The only time I look forward to a Sunday night more so than Super Bowl Sunday is Academy Awards Sunday. Tonight Oscar trophies will be distributed to the few films made over the past year as deemed worthy by voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Often we have a good idea which movie is going to walk away with the bulk of the awards, however we are sometimes fooled. Case in point, two years ago when Brokeback Mountain was the anticipated best picture with the best odds-on chance to win but was hijacked by Crash. Tonight, if oddsmakers are correct, the Coen brothers film No Country for Old Men will walk away with the majority of top awards including the coveted Best Picture Award. According to online sportsbook Bodoglife.com , No Country for Old Men is a 1/3 odds favorite to win best picture.
While Ethan and Joel Coen’s film based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name is favored, it’s no slam dunk. The Paul Anderson directed drama, There Will Be Blood has the potential to steal the prize at 3/1 odds. Outside of these two, I don’t see the other nominated films, Atonement 10/1, Juno 12/1, and Michael Clayton 20/1, having much of a chance.
I have always felt that a film that doesn’t win best director shouldn’t be up for best picture. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Ethan and Joel Coen are expected to win the Oscar for Best Director at 1/5 odds for No Country for Old Men. Again, according to Bodoglife.com , their nearest challenger is expected to be Paul Anderson for his outstanding directing of There Will Be Blood at 9/2 odds. Other nominees and their odds for winning the Best Director Award are Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 7/1, Jason Reitman, Juno, 25/1 and Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton, 30/1.
At 1/20 odds, Daniel Day Lewis is going to win Best Actor for his portrayal of turn of the century oil man, Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. For the odds to be that lopsided it seems somebody knows something. Lewis has been favored to run away with best actor since the film was released. Other nominees and their odds for Best Actor are Johnny Depp, 9/1 for Sweeny Todd, George Clooney, 11/1, for Michael Clayton, Tommy Lee Jones, 30/1 for In the Valley of Elah and Viggo Mortensen, 30/1 for Eastern Promises.
Best Actress will probably go to Julie Christie , 1/2 odds for Away from Her however; watch out for Marion Cotillard at 2/1 for La vie en Rose to pull the upset here. Ellen Page is the sentimental choice to win for Juno but at 11/2 odds doesn’t have much of a chance.
Also nominated for Best Actress are, Cate Blanchett, 30/1, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and Laura Linney, 50/1 for Savages.
Blanchett, a double nominee in the acting categories is expected to win for Best Supporting Actress, 6/5 for her role as Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. Amy Ryan, 2/1, for Gone Baby Gone did a great job and could pull off a small upset and the same goes for Ruby Dee, 7/2, American Gangster. Other nominees are Tilda Swinton, 6/1, Michael Clayton and Saoirse Ronan, 20/2 for Atonement.
Javier Bardem is expected to win Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the evil hit man Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men at 16/1 odds. It’s my opinion that Casey Affleck, 10/1, did a brilliant job playing Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but his chances for winning are limited. Philip Seymour Hoffman, 20/1 is nominated for Charlie Wilson’s War and Tom Wilkinson, 20/1 is nominated for Michael Clayton.
