There comes a time in every movie lovers life (OK…once every year) where you have to buckle down and stick by your predictions for the Oscar winners.  What follows is who I think will be taking home the gold this year…it’s not to say it’s who I necessarily think SHOULD win but who I think will win.  Some of them are so close (Best Actor and Best Actress) for instance that I’m not going to beat up on myself if I make the wrong selection. There were so many great movies/performances/acheivements this year that I’m not overly concerned with having the most right.  After all, I’ve seen the majority of movies nominated so some of it is purely opinion based.

Take a read…and let’s see how many are on the money.

Best Picture: “The Artist”

Directing Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”

Actor in a Leading Role George Clooney in “The Descendants”

Actress in a Leading Role Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”

Actor in a Supporting Role  Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”

Actress in a Supporting Role Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) “The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Writing (Original Screenplay) “Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig  (***I know this won’t win but I wanted to vote for it anyway)

Foreign Language Film  “A Separation” Iran

Animated Feature Film “Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction  “Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Cinematography  “The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki

Costume Design “The Artist” Mark Bridges

Film Editing “The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius

Documentary (Feature)  “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

Makeup  “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

Music (Original Score)  “The Artist” Ludovic Bource

Music (Original Song) “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

Sound Mixing “Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley

Sound Editing  “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce “

Visual Effects  “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett

Documentary (Short Subject)  “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Short Film (Animated)  “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

Short Film (Live Action)  “The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George