85th Academy Awards Predictions

Here are this year's Oscar nominees and predictions.   It's a strange year to say the least.

Best Picture

Argo
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Amour
Les Miserables
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Silver Linings Playbook
Lincoln
Life of Pi

Prediction:  Argo.    Normally, a film nominated without its director also being nominated has little or no chance of winning.    However, this film has won at every awards show so far this season and I have little reason to believe it won't here. 

Best Director

Michael Haneke (Amour)
Benh Zietlin (Beasts Of The Southern Wild)
Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)
Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Prediction:  Steven Spielberg.   Ben Affleck is inexplicably not nominated for Argo, so Spielberg will win his third directing Oscar as a consolation prize.  

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)
Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
Denzel Washington (Flight)

Prediction:  Daniel Day-Lewis.   This will be his third Oscar win.  

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
Emanuelle Riva (Amour)
Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts Of The Southern Wild)
Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

Prediction:  Jessica Chastain.  Despite Lawrence's win in the SAG awards, I'm sticking with the Golden Globe winner Chastain.   Plus as goofy as Lawrence has been acting lately, I have to wonder how much of her performance was actually acting. 

Best Supporting Actor:

Alan Arkin (Argo)
Robert DeNiro (Silver Linings Playbook)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)
Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Prediction:  Tommy Lee Jones.   Won SAG award.  First time in which all nominees were previous Oscar winners.   Not a slam dunk.   

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams (The Master)
Sally Field (Lincoln)
Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)

Prediction:  Anne Hathaway.   Sally Field has two wins in two previous nominations, but her streak is broken here.   Anne sings well and when a pretty girl uglies herself up for a role, it warrants serious consideration. 

Best Adapted Screenplay

Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook

Prediction:  Argo.  A script that's full of wit and suspense, plus Hollywood gets to play hero!

Best Original Screenplay

Amour
Django Unchained
Flight
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

Prediction:  Moonrise Kingdom .   Not a film I liked, but it's quirky and weird, which usually wins out in this category.