Nobody knows anything

Admittedly, awards season is a guilty pleasure for all concerned. It is that sickly sweet cake you love to pieces in those first few samplings, but one you avoid like the plague whenever it threatens to do repeat business. Personally, I’m always partial to some sugary goodness and so, with trademark optimism, I roll the dice to satiate my cravings. Anyone playing the game of prognostication – a curious mix of luck, industry analysis, historical trends and intuition – knows not to expect a good outcome. More than not, as The Dark Knight’s snubbing for Best Director and Best Picture last year showed me, you tend to end up with egg on your face. As Awards Daily often espouses, “Nobody Knows Anything”.

In the wake of blog buddy Craig’s Name Those Nominees Contest, I’ve prepared my final Oscar predictions before the nominees are announced on Tuesday.

My Best Picture 10 are:

An Education
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Precious (I’m not writing out that insane subtitle, it wreaks havoc on the sidebar!)
Star Trek
Up
Up in the Air

Best Director:
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
James Cameron – Avatar
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels – Precious

Best Actor:
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

Best Actress:
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Meryl Streep – Julie and Julia
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side

Best Supporting Actor:
Christolph Waltz – Inglorious Basterds
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Alfred Molina – An Education

Best Supporting Actress:
Mo’Nique – Precious
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Diane Kruger – Inglourious Basterds

Best Original Screenplay:
The Hurt Locker
Up
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
(500) Days of Summer

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Precious
Up in the Air
An Education
District 9
In the Loop

Best Cinematography:
Dion Beebe – Nine
Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker
Robert Richardson – Inglorious Basterds
Roger Deakins – A Serious Man
Christian Berger – The White Ribbon

Best Original Score
Michael Giacchino – Up
Marvin Hamlisch – The Informant!
James Horner – Avatar
Hans Zimmer – Sherlock Holmes
Abel Korzeniowski – A Single Man

Best Original Song:
Crazy Heart “The Weary Kind”
Nine “Cinema Italiano”
Avatar “I See You”
Nine “Take it All”
The Princess and the Frog “Almost There”

Best Costume Design:
The Young Victoria
Nine
Inglourious Basterds
Sherlock Holmes
Bright Star

Best Art Direction:
Public Enemies
Avatar
Inglorious Basterds
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Best Film Editing:
The Hurt Locker
Avatar winner
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
District 9

Best Make Up
Star Trek
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
District 9

Best Sound Editing:
Star Trek
Avatar
Transformers
The Hurt Locker
Up

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
Star Trek
Transformers
The Hurt Locker
District 9

Best Visual Effects:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Animated Feature Film:
Up
Coraline
The Princess and the Frog
Fantastic Mr Fox
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Best Foreign Language Film:
Germany – The White Ribbon
France – A Prophet
Israel – Ajami
Netherlands – Winter in Wartime
Argentina – The Secret in Her Eyes

Documentary Feature
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Beaches of Agnes
Every Little Step
Burma VJ

No doubt there will be shocks galore. You never can know with the Academy.