I was originally going to go through all the major nominations and predict the winners but that's become really boring these days. The winners for the Best Lead and Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Picture and Best Director are almost always easy to pick by the time the telecast comes around, right? So if you're doing an Oscar pool, it doesn't help if I tell you to pick No Country for Old Men for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor because everybody else is going to pick the same darn thing. So let's look at some of the smaller categories and see if we can gain an edge. For a full list of the nominees, click here.

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Mark it down: No End in Sight. I feel good about this one.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:
It's time to get desperate so I'm going to follow my stomach. Salim Baba is produced by a company called Ropa Vieja, which happens to be a favorite Cuban dish of mine. Yup, I'm your only hope.

FILM EDITING:
They say this usually goes to the best picture winner, so pick No Country and never look back.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Uncle Dre says Counterfeiters is the real McCoy.

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP:
This is the Academy's chance to give La Vie en Rose an Oscar and it helps that the work is pretty damn good too.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
My heart is with "Falling Slowly" (from Once) but it is not to be. I'm expecting "Happy Working Song" (from Enchanted) to take it home. Fine. No biggie.

BEST SCORE:
Ladies and gentlemen... Atonement's one Oscar win in 2008!

COSTUME DESIGN:
This is a toughie. I usually go with British period pieces here, but we have three to choose from this time. And since I've already decided Atonement is going solo this year, I'm going to guess this is Sweeney Todd's moment to shine.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Oy vey. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford should win but it isn't going to. It's between There Will Be Blood or No Country for Old Men. I'm going to guess the No Country tide might be inevitable.

BEST ART DIRECTION:
The Golden Compass should win but the Academy is weary of awarding bad movies Oscars. So I'm going with Sweeney Todd again, a movie some Academy members would have liked a whole lot more if there was a lot less blood.

BEST ANIMATED FILM:
Ratatouille. Don't get fancy-pants with this one. Just do as I say and we all go home happy.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT:
Over the years I've learned that there are only two sure things in life: my NY Knicks will never win a NBA championship in my lifetime and Madame Tutli-Putli is taking it down this year. (Note: Yes, I'm getting desperate.)

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT:
My Spidey senses tell me Mozart des Pickpockets is stealing this baby. It sounds the most distinguished of the bunch, a lot more distinguished than The Tonto Woman at least.

BEST SOUND EDITING:
Here's the trick to the sound categories: sound editing goes to the loudest movie, in this case, Transformers.

BEST SOUND MIXING:
... And sound mixing will almost always go with the musical. There's no musical nominee this year so next on the list is the animated film. That makes Ratatouille a winner in my book. I admit, however, that I'm a little worried 20-time nominee (you read that right) Kevin O'Connell (Transformers), who has never won, might tug at some heartstrings.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Of the three nominees, Transformers had the biggest "whoa" factor. Give it up to Michael Bay.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
No Country for Old Men edges out There Will Be Blood. If it doesn't, we're in for a more interesting night than I anticipated.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Juno wins. The haters pout like babies and I do a whole lot of smiling.

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Dre writes three times a week for Film.com. Email him!

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