Having had a look at Jeffrey Wells’ Hollywood Elsewhere Oscar Balloon, peeked at Sasha Stone’s Contender Tracker take on the Oscar race (scroll down, right side of the page), and Kris Tapley’s In Contention 2011-2012 Oscar Predictions, VanRamblings is confident that should you read what follows you’ll have a handle on the probable contenders in the coming Oscar race, all of which serves to point in you in the direction of a handful of quite decent films already in your local multiplex or soon to arrive.
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
The Ides of March
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy
Tree of Life
War Horse
BEST ACTOR
Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
George Clooney, The Descendants
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Joseph Gordon Levitt, 50/50
Matt Damon, We Bought A Zoo
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Tom Hardy, Warrior
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
Ralph Fiennes, Coriolanus
Ryan Gosling, Drive
BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis, The Help
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Keira Knightley, A Dangerous Method
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Albert Brooks, Drive
Brad Pitt, Tree of Life
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Ides of March, Moneyball
Ezra Miller, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Corey Stohl, Midnight in Paris
Jim Broadbent, The Iron Lady
Patton Oswalt, Young Adult
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Carey Mulligan, Drive, Shame
Shaileen Woodley, The Descendants
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus
Judy Dench, J. Edgar
Judy Greer, The Descendants
BEST DIRECTOR
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Bennett Miller, Moneyball
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Tomas Alfredson, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Terrence Malick, Tree of Life
Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Lynne Ramsay, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Steven Spielberg, War Horse
Stephen Daldry, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Clint Eastwood, J. Edgar
David Fincher, The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo
