to clear things up, splitting its wins between the top two contenders. And nevertheless, the sound editors' choices won't necessarily equal the Academy's. The Best Picture frontrunner is right there in this category, tempting votes from those who will want to see it show up strong on Oscar night.

These were mostly some top notch choices from the branch this year. I might have, as ever, liked to see some venturing out into genre territory that can yield unexpected results, though. The two films nominated for Best Sound Mixing that didn't show up here were "Les Misérables" and "Lincoln."

As noted in the sound mixing Oscar Guide, "Argo" could easily surprise with a win here or there. It is, after all, the frontrunning Best Picture contender, and whether it isoverly recognized for its sound design is beside the point. The Academy at large tends to just pick its favorite film of the bunch. That same thing played out last year when "Hugo" won over more overtly sound-heavy experiences like "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (featuring the work of "Argo" nominees Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn) and "War Horse." But "Argo" doesn't strike anyone as the sort of film that sweeps on through the categories…or does it?

I would personally love to see "Django Unchained" pull off an upset here as Wylie Stateman's crackling work on the revisionist western was an experience unto itself. He's also been nominated six times now without walking away a winner, so that would be nice to see. But it's hard to