Best Actor – Gary Oldman
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Surely it’s time that Gary Oldman was recognised by the people on the Academy Award board, don’t you think? Mainly because he’s an utter legend, but he’s also a pretty sound actor too; he’s dipped his wick in all the genres, enjoyed a stint as Sirius Black in Harry Potter, and now, with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy tipped to be THE success of the season, we’re pretty sure he’s in the running for Best Actor. And, if we have our way, he’ll win it too.

Other BFF nominees include:-

George Clooney for The Descendants
It’s George and it’s an intense family drama. We’ll eat our hats if it doesn’t get at least a sniff at the nominees list!

John C. Reilly for We Need To Talk About Kevin
Mr Reilly’s not your obvious Oscar contender, but we’ve heard some very good things about his perfomance in this yet-to-be-seen movie. Plus, it’s got an insane amount of tragedy at the heart of it, so there’s perfect material for an acceptance speech: “While making this film, I really came to understand / realise / connect with my character…”

James Howson for Wuthering Heights
Everyone who’s anyone is raving about this gritty Britty remake of the classic story; sordid sex scenes, primal instincts and the first black man in the role of Heathcliff. Innovative stuff.

Tom Hanks for Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
Do we need to remind you about 9/11? No, of course we don’t. And it’s Tom Hanks. It’s TOM HANKS!

Best Actress – Kirsten Dunst
Melancholia

We love a freaky psychedelic film at BFF and we know that the people at Oscar do too! Kirsten takes on the role of a lifetime in this disaster drama movie, which sees her character descend into melancholia and then euphoria as she comes to deal with the inevitable destruction of Earth. Pretty trippy, huh? Now, we know Kirsten’s filmography is limited to Spiderman, comedies and chick flicks, but she’s also given some stellar performances in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Mona Lisa Smile and Elizabethtown. If Carey Mulligan can get one, Kirsten can too!

Other BFF nominees include:-

Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn
It’s Michelle’s first big production, yet it looks set to make a killing at the box office. Everybody has a perchance for biopics and, when you’re playing Marilyn Monroe, you can’t but help to succeed. However, if Michelle gives an even slightly off performance, the film is doomed. DOOMED!

Tilda Swinton for We Need To Talk About Kevin
The book scored big on the best-sellers list and the film is rumoured to be just as good, if not better, at telling the tale of this Columbine-esque massacre. And Tilda’s not known for giving a bad performance…

Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady
We haven’t seen it yet but come on, who are we kidding? Historic drama AND Meryl Streep? Bound to score big points at Oscar. In fact, it’s almost like cheating…

Kate Winslet for Carnage
Kate Winslet saved Richard Branson’s mum, didn’t she? From a fire, I heard. Epic stuff.

Best Director – Steven Spielberg
War Horse

We haven’t seen this yet (hell, we haven’t seen Melancholia either!) but we’ve been tipped off that War Horse is a big Oscar contender for Spielberg this year. Why? It features all the elements of a good Academy Award winner; four hundred horses, shed loads of war and plenty of coming of age drama for us to sink our teeth into. It also stars Emily Watson (legend) and newcomer Jeremy Irvine, who seems pretty damn promising. Guess we’ll have to just wait and see…

Other BFF nominees include:-

Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
Have you seen the trailer for this one yet? It just goes without saying that The Artist is one of the most exciting films to come out this year.

Tomas Alfredson for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
John Underwood has been waxing lyrical about this film ever since he saw it. And John Underwood ain’t exactly the easiest guy to impress…

George Clooney for The Ides Of March
This is George’s fifth offering to the world of direction and, thanks to a solid script and cast, this dirty politics movie might just be his ticket to scoring a nice little golden man

Terrence Malick for The Tree Of Life
It’s The Tree Of Life. And that, my friends, is all I have to say on the matter.

Best Picture – The Artist
… because we love a dark horse

I’ve already raved about The Artist recently, but hey, if something’s worth saying, it’s worth saying twice. This black and white silent movie looks like it oozes Old Hollywood glamour from every single film cell and the folks at Cannes have gone crazy for this one, so why not the Academy Award board too?Plus, it has the edge on everybody else because it’s a silent film; a very bold step into today’s modern world of talkies and CGI. Add that to opulent sets, costumes, uber-talented stars and fantastic monochrome photography and you have a recipe for sure-fire Oscar success.

Other BFF nominees include:-

J. Edgar
Leonardo Di Caprio takes on the role of a lifetime as he plays J. Edgar Hoover, the feared and revered face of law enforcement in America for almost 50 years. In fact, why isn’t he on our Best Actor nominees list? OF COURSE he’s a contender. God, he’s well owed one as well. Shutter Island, Inception and Revolutionary Road were all deserving of a golden statuette, for goodness sake!

The Iron Lady

The story of Margaret Thatcher, who smashed through the barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male-dominated world, is always bound to sit well with the public, despite the fact that, in reality, not everybody’s all that enamoured with old Maggie T. Meryl Streep’s got her work cut out for her!

Midnight In Paris
“Nostalgia is denial – denial of the painful present… the name for this denial is golden age thinking – the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in – its a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present.” Erm, that sounds like a quote from an Oscar winning movie right there, doesn’t it?

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Ah, isn’t it nice to have a laugh once in a while? Vampires are never going to win anything, except maybe the souls of innocent mortals. Move on Twi-Hards, move on.