Because I’m obsessed with awards and I love taking risks, here are my predictions for which films and performers will receive Oscar nominations in the six major categories tomorrow morning.  As opposed to my previous post on the Oscars, these are the films that I expect to see nominated (as opposed to who and what I personally would like to see nominated.)

Best Picture

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

Saving Mr. Banks

The Wolf of Wall Street

(Yes, I’m going with a full 10 nominee slate here.  Based on the guild nominations, I think that Inside Llewyn Davis will end up being snubbed.  I also wouldn’t be surprised if Lee Daniels’ The Butler somehow managed to sneak into the top 10, depending on whether or not liberal Academy members want to reward a film that basically uses the 2008 presidential election as a happy ending.)

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity

Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips

Spike Jonze for Her

Steve McQueen for 12 Years A Slave

David O. Russell for American Hustle

(When it comes to Best Director, there always seems to be at least one surprise omission and nomination.  This year, I’m predicting it will be Scorsese and Jonze.)

Best Actor

Bruce Dern in Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years A Slave

Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips

Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club

Robert Redford in All Is Lost

(Best Actor is usually the easiest category to predict and I don’t think this year will be any different.  I would prefer to see Leonardo DiCaprio nominated for Wolf of Wall Street but I have a feeling that the Academy will not be able to resist Tom Hanks essentially playing Tom Hanks.)

Best Actress

Amy Adams in American Hustle

Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

Judi Dench in Philomena

Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks

Meryl Streep in August: Osage County

(I have a feeling that Meryl will get nominated because she’s Meryl.  Sandra Bullock is certainly a contender for her performance in Gravity but I think the Academy is mostly going to view that film as a technical triumph.  Amy Adams is popular and has Golden Globe momentum.)

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper in American Hustle

Michael Fassbender in 12 Years A Slave

James Gandolfini in Enough Said

Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club

(I’d love to see James Franco nominated for his work in Spring Breakers but I think the big surprise here will be James Gandolfini receiving a posthumous nomination for Enough Said.)

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle

Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years A Slave

Julia Roberts in August: Osage County

June Squibb in Nebraska

(Sorry, Oprah.)

So, there you go.  There are my guesses.  Now, I have to say that I don’t have a great record when it comes to predicting the actual Oscar nominations.  That’s because it’s usually a lot more fun to speculate about the nominations than to actually watch them be announced.  When you’re speculating, you’re free to come up with all sorts of scenarios that could lead to exciting upsets (like James Gandolfini receiving an honorary nomination, for instance).   Perhaps that’s why the actual Oscar nominations always feel somewhat anti-climatic.

We’ll  see how right (or wrong) I am tomorrow morning!