All bets are off

Or so it would see.

At this point there seems to be only two sure things in this years Oscar race.

1) Cate Blanchett will get nominated in Best Supporting Actress for "I'm Not There"

2) Ratatouille will get nominated for Best Animated Picture

There is really nothing else. There are safe bets though, but right now they could still suffer from a bad campaign, or a bigger louder late release stealing thunder.

People are saying Daniel Day Lewis is a sure thing for "There Will Be Blood" but maybe Sasha Stone is right with her review. This is a funny ole year. What was going to be a bumper crop of war films filling the slates now looks like it could be the most eclectic bunch of films ever. We are even getting raves for Disney's "Enchanted" and that feel good factor can go a long way!

Who would you have a surprise, but not unworthy nominee for the top categories?
Mine are:

Best Picture - "Enchanted"
Best Director - John Carney for "Once"
Best Original Screenplay - "Once"
Best Adapted Screenplay - "The Assassination of Jessie James"
Best Actor - Don Cheadle for "Talk to Me"
Best Actress - Jeon Do-yeon for "Secret Sunshine"
Best Supporting Actor - Sasha Baron Coen for "Sweeney Todd" (Harry thinks it could happen - See below)
Best Supporting Actress - Samantha Morton for either "The Golden Age" or "Control" (She has garnered two surprise noms before...they obviously love her)

A snippit from Harry Knowles review of "Sweeney Todd"

"However, the character that probably a ton of you are waiting to hear about is Sacha Baron Cohen’s Signor Adolfo Pirelli, the greatest barber in the world – or so he claims. I’m happy to report that Sacha is utterly brilliant and hilarious in that role. During THE CONTEST folks are going to go friggin’ nuts over him – and this is exactly the sort of role that the Academy might nominate for a Supporting Actor nod. It’s a delicious and wondrous character and Cohen blew the audience away with this performance. And I expect that every time this movie plays that beginning with the introduction of Pirelli’s character – the mass audience is going to fall head over heels for the film. His scenes are the lightest and most fun of the film (in a traditional mainstream way)."