Royal Purple

Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

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As of Feb. 12, the writers strike is over. As a result, the 80th annual Academy Awards will go on as they have in years past, but who is going to win? For 14 weeks, the actual awards and nominees have been slightly overshadowed by the dark possibility that their party of the year would go unnoticed.

However, all of that is in the past, so grab your list of nominees and your pens. It's time to go through the names and the films and pick the winners.

First up are the categories for Best Supporting Actor and Actress.

The men's side is a little one-sided, and the women's is more balanced.

"No Country for Old Men" actor Javier Bardem will most certainly take home the Oscar for supporting actor. His creepy portrayal of sadistic killer Anton Chigurh is heads above the other nominees.

Ruby Dee won the Screen Actors Guild award for her supporting role in "American Gangster," which places her as the favorite. However, I could see "Gone Baby Gone" actress Amy Ryan rising out of the rest of the pack. For the sake of making a decision, I'm going with Dee.

Let's move onto the Best Director category. This category consists of three lesser-known directors and two modern cinematic geniuses. Paul Thomas Anderson's work in 'Blood' would run away in this category any other year, but the Coen brothers will steal yet another award from Anderson when they become the first directing team (albeit brothers) to win the Best Director award.

Next up is the categories for Best Actor and Best Actress.

Once again, the men's category appears to be a closed and shut case, and the women's side is a little more balanced.

Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of dangerously driven oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in 'Blood' is one of the few acting roles that can pull you in with its intensity even after you don't want to go there anymore. Lewis is perfect in every role he touches, but his work as Plainview is his best. His closest competitors are Johnny Depp ("Sweeney Todd") and Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"). Regardless of which actor wins, go see all of three films.

The women's side is balanced but, like SAG award winner of the same category would have to be considered the favorite. That winner was Julie Christie for her performance in "Away From Her," but the consistent Laura Linney ("The Savages") and young Ellen Page ("Juno") are both worthy candidates. The voters will honor a classic actress for the most mature role of her lifetime and hand the award to Christie.

Now it's time for the biggest of them all: the award for Best Picture. This year's crop of films features many dark dramas like 'No Country,' 'Blood,' "Michael Clayton" and "Atonement." The fifth nominee, "Juno," has been the most successful at the box office, but some don't agree with it receiving a nomination. That doesn't matter though, because 'No Country' will be taking home yet another award. If you can't already tell, the Coen brothers' dark masterpiece is my favorite film of the year, and possibly, of all time.

Don't take my predictions as fact. They may not be, but I hope they are. Instead, print off a list of nominees and mark up your favorites and tune into ABC at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 to see who takes home the most prized cinematic prizes of the year.

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