Best Picture:

Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up In The Air

As some of you may have noticed, they’ve gone with 10 Best Picture noms this year instead of the usual 5. Good on them. Only one will win, but it’s great that a more even spread of the year’s best flicks will be getting some well deserved recognition. All these films were great, and even more importantly original, but unless Cameron went around sleeping with the spouses of every member of the academy, Avatar pretty much has to win this.

Actor:

Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, Jeremy Renner

All solid actors, but we’re going to have to give this one to Jeff Bridges. He’s been around forever, been in a lot of great movies lately, and his role in Crazy Heart is being recognized (even more so than Tron!!!) as a career performance for him. Possible, but pretty unlikely upset from Clooney.

Supporting Actor:

Matt Damon, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Plummer, Stanley Tucci, Christopher Waltz

We think it would be pretty unfortunate if Christopher Waltz didn’t end up with a statue in this category. His turn as the sickeningly smooth SS officer in Inglorious Basterds was one of the reasons the movie worked so well. The Academy loves breakthrough performances and this should be no exception.

Actress:

Sandra Bullock, Helen Miren, Carey Mulligan, Gabourey Sidibe, Meryl Streep

Helen Miren just won a few years ago for The Queen, Meryl Streep will continue to be nominated every year, but probably won’t win another Oscar for at least another few, and everyone seems to be going crazy for Bullock in this role. It feels like she’s built up enough positive momentum at this point that winning the grand prize shouldn’t be a problem.

Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Vera Farmiga, Maggie Gyllenhall, Anna Kendrick, Mo’ Nique

We get the feeling that Up In The Air is going to be this year’s movie that get nominated for everything but wins nothing, so scratch Farmiga and Kendrick, although Kendrick might have a chance to upset. Penelope Cruz just won something, and Gyllenhaal should probably just feel good about being nominated. That leaves Mo’ Nique who did a way too good job at making everyone’s skin crawl as Precious’ disturbed and disturbing mother, and should be the favorite here.

Animated Feature Film:

Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess And The Frog, The Secret Of Kells, Up

This one should be fun. There’s no doubt that it’s going to come down to Mr. Fox and Up, but which of the two will win is debatable. See, Pixar wins everything all the time, and they might want to reward Wes Anderson’s wonderful stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s tale for doing something different. On the other hand…have you see Up? From the story to its characters, this was one of the most original concepts for an animated film we’ve ever seen, hence it being nominated for a bunch of other awards too, including Best Picture. Thing is, it probably won’t win in any of its other categories, but it still has to win something, so look for it to be rewarded for its brilliance here.

Best Director:

James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Quentin Tarantino, Jason Reitman, Lee Daniels

Every Oscars has an upset, and I’m starting to think it’s going to be in this category. Here’s why. First off, we think it’ll come down between Cameron and Bigelow. Now, there aren’t too many female action directors out there to begin with, and Bigelow’s really, really good at what she does (Point Break anyone?). The Hurt Locker is an amazing piece of filmmaking, and was made on a budget that probably equaled the Craft Services budget of Avatar. Now, take into account that James Cameron has a reputation for being a bit of a dick and that a lot of people in Hollywood don’t love him. Add to that, we live in progressive times and no woman has ever won a Best Director Oscar. Plus they’re ex-husband-and-wife. Cameron and Avatar will win pretty much everything they’re nominated for, but we think Bigelow might steal the directing accolade. It’ll be close either way.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay):

District 9, An Education, In The Loop, Precious, Up In The Air

If Up In The Air wins an award it’ll be here, although we hope its multiple nominations end up being reward enough because the sci-fi film with a social message, District 9, really deserves the win.

Writing (Original Screenplay):

The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, The Messenger, A Serious Man, Up

Inglorious Basterds might not win anything else, but it should win this. Quentin Tarantino’s audacious WW II revenge fantasy was a dialogue rich film that took a very touchy subject and bent it to its will. From our experience it’s the film out of the bunch that generated the most discussion among moviegoers and that can be credited to the insane and challenging ideas and words of Tarantino, and it should win just for that.