Oscar predictions!

It’s just a matter of a few hours before we see the who’s who of the movie world come together for the much awaited Oscar Awards. And needless to say, the predictions and calculations are doing the rounds on social networking sites and on the blogs already.

And not a surprise that the Best Actor and Best Actress remain the much talked about categories.

Though 2011 made us believe that it was Colin Firth’s year, the nominations seemed to suggest otherwise. Considering that The Descendants, The Artist and Meryl Streep have dominated the awards season over the last few weeks, one cannot be blamed for expecting very few surprises on Monday early morning (our time).

The nominees for Best Actress include Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Viola Davis (The Help), Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn).

Pundits predict that Viola Davis has a good chance of taking home the award, though Meryl Streep remains an all time favourite for many.

However, it seems like a two-man race between Clooney and Dujardin for the Best Actor category, the nominations for which includes Demian Bichir (A Better Life), George Clooney (The Descendants), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), and Brad Pitt (Moneyball).

Best Picture has always been a two horse race between The Artist and The Descendants but net analysts say that the novelty of the former will win the day.

The nominees for Best director include Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Alexander Payne (The Descendants) and Martin Scorsese (Hugo). Michel Hazanavicius here looks like the predictable winner — perhaps because of the fact that he won the Directors Guild’s award. However, netizens don’t mind seeing Martin Scorsese take his second best directing Oscar for Hugo, a film that uses 3-D technology without sacrificing the wonders of traditional storytelling.