With the Academy Award ceremony set to take place on Sunday, I thought that for this week’s column I would take a look at the nominees for the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories and comment on who I think deserves to win.

There are some great nominees this year, even though my favorite score of last year (Moon) didn’t get nominated.

Best Original Score

James Horner - Avatar

I won't go in to too much detail on this one as Charlie Brigden summed it up wonderfully here. James Horner has, of course, been nominated a number of times previously in both best original score and best original song categories and won both for his work on James Cameron's Titanic. This is a perfectly enjoyable score that compliments the movie well. I can fully understand why this has been nominated and fully expect it to be the winner on the night, even though I don't think it's the best score nominated.

Alexandre Desplat - Fantastic Mr. Fox

This is the second year running Desplat has received a nomination for Best Original Score, having been nominated last year for his soundtrack for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. He was also nominated for The Queen back in 2007. This nomination, in my opinion, is thoroughly deserved and would be my choice out of all the entries on this year’s short list. As with all of Anderson's films, Fantastic Mr. Fox boasts an amazing soundtrack that features a fine selection of songs. It's the score by Desplat that gives the film its musical heart, with his predominantly acoustic numbers complimenting the movie beautifully.

Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders - The Hurt Locker

There's a clear influence of great soundtracks that have been used in a number of great westerns over the years. Indeed, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders provided the fantastic score for 3:10 To Yuma. They've taken these influences and created something that pays homage to their influences as well as giving it a truly modern feel. Sound effects are used within the score itself and this creates a great listening experience aside from the film. I can see The Hurt Locker winning a number of awards, but I don't think the Oscar for best original score will be one of them.

Hans Zimmer - Sherlock Holmes

As much as I enjoyed Sherlock Holmes, I have to say that I preferred the score. From the brilliant accompaniment to the opening scene through to the film’s climax, Zimmer's score perfectly matches Guy Ritchie's movie. This is the seventh time Zimmer has received a nomination. Out of the previous times he was nominated he walked away with the award only once, when he was awarded for his work on The Lion King. As good as his work is here, I would be surprised if he wins on the night.

Michael Giacchino – Up

This is the third soundtrack Giacchino has provided for a Pixar movie (Incredibles and Ratatouille) and the second time he's received an Oscar nomination (nominated in 2007 for Ratatouille). Having already won a Golden Globe for his work here, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if this takes the award on the night. Up was a commercial and critical success and one of my favorite films of last year. His work here makes use of a number of reccurring themes (or leitmotifs, if you prefer). These themes are used to brilliant effect to compliment the mood of the film and draw out emotions from the audience, and boy does it do that. The scene that shows Carl and Ellie's relationship, accompanied by Married Life is incredible. I was thankful for the 3D glasses to hide my watering eyes.

Best Original Song

Almost There & Down In New Orleans - The Princess And The Frog

Disney's return to hand-drawn animation has been met with mostly positive reviews and has proved to be a financial success. The two nominations for best song here are two of the three nominations the film has received, the other being Best Animated Feature Film. Both of these songs were written by Randy Newman, who has provided songs for a number of Pixar movies in the past, and are nomination numbers 17 and 18 for him. His only previous win has been for the song If I Didn't Have You from Monsters Inc in 2002. The music provided here is up there with some of the best from the House of Mouse's classics and the jazz orientated songs evoke the spirit of the deep south brilliantly. Given the fact that he's been nominated twice here, he's surely the favorite to take home the award on the night.

Loin De Paname - Paris 36 (Fauborg 36)

I have to admit that I haven's seen Paris 36, but I bought and downloaded this song for the purpose of this article - that's how dedicated I am. Sure, you could argue that if I was that dedicated I would have gone to see the film. I would have, but it wasn't showing anywhere near me. Written by Frank Thomas with music provided by Reinhardt Wagner, this piece effectively captures the feel of pieces released in that era. My French is quite poor (alright, very poor), so I wasn't able to make out a great deal of what was being sung, but I have enjoyed the song on the numerous occasions I've listened to it.

Take It All - Nine

It's surprising that it's this track that's nominated, given that Fergie's Be Italian was used so heavily in the promotion for the film and is, without doubt, the most memorable musical number featured. I think Marion Cotillard has been excellent in everything I've seen her in and her additions to Nine's soundtrack are some of the best on there, but I don’t think this will be the winner on the night.

The Weary Kind - Crazy Heart

Having been brought up with a lot of country and blues music, courtesy of my dad's record collection, this is the closest to my tastes out of any of the Best Song nominees. I'm a big fan of T-Bone Burnett's previous soundtrack contributions, and this is no exception. Burnett composed this with Ryan Bingham, who performs the song. Bingham's voice is a perfect fit for the material and having already won a Golden Globe, this will be a strong contender on Oscar night.

My picks:
Best Original Score: Fantastic Mr Fox or Up
Best Song: The Weary Kind

Which would be your picks to scoop the awards?

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