Oscar Predictions 2012: Acting

Let's take a look at the acting categories.

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Nick Nolte, Warrior

This has been a lock for quite some time and is probably the lock of the night. Jonah Hill never really had a shot this year and Nick Nolte's performance wasn't going to gain any traction despite Warrior being under appreciated. Christopher Plummer has been a Hollywood great for some time and still remains statue-less. With a brilliant performance as a recently out widower he was fantastic in Beginners. Then all of a sudden people remembered that Max von Sydow is also old and doesn't have an Oscar so he looked to be gaining some support but I don't think it will matter as Plummer is the more deserving of the two. And while this was previously mentioned in the comments section by a good friend it is worth repeating how Albert Brooks and Patton Oswalt took their snubs to twitter.

Best Supporting Actress
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Octavia Spencer, The Help

I know how boring, another lock. The Help's success is directly based off the performance of Spencer and Viola Davis. Spencer has already walked away with an arm full of awards for her performance plus she actually deserves the award. Creeping up behind her is Bérénice Bejo from The Artist, but for her to win would be a huge upset. It may surprise you that I think Bejo is in a better position to upset than Melissa McCarthy who stole the show in Bridesmaids but we all know the Academy hates comedies already, plus she won an Emmy for her movie performance so that has to count for something. While I think McCarthy and Spencer did equally well in their respective movies Spencer should have an easy win of it.

Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Why won't they let poor Meryl Streep alone, haven't they done enough to her psyche. Forcing her to sit in the front row year after year and knowing she is going to lose. It looks like now she is in second place following the front runner Viola Davis. While Streep may have won the BAFTA award and the Golden Globe for The Iron Lady, Davis won the critics’ choice and SAG award. And doesn't playing Margret Thatcher seem like her begging to win. They may be knotted up in Oscar precursors but it appears Davis has more support from The Academy. Viola Davis will be the 14 th person to beat out Streep for the Oscar.

Best Actor
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Finally a category that is still up for grabs. With both George Clooney and Jean Dujardin having won a golden globe for their performance this is really anyone's race. Dujardin may have the slight advantage having won the SAG award. Since the race is so close we could actually look at the performances themselves. Both men starred as men who were broken and beaten down in their story. No matter how hard you looked it still seemed like Clooney with all his Clooney charm playing the part rather that Matt King on the screen. Dujardin has the advantage of being an unknown but he also had to convey all of his emotion via expression. You still got what he was thinking without more than 5 words spoken and that to me speaks to a better performance. I believe that Dujardin deserves the win more so I'm going with him as my pick.

Tomorrow we'll give a look at Best Picture.