My Oscar Predictions

Best Director - The Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men
The Coen Brothers put together a masterpiece with No Country for Old Men, a story told with a great pace. The directorial choices drive an amazing cast, taking what could've been little more than your traditional on-screen bloodbath into an amazing insight into the human condition.

Best Supporting Actress - Saoirse Ronan for Atonement
While the film itself was over the top for my tastes, Ronan's ability to play the naive yet self assured young Briony Tallis was wonderful. Any viewer would be totally convinced by her performance in a difficult role, which required self-certainty and self-doubt at the same moments.

Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
Absolutely chilling is the only way I can describe Bardem's performance of Anton Chigurh. The role is that of a serial killer with a cold and twisted logic and morality all his own, and Bardem delivers.

Best Actress - Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
In an overall unimpressive crop this year, Blanchett should win for an Elizabeth that was convincingly urgent and anxious yet strikingly feminine throughout.

Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
One cannot say enough about Day-Lewis's performance. There's little I can say that critics haven't already, because they've hailed it as one of the great performances of the century, and it is. Few other actors could pull of the ferocity of Daniel Plainview.

Best Picture - No Country for Old Men
Artfully constructed and innovative, this movie is right up the Oscar voters' alley. With a tense, building story that both draws the viewer into it and disconnects him from it at the same time, No Country is one of the best movies of the decade, let alone the year.