MY PREDICTIONS FOR THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS

With Thursday's nominations just around the corner, I thought I'd put up my predictions and see how this all pans out. I have made predictions for all of the categories, except the the three Short categories (Documentary Short, Live Action Short, and Animated Short). I left those off because I have no idea what is eligible and so any guess I could make would be a blind one. With those categories, we'll just have to wait and see. But everything else is here and I am confident that things will look pretty similar come Thursday morning. But who knows what the Academy has up their sleeves this year?

Also, based on my predictions, the big number tallies break down like this: The Dark Knight gets 12, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button gets 11 and Slumdog Millionaire gets 9. Those numbers seem pretty strange when I break down my predictions that way, but that's how it worked out. We'll find out Thursday how close or far off I really am. And here we go:

PICTURE

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

DIRECTOR

David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler

ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

ACTOR

Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Rosmarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Kate Winslet, The Reader

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Joel and Ethan Coen, Burn After Reading
Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married
Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Robert D. Siegel, The Wrestler

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher and Jonathon Nolan, The Dark Knight
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

ANIMATED FEATURE

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

ART DIRECTION

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

COSTUME DESIGN

Changeling
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
The Reader
Revolutionary Road

EDITING

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire
The Wrestler

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Everlasting Moments (Sweden)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

SOUND MIXING

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

SOUND EDITING

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
Wall-E

ORIGINAL SONG

"I Thought I Lost You," from Bolt
"Gran Torino," from Gran Torino
"Another Way to Die," from Quantum of Solace
"Down to Earth," from Wall-E
"The Wrestler," from The Wrestler

ORIGINAL SCORE

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

MAKEUP

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

VISUAL EFFECTS

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man