Predictions for tomorrow night's Oscars

One last plug before tomorrow night's show: I'm live-blogging the Oscar ceremony tomorrow night!!!

And now that I've gotten that out of the way, here are predictions on the winners for this year:

• No Country for Old Men will take home Best Picture gold, though I'd prefer There Will Be Blood instead. No Country left me very puzzled at the end, without any sense of resolution, and while I normally don't decry that (since I watch and adore David Lynch's films), it just didn't work for me with No Country for Old Men.



• The Coen brothers will jointly take home the directing award, becoming the first pair to win a directing Oscar since I think West Side Story in 1961. Personally, I'm crossing my fingers for Paul Thomas Anderson, because his direction for There Will Be Blood was just magnificent.



• Daniel Day-Lewis is a shoo-in for Best Actor (though George Clooney is on record for being disappointed that he'll likely be losing to Daniel Day-Lewis). Johnny Depp definitely deserves an Oscar one day, but I can't see him winning for Sweeney Todd—and definitely not over Daniel Day-Lewis.



• Can't say I know who'll get Best Actress, being that I haven't seen any of the nominated performances.



• Like Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood, Javier Bardem is a shoo-in to win Best Supporting Actor, though I'd prefer either Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton or Casey Affleck for Jesse James.



• Best Supporting Actress feels like an all-around tie, because from what I can see, all of them have a shot at winning. Amy Ryan seems to be the favorite for Gone Baby Gone, though I can somehow see Tilda Swinton swiping it for Michael Clayton (though I honestly wasn't too impressed with her performance).



• Best Original Screenplay is a toss-up between Juno and Ratatouille, though I think Juno edges ahead by a hair with its chances.



• No Country will undoubtedly take Best Adapted Screenplay, though Sarah Polley might—might!—score an upset with the script for Away From Her.



• Having seen three of the five nominees for Best Cinematography (No Country, There Will Be Blood, and Jesse James), I can honestly say that all three had wondrous cinematography. Though I'd have to say Jesse James inches ahead by a hair.



• Sweeney Todd will take Best Art Direction, simply because Tim Burton's dark worlds necessitate very pronounced artistic flair.



• Elizabeth: The Golden Age will take Best Costume Design. Why? Because it's a heavy period piece, far more so than Atonement. When you deal with 15th-, 16th-, 17th-century regals, you don't just put the bare minimum into the costume design. Just ask Sofia Coppola!



• I'm crossing my fingers that James Newton Howard takes home the gold for Best Musical Score for Michael Clayton—a score which I found to be a fantastic cross between Heat and Traffic.



• I can see The Transformers taking the gold for Best Sound, though the third Pirates movie is a shoo-in for Best Visual Effects. If you don't believe me, just watch the final battle royale at sea in Pirates, and you'll see what I mean.



• For Best Documentary Features, I think No End in Sight will emerge the winner, though I don't discount Michael Moore's Sicko—not by a mile. The only reason I can see him not winning is a) because he's controversial by nature—and pretty much basks in the controversy he creates—and b) because I don't think Hollywood wants to hear him finish his acceptance speech from when he won for Bowling for Columbine (which he claims he will do if he wins).



• Best Animated Feature belongs to Ratatouille, end of story.

So there are my predictions. I don't have anything riding on them, except my credibility. ;) But either way, I hope you'll join me tomorrow night for a fabulous awards ceremony!