For our thirteenth Rundown article, we look at the categories most responsible for our aural understanding of movies. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing as well as general commentary about the race. Tuesday, we’ll cover two categories that form the foundation of films and one unrelated category

Best Sound Mixing

Winner Predictions

• American Sniper (WL R) [New] (TB O) (TL O)
• Birdman
• Interstellar
• Unbroken
• Whiplash (PP R) [New]

Runner-Up Predictions

• American Sniper (PP R) [New]
• Interstellar (WL R) [New]
• Whiplash (TB O) (TL R) [New]

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Wesley Lovell: The only thing that’s keeping me from 100% supporting the idea of American Sniper winning is the fact that I think Interstellar still in the competition. That said, American Sniper, Whiplash and even CAS-winning Birdman are all currently more likely winners than Interstellar, which is all manners of odd considering the blockbuster-heavy bent of this category in recent years. Now that American Sniper is actually a blockbuster, it’s probably more likely the winner since it’s unlikely to win its top tier races.
Peter J. Patrick: All that drum beating in Whiplash should pay off in this category with American Sniper a solid alternative.
Tripp Burton: All of these films have a seeming legitimate claim to this award: the tense war scenes of American Sniper, the percussive beats of Whiplash, the space sounds of Interstellar, or the traditional, grand epicness of Unbroken. Only Birdman doesn’t really have a precedent to win in the past few years. I’m thinking that American Sniper manages a win here, but a Best Picture sweep from Birdman or a desire to honor Whiplash beyond J.K. Simmons could lead to them winning too.
Thomas La Tourrette: I think the war movie may prevail here, though Whiplash may actually be the more deserving film. If one of the musicals had been nominated, then it might have been a different race, but the Academy did not go that route this year. Capturing the drum work of Whiplash would not have been easy, but the more recent American Sniper benefits both from being fresh in the Academy’s memory, being a war movie, and having nominations in both sound categories. All those factors should help it to win this award.

Best Sound Editing

Winner Predictions

• American Sniper (WL R) [New] (PP O) (TB R) [New] (TL O)
• Birdman
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Interstellar
• Unbroken

Runner-Up Predictions

• Birdman (PP R) [New]
• Interstellar (WL R) [New](TL O)
• Unbroken (TB ) [New]

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Wesley Lovell: The Academy love war films and while this one isn’t strictly a war film, neither was The Hurt Locker and its Iraqi War setting was still a boon to its victory. That said, I could see Interstellar or Birdman winning also.
Peter J. Patrick: I think American Sniper has this one in the bag, but if not, Birdman seems a likely alternative.
Tripp Burton: Four of the past five years, the two sound awards have gone to the same film. This year, American Sniper seems the most likely to do that. Even if it loses Mixing, I see it still winning here and I’m not really sure what sort of chance the other films have.
Thomas La Tourrette: This will probably be a close race between the stillness between battles of American Sniper and the more wide ranging noises of Interstellar. For a long time, it seemed like this would be an easy win by Interstellar, but the general lackluster feeling that film has produced will probably knock it out of the winner’s circle. Birdman will also be a contender, but may not be able to garner the momentum for a win. The recently released American Sniper will be more on people’s minds and should give it enough support to win.

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