Two days before the nominees were announced I published my first blog entry covering this year's Oscars. In that blog post, I predicted the winners in the four acting categories. After the Oscar nominees were unveiled on Tuesday, January 22nd, I let out a huge sigh of relief which, I'm sure, could be heard for blocks. All right, so that's a mild exaggeration. But I do recall my dog looking at me strangely as I typed up the Oscar nomination list, so I must have made some sort of strange noise. I was overjoyed to see all four of my predicted winners did in fact make the cut and are in the running.

I stand by my predictions, although there is one category I'm slightly concerned about. I thought Julie Christie was a shoe-in for Best Actress, but Marion Cotillard has come on extremely strong. Cotillard delivered a career-defining performance in La Vie en Rose and won the Leading Actress award at the British Academy Film Awards as well as a Golden Globe in the Best Actress - Musical or Comedy category. And then there's Ellen Page - you can't count her out. Juno is one of the nominated movies that experienced a huge box office bump after the Academy Award nominees were announced (it's now topped $125 million domestically). Support for the film is equally as strong in the public sector as it is in Hollywood circles and although Page, at 20 years old, is just starting out, she could pull off an upset. Anything is possible, especially when it comes to Oscar voting.

Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) was my early choice to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and I'm sticking with that pick. Ryan's portrayal of a drug-abusing mom who'd rather get high than watch her young daughter wowed critics, and unless voters decide to follow the lead of the Screen Actors Guild Awards (octogenarian Rudy Dee for American Gangster) or the Golden Globes (Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There), this should be Ryan's year to shine.

Moving on to the men, I can't see anyone but George Clooney upsetting Daniel Day-Lewis' applecart. Day-Lewis is the reason to see There Will Be Blood. His is a larger-than-life, over-the-top performance, and it's absolutely riveting. However Michael Clayton star Clooney is a favorite among actors, producers, and directors, so he could pull off a surprise win and net his first Best Actor Oscar (he's already won a Best Supporting Actor trophy for Syriana).

Finally, my pick for Best Supporting Actor remains Javier Bardem. Sporting a freaky hairdo, Bardem ate up the screen in the Coen Brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel No Country for Old Men. Bardem's up against Casey Affleck, Tom Wilkinson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Hal Holbrook, an interesting and eclectic group of actors, but Bardem's been stacking up wins on the road to the Oscars like there's no tomorrow. I can't see anyone but Bardem taking home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and I hope somehow he works the word 'friendo' into his acceptance speech.

The competition is strong in every single Oscar category this year (it's refreshing to see voters didn't make sentimental picks this year and instead echoed the choices of most critics groups). No matter who wins in the acting categories, they can all honesty say they're honored just to be included in such company.