A Look at the Oscar Race for Best Picture: The Nominees, Who Should Win and Who Will Win

As part of Popculturology's Oscar Week, we're going to be breaking down the Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress characters. Today, we're going to look at the race for Best Picture.

The race for Best Picture changed the day the world realized Ben Affleck had been snubbed for Best Director. Over the past few months, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty all managed to claim the mantle of favorite for Best Picture, but thanks to Affleck being left off the list of Best Director nominees, it looks like Argo is now the favorite for Best Picture. Unlike past years, 2012 had an abundance of movies that could be considered Best Picture-worthy. Has anyone bothered to watch The Artist after it won Best Picture last year? Nope. That can't be said for most of this year's Best Picture nominees, though.

Head past the jump to check out all the nominees for Best Picture, including their Oscar qualifications, who should win and who will win.

The Nominees for Best Picture
Amour
Other nominations: Best Actress, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Foreign Film

Argo
Other nominations: Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Other nominations: Best Director, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay

Django Unchained
Other nominations: Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing

Les Miserables
Other nominations: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Song, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design

Life of Pi
Other nominations: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Original Song

Lincoln
Other nominations: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing

Silver Linings Playbook
Other nominations: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing

Zero Dark Thirty
Other nominations: Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing

Who Should Win
Lincoln. Check out that list of nominations for Lincoln. Steven Spielberg delivered a historical epic for the ages with Lincoln, directing his cast to Oscar nominations in three of the four acting categories. Lincoln also has Daniel Day-Lewis' now iconic portrayal of Abraham Lincoln going for it, an acting performance that we'll remember long after we've forgotten the other eight Best Picture nominees.

Who Will Win
Argo. The Academy snubbed Affleck when it came to a Best Director nomination, Hollywood wasn't pleased and Affleck's peers rallied to his support. Barring an unprecedented write-in campaign, Affleck won't win Best Director, but the voting members of the Academy will give him something better, making Argo only the fourth film in Oscar history to win Best Picture without having its director receive a nomination. As a producer on Argo, Affleck is entitled to accept the Best Picture statuette, meaning the snubbed actor-turned-director will now most likely have the final word of Oscar season. Funny how that works out.