Oscar time again this Sunday and your reviewer is here with a few fearless predictions.

The only complication is that, once again, not all the nominees have played in Red Deer and so these predictions are made without having seen likely winners like The Artist.

However, it will probably win Best Picture. This tribute to silent movies is just the sort of film movie reviewers and Oscar voters love. Hugo is also such a tribute and a deserving winner too, but many see it as a children’s picture.

It’s likely that Jean Dujardin from The Artist will win Best Actor, while George Clooney in The Descendants should not be counted out. Best Actress will be Viola Davis in The Help. Besides the popularity of her role and the movie itself, she’s one of those actresses that has quietly built up a reputation in Hollywood due to be rewarded with an Oscar.

For Best Supporting Actor it will be 82-year-old Christopher Plummer as a gay man who finally comes out in Beginnings. It is also seen as his reward for a long and illustrious Oscarless career. Odds are Octavia Spencer will win Best Supporting Actress for The Help, although Melissa McCarthy from Bridesmaids is an outside chance.

Michel Hazavavicius will win Best Director for The Artist. Consolation Oscars, for not winning any of the previous majors, will go to Alexander Payne et al for best adapted screenplay for The Descendants and to Woody Allen, an Academy favourite (23 nominations, three wins), for best original screenplay for Midnight in Paris, although, as usual, he won’t show up.

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J. Edgar, which didn’t get any major nominations.

Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.