It’s ridiculous to try and predict the Oscars a year in advance. Last year’s frontrunners at this time seemed to be Nine, The Lovely Bones, and Hilary Swank in Amelia. And look at how that turned out. But I’m going to attempt to do the impossible. These predictions will probably begin to look really stupid very quickly, but I’ll leave them up anyways, since it’ll be fun(ny) to look back on. Some of these films will inevitably tank, and new favourites will emerge out of nowhere (I hadn’t even heard of Crazy Heart until last fall, for example), but I’ll be happy if I even get a couple of these right.
******************UPDATE*****************************
Directly below are my unaltered predictions from March for posterity’s sake, but please be sure to look for my updated picks (along with commentary) over at my new predictions page here.)********************************************************
Best Picture
The American
Black Swan
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
Love and Other Drugs
Never Let Me Go
The Social Network
Somewhere
The Tree of Life
Best Director
Anton Corbijn – The American
Clint Eastwood – Hereafter
Terrence Mallick – The Tree of Life
Christopher Nolan – Inception
David O. Russell – The Fighter
Best Actor
Matt Damon – Hereafter
Robert Duvall – Get Low
Aaron Eckhart – Rabbit Hole
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
Best Actress
Annette Bening – The Kids Are Alright
Anne Hathaway – Love and Other Drugs
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
Josh Brolin – True Grit
Ed Harris – The Way Back
Andrew Garfield – Never Let Me Go
Sean Penn – The Tree of Life
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Elle Fanning – Somewhere
Bryce Dallas Howard – Hereafter
Helen Mirren – Brighton Rock
Julianne Moore – The Kids Are Alright
Times Like Those 
I think that it would be amazing if Anne Hathaway took home Best Actress, especially since she’s so incredibly young. I personally believe that Michelle Williams is a horrible actress. I would love if Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor. He’s very talented. However, I would prefer Ed Harris winning. He’s getting older, is a brilliant actor, and his role in, “The Way Back” seems very interesting. Sean Penn is my third favorite actor (after Denzel Washington and Daniel-Day Lewis), but he already has two Oscars under his belt. In addition, I think I would feel bad for Dakota Fanning if Elle Fanning gets nominatd, because Dakota has never been nominated herself. I would love it if Bryce Dallas Howard won. I love when a talented newcomer surprises everyone by winning an Oscar!!!
Thanks for the comment!
I also like when newcomers come from nowhere and take the Oscar. I’m guessing there will be some unlikely nominations this year that aren’t even on anyone’s radar yet.
I totally agree about Ed Harris, and I think he has a decent shot at winning tis year. He’s great, and I think that the voters might see him as being “overdue” to win.
Here’s my wild card guess: Toy Story 3 is the first animated feature to win Best Picture.
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