December is here at last, the time when you finally get to make that list you’ve been itching to put together all year, carefully going through and crossing things off and talking nonstop with your friends about what’s going to happen. No, I’m not talking about your holiday gift-giving, I’m talking about the Academy Awards!

Dec. 31 is the cutoff date for movies to be in the running for the 78th annual Academy Awards, and it looks like this race is going to be incredibly close. With a few unreleased movies sneaking in under the deadline, it’s nearly impossible to pick what will be nominated, and even harder to pick the winners … but hey, I’ll give it a shot anyway. Here are my official predictions for what will be nominated.

Best Picture:

‘A History of Violence’

‘Good Night and Good Luck’

‘Memoirs of a Geisha’

‘Walk the Line’

‘Munich’

Best Director:

David Cronenberg (‘A History of Violence’)

George Clooney (‘Good Night and Good Luck’)

Rob Marshall (‘Memoirs of a Geisha’)

Steven Spielberg (‘Munich’)

Ang Lee (‘Brokeback Mountain’)

Best Actor:

Viggo Mortensen (‘A History of Violence’)

David Strathairn (‘Good Night and Good Luck’)

Joaquin Phoenix (‘Walk the Line’)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (‘Capote’)

Heath Ledger (‘Brokeback Mountain’)

Best Actress:

Felicity Huffman (‘Transamerica’)

Charlize Theron (‘North Country’)

Gwyneth Paltrow (‘Proof’)

Ziyi Zhang (‘Memoirs of a Geisha’)

Reese Witherspoon (‘Walk the Line’)

Best Supporting Actor:

Matt Dillon (‘Crash’)

Ken Watanabe (‘Memoirs of a Geisha’)

Ben Kingsley (‘Oliver Twist’)

Paul Giamatti (‘Cinderella Man’)

Jake Gyllenhaal (‘Brokeback Mountain’)

Best Supporting Actress:

Michelle Williams (‘Brokeback Mountain’)

Gong Li (‘Memoirs of a Geisha’)

Diane Keaton (‘The Family Stone’)

Sandra Bullock (‘Crash’)

Scarlett Johansson (‘Match Point’)

Published on November 30, 2005 at 12:00 pm