Oscar Predictions- September 29th

Oscar Season is now in full swing with the completion of the Telluride, Toronto, and Venice Film Festivals that occured in late August and early September.  Trailers have dropped for most of the major films and studios have begun acquisitions of films.  Here are my current predictions of the eight major Oscar categories.  I will predict all categories later on when more becomes clear and shortlists for various categories are announced.

The question still remains on how some films will play.  Will Speilberg's two films be good (War Horse and Tintin)?  How will J. Edgar, Young Adult, and Extremely Loud perform?  Also in question is if Fincher's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Scorsese's Hugo will be too genre based to be to the Academy's taste.  Lastly, will The Iron Lady or My Week with Marilyn do well with less experienced directors or will they merely be vehicles for their actors?  A lot of questions remain up in the air at this point.

Best Picture 

1. War Horse
2. The Descendants
3. The Artist 
4. J Edgar 
5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 

6. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
7. The Help 
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8. Moneyball 
9. The Ides of March 
10. Midnight in Paris 


11. The Tree of Life 
12. Young Adult 
13. We Bought a Zoo 
14. The Iron Lady  
15. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 


Best Director

 

1. Steven Spielberg (War Horse)
2. Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
3. Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar)
4. Stephen Daldry (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
5. Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

6. Bennett Miller (Moneyball)
7. Thomas Alfredson (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
8. Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
9. Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)
10. George Clooney (The Ides of March)

11. Cameron Crowe (We Bought a Zoo)
12. Jason Reitman (Young Adult)
13. Tate Taylor (The Help)
14. David Fincher (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)
15. Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn)



Best Actor 

1. Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar)
2. George Clooney (The Descendants)
3. Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
4. Jean DuJardin (The Artist)
5. Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) 

6. Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March)
7. Joseph Gordon Levitt (50/50)
8. Matt Damon (We Bought a Zoo)
9. Tom Hardy (Warrior)
10. Michael Fassbender (Shame)

11. Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)
12. Paul Giamatti (Win Win)
13. Demian Bichir (A Better Life)
14. Christoph Waltz (Carnage)
15. Ryan Gosling (Drive)

 
Best Actress

1. Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
2. Viola Davis (The Help)
3. Charlize Theron (Young Adult)
4. Glenn Close (Alfred Nobbs)
5. Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

6. Michelle Yeoh (The Lady)
7. Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
8. Felicity Jones (Like Crazy)
9. Elizabeth Olson (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
10. Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo)

11. Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia)
12. Kirsten Scott Thomas (Sarah's Key)
13. Jodie Foster (Carnage)
14. Adepero Oduye (Pariah)
15. Emily Watson (Oranges and Sunshine)


Best Supporting Actor

1. Christopher Plummer (Beginners) 
2. Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
3. Brad Pitt (The Tree of Life)
4. Nick Nolte (Warrior) 
5. Albert Brooks (Drive)
 
6. Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Ides of March)
7. Max Von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) 
8. Patton Oswalt (Young Adult)
9. Armie Hammer (J. Edgar)
10. David Thewlis (The Lady)

11. Jim Broadbent (The Iron Lady)
12. John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene)   
13. Benedict Cumberbatch (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
14. Ezra Miller (We Need To Talk About Kevin)
15. Niels Arestrup (War Horse)


Supporting Actress 
 

1. Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus)
2. Octavia Spencer (The Help)
3. Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)
4. Kiera Knightly (A Dangerous Method)
5. Judi Dench (J. Edgar)

6. Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
7. Bérénice Bejo (The Artist)
8. Jessica Chastain (The Help)
9. Evan Rachel Wood (The Ides of March)
10. Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)

11. Sandra Bullock (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
12. Vanessa Redgrave (Anonymous)
13. Andrea Riseborough (W.E.)
14. Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help)
15. Naomi Watts (J. Edgar)


Adapted Screenplay

1. War Horse (Richard Curtis, Lee Hall)

2. The Descendants (Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne, Jim Rash)
3. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan)
4. Moneyball (Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian)
5. The Ides of March (George Clooney, Grant Heslov)

6. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Eric Roth)
7. The Help (Tate Taylor)
8. We Bought a Zoo (Cameron Crowe, Aline Brosh McKenna)
9. My Week With Marilyn (Adrian Hodges)
10. Hugo (John Logan)

11. Albert Nobbs (John Banville, Glenn Close)
12. Carnage (Roman Polanski, Yasmina Reza)
13. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Rory Kinnear, Lynne Ramsay)
14. Jane Eyre (Moira Buffini)
15. A Dangerous Method (Christopher Hampton)

Original Screenplay

1. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
2. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
3. J. Edgar (Dustin Lance Black)
4. Young Adult (Diablo Cody)
5. Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin)

6. Win Win (Thomas McCarthy, Joe Tibani)
7. Like Crazy (Drake Doremus, Ben York Jones)
8. Beginners (Mike Mills)
9. Bridesmaids (Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig)
10. Warrior (Cliff Dorfman, Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis)

11. Crazy Stupid Love (Dan Fogelman)
12. 50/50 (Will Reiser)
13. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
14. Rango (James Ward Byrkit, John Logan, Gore Verbinski)
15. The Iron Lady (Abi Morgan)