Time Out predicts the Oscar results

The annual orgy of film industry self-congratulation – the Oscars – is upon us again, and in time-honoured fashion, the Time Out film section are going to give their collective opinions on who‘s going with win big at this year‘s ceremony.

Best Actor
Who we want to win: The inclusion of Daniel Day-Lewis in this list must strike fear into the soul of the competition. We think he’ll drink their milkshake on Sunday.

Who will win: Well, if for some crazy administrative blunder DDL doesn’t pick up the prize, Tommy Lee Jones could be awarded for ‘In the Valley of Elah’ But this one is a no-brainer really.

Best Actress
Who we want to win: I think this one is more of a ‘who we don’t want to win’. Laura Linney is decent, but demonstrates little range of ability in ‘The Savages’, Cate Blanchett is an excellent actress, but ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’ isn’t a film she should be awarded for, if Marion Cotillard wins for ‘La Vie en Rose’, there’ll be a backlash because she doesn’t actually sing in the film, and Ellen Page is plain annoying in ‘Juno’. So Julie Christie for ‘Away From Her’ it is.

Who will win: Hopefully Julie Christie will get a gong she can sit next to her 1965 Best Actress award for ‘Darling’.

Best Director
Who we want to win: Tough call this one, but it’s really a three-film race. Julian Schnabel beat the Coen brothers to the best directing prize at Cannes last year, so he could pip them at the post there, but if the judges are feeling brave, they’d do well to give it to PT Anderson for ‘There Will Be Blood’ for his spectral rendering of greed and religion in the Californian dustbowl.

Who will win: If either ‘Juno’ or ‘Michael Clayton’ pick up prizes in this category, there’ll certainly be some sniffs from the crowd, but all of the above would be deserving winners.

Best Supporting Actor
Who we want to win: We were sad to see that Andrew Dominik’s ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ was all but passed over this year, so we want to see Casey Affleck triumph over the competition. However, Javier Bardem made an excellent baddie in ‘No Country for Old Men’ and has been cleaning up in this catagory.

Who will win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman did have his year in 2005 when he scooped Best Actor for ‘Capote’, but offered three very decent supporting roles within a month of each other with ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’, ‘The Savages’ and ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’. Hal Holbrook (for ‘Into the Wild’) and Tom Wilkinson (for ‘Michael Clayton’) can forget it.

Best Supporting Actress
Who we want to win: Tilda Swinton could have a supporting role in an Eli Roth film and we’d still be rooting for her. She just happens to be the best thing in ‘Michael Clayton’.

Who will win: Everyone loves Cate Blanchett, but not everyone loved (or, for that matter, saw) Todd Haynes’ ‘I’m Not There’, so she could be passed over BAFTA-style on this one. Saoirse Ronan was also very decent in the otherwise drab ‘Atonement’, but probably deserves something like Best Newcomer rather than this.

Best Picture
Who we want to win: OK, this is the big one, but readers of Time Out will know that ‘There Will Be Blood’ is the film we've placed our money on, despite extremely strong, worthy competition from the Coen’s ‘No Country for Old Men’. We’d be happy with either of those.

Who will win: The bookies say ‘No Country…’ on the back of its form with Critics prizes in the US (most notably the LA Critic’s Circle), but on past experience the Oscar judges often vote against the consensus. As such, expect either ‘Atonement’ or ‘Juno’ to win big.

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