2009 Oscar Predictions

Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow morning so in anticipation of that I've made my own list of predictions. Here they are, for what it's worth (and, yes, I realize that my Melanie Laurent prediction is probably wishful thinking):

Best Picture
Avatar
An Education
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Invictus
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up In The Air

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up In The Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up In The Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

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

Best Supporting Actress
Vera Farmiga, Up In The Air
Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air
Melanie Laurent, Inglorious Basterds
Mo'Nique, Precious
Julianne Moore, A Single Man

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds

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

Best Adapted Screenplay
An Education
Crazy Heart
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Precious
Up In The Air

Best Film Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
Up In The Air

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Bright Star
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Nine

Best Art Direction
Inglorious Basterds
Nine
A Serious Man
Sherlock Holmes
Where The Wild Things Are

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

Best Makeup
District 9
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Star Trek

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

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

Best Original Score
Avatar
The Informant!
Public Enemies
The Princess and the Frog
Up

Best Original Song
"The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart
"(I Want To) Come Home," Everybody's Fine
"Cinema Italiano," Nine
"Take It All," Nine
"Ma Belle Evangeline," The Princess and the Frog

Best Foreign Language Film
A Prophet (France)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Samson and Delilah (Australia)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
Winter in Wartime (Netherlands)

Best Documentary Feature
The Beaches of Agnes
The Cove
Every Little Step
Food Inc.
Mugabe and the White African

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

And, finally, 3 potential nominations that I'm not predicting, but that wouldn't really surprise me:

* Stanley Tucci receiving a Supporting Actor nomination for Julie & Julia instead of The Lovely Bones

* Emily Blunt as Best Actress for The Young Victoria

* The Blind Side slipping into the Best Picture fray