effects makeup category, which is the best comparison to the Oscar. Considering how much makeup was in Trek, it should have an easy time winning.
Peter J. Patrick: This is a tiresome group of nominees – this category really ought to be eliminated with occasional honorary awards given as used to be the case.
Tripp Burton: This is a hard category to predict, mostly because I can come up with better reasons for each nominee not winning than for it winning: Suicide Squad was a maligned movie, A Man Called Ove a foreign entry without showy makeup, and Star Trek Beyond the second sequel to a previous winner in this category. I can think of any number of un-nominated entries that I would have predicted without flinching over these. I’m going with Star Trek Beyond, which does introduce a lot of new and interesting aliens.
Thomas La Tourrette: With only three nominees, A Man Called Ove feels like the odd man out. It is from a foreign film and has subtle makeup, which can lead to a nomination but rarely to a win. So it comes down to either Star Trek Beyond or Suicide Squad. Both films boast lots of makeup, which often helps a film win this award. I am inclined to go with Star Trek as it was the better film and had a wider range of makeup styles to go with because of all the aliens in the film. The Star Trek reboot also won this, which might be a strike against a second win. Both films did well at the box office, with Suicide Squad almost doubling the take of Star Trek. But it was just such an odd film that it is hard to see the Academy supporting it, even if it did land one of three nominations. I think Star Trek will win, but it will be a close vote.

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