It's all happening in movie land this week, what with the Razzies and the BAFTAs and the IFTAs revealing their nominees in the past 24 hours. And then there's that other ceremony, y'know, that obscure little one they hold in Hollywood every year? So, with less than 24 hour to go, our Rory Cashin makes his predictions about this year's Oscar nominees.
Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
John Hawkes - The Sessions
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Who should win? Joaquin Phoenix
Who will win? Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Maggie Smith - Quartet
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Who should win? Naomi Watts
Who will win? Emmanuelle Riva
I haven't actually seen Zero Dark Thirty yet so I can't judge Chastain's performance just yet!
Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Argo
Leonardo DiCaprio - Django Unchained
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Who should win? Christoph Waltz
Who will win? Alan Arkin
It'll either be Arkin or Jones, since they're both so old. And while Waltz was amazing in Django, I'd actually put Samuel L Jackson above him for giving one of the best performances in his whole career. But he won't be nominated against the likes of Waltz and DiCaprio.
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - The Master
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Sally Field - Lincoln
Judi Dench - Skyfall
Who should win? Amy Adams
Who will win? Anne Hathaway
Dench is my outside shot, but is still definitely a maybe. Adams should win for going full on Lady Macbeth, but Hathaway will win it for cutting all of her hair off.
Best Animated Feature
Wreck It Ralph
Brave
Rise Of The Guardians
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Who should win? Wreck-It Ralph
Who will win? Wreck-It Ralph
It's not a great year for Animated movies - the presence of an Adam Sandler vehicle should be testament to that - and unless there's some foreign animated movie I'm unaware of, Wreck-It Ralph was the best of a bad bunch.
Best Director
Ben Affleck - Argo
Ang Lee - Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master
Tom Hooper - Les Miserables
Who should win? Ben Affleck
Who will win? Ben Affleck
I haven't seen Lincoln, so i can't judge entirely, but Spielberg is going to be around for a while yet, and I doubt the Academy will do a Scorsese on him and award him for something quite so... obvious.
Best Picture
Argo
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty
Les Miserables
Silver Linings Playbook
Life Of Pi
Amour
Skyfall
The Master
The Avengers
Who should win? Argo
Who will win? Argo
A very tough year to call, but Hollywood loves a movie that makes them look good, and Argo was that all over. And for anyone thinking Skyfall and The Avengers are too populist for this list, don't forget that Avatar, Inception, Toy Story 3 and Up were all nominated for Best Picture in the last two years alone.
Quick Picks
Best Foreign Language Feature: if Amour doesn't win it, I'll eat my hat. Even though I much preferred The Intouchables.
Best Original Song: Skyfall by Adele. Although they might let Taylor Swift's song for The Hunger Games win to show that they're still "down with the kids."
Best Original Screenplay: Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino. It won't win anything else on the night, and the Academy are not going to let a movie about slavery go unrewarded.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Argo. Although Life Of Pi, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook are all in with a solid chance.
Best Original Score: Hopefully Skyfall, but probably Cloud Atlas. Both are deserving.
