My 2008 Oscar Predictions for the Academy's Top Categories

The Academy Awards are just around the corner. Here are my armchair predictions of which films, actors, directors, and supporting cast will win this year's Academy Awards. I cover several, but not all, the categories here. For a full list of Academy Award categories and nominations, please visit the link at the bottom of this article (or in the resources section of this article).

Note: These Oscar predictions don't necessarily reflect which Actor Actress or Film I want to win. This list is, rather, the films and actors I believe will win Academy awards this year.

The Oscar for:

Best Picture

"Juno" The other films are Oscar worthy, but I predict Juno will win this year's Academy Award due to the film's widespread appeal.

Best Director

Jason Reitman for "Juno". It was a tough call, but I think it is likely he will get an Oscar for the same reason as above.

Best Actor

Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

Most of the nominees deserve an Oscar for their roles: I believe Johnny Depp is the one who will, in the end, take one home.

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."

This role is well-suited to Cate and I will be very surprised if she does not take home an Oscar for this film.

Best Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men."

While I would prefer the Oscar for best supporting actor go to Hal Holbrook for his role in "Into the Wild," I have a strong feeling the Academy award will go instead to Javier Bardem.

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett in "I'm not there."

It is not at all uncommon for an Actor/Actress to win an Oscar in more than one category. I picked Cate Blanchett for this because the role she played in "I'm not there" was a difficult role. I think that will be acknowledged.

Best Costume Design

"Elizabeth: The Golden Age"

Best Animated Feature Film

"Ratatouille"

I hesitated on this one. "Surf's Up" has the ever popular penguins. But I believe Ratatouille is most likely to bring home the Academy award.

Best Documentary Feature

I had great difficulty predicting the Academy award winner for this category. My final decision however is "War/Dance". This documentary, about three children in war-torn Uganda, is known for its compelling story and cinematography.

The other nominees for this category were:

"No End in Sight"

"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"

"Sicko"

"Taxi to the Dark Side"

Best Visual Effects

"The Golden Compass": Michael Fink, Ben Morris, Bill Westenhofer and Trevor Wood

I will be somewhat surprised if my Oscar predictions are way off the mark. Nevertheless, I did not bet any money on these. One thing exciting about the Academy Awards is that frequently the Oscar winners are not at all the actor or film one would expect.

For the full list of Oscar nominees and categories, click here.