Very Early Predictions - 2014 Oscar Nominations

As we know the Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 16, 2014 but as the majority of critics groups have already announced their 2013 winners plus we have at least one guild nominations and because some of you have been asking for how I see the possible Oscar nominations, will dare to play the guessing game this early.

Please recall that -with exception of the guilds- NONE of the critics are Academy members consequently do not vote in the nomination process, but definitively they are viewer's influencer and after all, like it or not, Academy members are also viewers.

My crystal ball says that for the following categories probable Oscar nominations are ...

Best Picture
Very Sure
12 Years a Slave
Gravity

Maybe
Her
American Hustle
August: Osage County
Dallas Buyers Club
Inside Llewyn Davis
Saving Mr. Banks
Philomena

Wouldn't mind if are NOT nominated
Captain Phillips
Nebraska
The Wolf of Wall Street
Lee Daniels' The Butler

Dare the Academy to nominate
Blue is the Warmest Color
Jagten (The Hunt)

Best Foreign Language Film
Very Sure
Jagten (The Hunt)
La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty)

Maybe
The Broken Circle Breakdown
L'image manquante (The Missing Picture)
Omar
The Notebook
Two Lives

My Winner: The Hunt

Best Director
Very Sure
Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity
Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave

Maybe
Spike Jonze for Her
David O. Russel for American Hustle
Joel and Ethan Coen for Inside Llewyn Davis

Wouldn't mind if are NOT nominated
Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips
Alexander Payne for Nebraska
Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street

Dare the Academy to nominate
Woody Allen for Blue Jasmine
Abdellatif Kechiche for Blue is the Warmest Color

Best Actress
Very Sure
Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock in Gravity

Hope the next three (to make the 5 nominees) are:
Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks
Judi Dench in Philomena
Meryl Streep in August: Osage County

Maybe
Brie Larson in Short Term 12
Kate Winslet in Labor Day
Greta Gerwing in Frances Ha

Dare the Academy to nominate
Adèle Exarchopoulos in Blue is the Warmest Color

Best Supporting Actress
Very Sure
Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave

Maybe
Amy Adams in American Hustle (should be nominated in this category to have better chances)
Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine
June Squibb in Nebraska
Octavia Spencer in Frutivale Station

Wouldn't mind if are NOT nominated
Julia Roberts in August: Osage County
Oprah Winfrey in Lee Daniels' The Butler

Dare the Academy to nominate
Scarlett Johansson in Her (already read that will not qualify BUT absolutely disagree, voice only require great performances; if not agree, have you seen dubbed movies with awful voices that have absolutely nothing to do with what you see in the screen?)

Best Actor
Very Sure
Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave

Maybe
Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club
Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips
Bruce Dern in Nebraska
Forest Whitaker in Lee Daniels' The Butler
Joaquin Phoenix in Her
Michael B. Jordan in Frutivale Station

Wouldn't mind if are NOT nominated
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street
Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis
Robert Redford in All is Lost

Dare the Academy to nominate
Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt

Best Supporting Actor
Very Sure
Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club

Maybe
Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave
Daniel Bruhl in Rush
Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips
James Gandolfini in Enough Said

Wouldn't mind if are NOT nominated
James Franco in Spring Breakers

Best Documentary
Very Sure
The Act of Killing
Stories We Tell

Maybe
20 Feet From Stardom
Blackfish
The Square
The Crash Reel (because director is Lucy Walker)

Movie that will win most tech awards, similar to what Life of Pi did last year, Gravity.

Up-to-date most critics predictions for all categories rotate around the SAME movies, let's hope that when the nominations are announced they include a larger number of films and not only the 5+ that many predict will be nominated so will not be too easy to guess who will win in what category. Sigh.

That's it. Wont guess more as is too early. But if you ask me which movie(s) I believe is the best that have seen during 2013 have to say that there are three choices that make very difficult to select only one: The Hunt, Blue is the Warmest Color and The Act of Killing.