Predictions for The Big Night

In just five hours, the 80th Academy Awards ceremony will kick off at The Kodak Theater in Hollywood. As usual, the event is expected to live up to its glamorous reputation as the biggest awards show of the year. This year's celebration honoring the best in movies is looking to be an especially grand evening, seeing that the recent end to the months-long writers strike relieved all worries that the telecast might not see the light of day. Fortunately, the show will go on and a big party will follow.

As for who will be taking home the most coveted of all prizes, here are this blogger's predictions by category.

BEST PICTURE

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST DIRECTOR

Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Ethan and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In The Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, and Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Sarah Polley, Away from Her
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Ethan and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up

BEST ART DIRECTION

American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie En Rose
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother

BEST FILM EDITING

The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Beaufort - (ISRAEL)
The Counterfeiters - (AUSTRIA)
Katyn - (POLAND)
Mongol - (KAZAKHSTAN)
12 - (RUSSIA)

BEST MAKEUP

La Vie En Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Falling Slowly" - Once
"Happy Working Song" - Enchanted
"Raise It Up" - August Rush
"So Close" - Enchanted
"That's How You Know" - Enchanted

BEST SHORT FILM - ANIMATED

I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Même Les Pigeons vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & The Wolf

BEST SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION

At Night
Il Suppliente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

BEST SOUND EDITING

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers

To get your own printable ballot of this year's Oscar nominations, click here. Tune in tonight at 5pm (PST) on ABC to see the show live. I'll be back tomorrow with a complete recap of the ceremony. Until then, I'll be saying three cheers for that little gold statuette that caused all this trouble in the first place.