Oscar predictions 2008

Trying to second-guess who and what the Academy will deem gong-worthy at tomorrow's 80th Annual Academy Awards ceremony is almost the dictionary definition of a fool's game, but hey, I've never shied away from fooldom before (or, for that matter, from making up new words). Below are my predictions for who will be waking up with an Oscar in their pocket on Monday morning.

If you think I'm way off beam and you could do better, please post your predictions before midnight (GMT) on Sunday (either by commenting on this entry or by posting on your own blog and linking back). The highest score gets a bag of Jelly Babies. It's out of fifteen (I've omitted some of the more specialist categories) and the full list of nominations can be found here.

Interestingly, the category I spent longest agonising over was Best Cinematography which boasts five genuinely outstanding nominations, including two from the magisterial Roger Deakins ('No Country For Old Men' and 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford').

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men a
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) a
Best Actress: Julie Christie (Away From Her) r
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) a
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There) r
Best Director: Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men) a
Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country For Old Men a
Best Original Screenplay: Juno a
Best Original Score: Atonement a
Best Song: Falling Slowly (Once) a
Best Foreign Language Film: The Counterfeiters a
Best Animated Feature Film: Ratatouille a
Best Art Direction: There Will Be Blood r
Best Cinematography: No Country For Old Men r
Best Documentary Feature: Sicko r

Update (25th February 7:00): I got 10/15 - the Jelly Babies are mine, all mine... (full winners here)

Related fabric of folly posts:
My Top 25 Films of 2007
40 best songs from film soundtracks
Mild peril: The inadvertent humour of film advisory warnings

Photo: Caleb Sconosciuto. Used under licence