With the 80th annual Academy Awards show, everyone’s favorite guessing game is here: who will win the golden statues?

Of course, as you can imagine, everyone from movie critics to the simple movie fans has an opinion, a favorite, a prediction. Which movie will go home crowned with the Best Picture Award? Coen’s “No Country for Old Men” or Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood”? Or maybe Juno? But what about the best actor? Will Clooney defeat Daniel Day-Lewis or will Johnny Depp’s performance as Sweeney Todd, the mad, singing barber capture the hearts of Academy voters? Julie Christie or Marion Cotillard? Cate Blanchett maybe…Anyway, let’s see what the predictions are.

As you know, "Michael Clayton", (view trailer) "No Country for Old Men", (view trailer) "There Will Be Blood" (view trailer), "Atonement" (view trailer) and "Juno" (view trailer) are the nominees in “The Best Picture” category.

Even though “Juno” is the biggest commercial success among the Big Five, with $125.5 million earned so far, "No Country for Old Men" seems to be everyone’s favorite, from the New York Times to various cinema blogs.

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men” is based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel (which inspired the name of his book from Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium”), and follows a series of events at the United States - Mexico border in 1980. A drug deal gone bad changes the lives of three people: Llewellyn Moss, a Vietnam veteran, sheriff Ed Tom Bell and Anton Chigurh, a sociopath hired to recover the $2.4 million cash lost during the drug deal. “No Country for Old Men” won most of the pre- Oscar awards, and all the other nominees have serious drawbacks. “There Will Be Blood” is long and elusive, “Michael Clayton” is too mainstream, “Juno” is politically incorrect (a comedy about teen pregnancy) and “Atonement” is basically a big- budget version of “Masterpiece Theatre,” concludes Rick Warner for Bloomberg News.

In “The Best Actor” category, the man who will walk away with a golden statuette in his hands will be picked from the five names: George Clooney ("Michael Clayton"), Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood"), Johnny Depp ("Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"- trailer), Tommy Lee Jones ("In the Valley of Elah" - trailer), Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"- trailer)

Although the choice seems hard to make, the big favorite is Daniel Day Lewis, for his portrayal of Daniel Plainview, an early 20th-century oil tycoon.

Even before the movie release, Lewis received acclamations for his performance and he already won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama award at the Golden Globe Awards this year, Best Leading Actor award at the British Academy Film Awards and Best Actor award at the Critics’ Choice Awards.

“The minute he pulled himself from the bowels of the earth in “There Will Be Blood” you knew he would not stop until he reached the podium at the Kodak Theater,” wrote David Carr the The New York Times.

The “Best Actress” category is the one with the toughest choice. The five nominees are Julie Christie ("Away from Her" - trailer), Cate Blanchett ("Elizabeth: The Golden Age" - trailer), Marion Cotillard ("La Vie En Rose" - trailer), Laura Linney ("The Savages"- trailer), Ellen Page ("Juno").

It seems like the Oscar will go to Julie Christie, for her amazing portrayal of an Alzheimer's victim. She already won an Oscar in 1965 for “Darling”, but there are some critics who also praise the French actress Marion Cotillard, who already won a BAFTA award and a Golden Globe, for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose".

"People in the industry think it's a terrific role, a terrific performance," said Gregg Goldstein, film reporter for The Hollywood Reporter about Julie Christie. "They feel like she deserves it because of her career."

In “The Best Supporting Actor” the winner will be chosen from Casey Affleck ("The Assassination of Jesse James"), Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Charlie Wilson's War" - trailer), Hal Holbrook ("Into the Wild" - trailer), Tom Wilkinson ("Michael Clayton"). Unlike “Best Actress” category, the choice is easy. The Spanish Javier Bardem is everyone’s favorite (or at least likable winner) for his role as a psychotic killer in “No Country for Old Men”.

“Yes, he's a villain and a tough one to embrace. But Bardem finds the nuance within his serial killer's insanity — a twisted sense of right and wrong, a rigid, weirdly noble moral code. (Plus he gets some darkly funny lines which provide some much-needed comic relief.)” wrote Christy Lemire for The Associated Press.

In “The Best Supporting Actress” category, the nominees are Cate Blanchett ("I'm Not There" - trailer), Ruby Dee ("American Gangster" - trailer), Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement"), Amy Ryan ("Gone Baby Gone" - trailer), Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton"). Cate Blanchett is the likable winner.

Playing Bob Dylan was probably Blanchett’s both most interesting and most difficult role. She is a woman, but she had to play a guy, who was not even an ordinary man. It was Bob Dylan, one of the most popular and controversial singers of all times.

“Blanchett's take on the legendary icon resonated so strongly, it was easy to forget that it was being performed by a woman,” said Access Hollywood.

Best Director nominees are Julian Schnabel ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" - trailer), Jason Reitman ("Juno"), Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton"), Joel and Ethan Coen ("No Country for Old Men"), Paul Thomas Anderson ("There Will Be Blood")

It seems like the 2008 will be the Coen’s year as the creative brothers are the big favorites to win the Best Director Academy Award.

Directing duo Joel and Ethan Coen have already won the top prize at the 60th annual Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Director.

“The Coen brothers have been putting out some of Hollywood's most buzzed-about movies for more than two decades - including "Fargo," "The Big Lebowski" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" - and critics agree "No Country for Old Men" is their most Oscar-worthy film yet,” wrote ABC News who sees the Coen duo as a certain winner.

Those are the big favorites according to various media reports, but let’s not forget that we are talking about the Academy Awards and there’s always room for surprises.