Predix

End of the week day for Gabriel and Julia.   Gabriel sure didn't want to go to school this morning, and who can blame him?  On slate for today: a little work (hopefully), an attempt to finish the book I'm reading, relaxation, 70-degree weather, The Americans, half of the Downton Abbey finale (cisnce it's two hours...), and... oh, who knows?  We just roll with it!

New Movies opening this weekend:

Dark Skies    They're not screening this one for critics, which is an ominous sign indeed.  It looks good.  Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton are the parents in a family that suddenly and bafflingly finds itself pitted against a malevolent force.  J.K. Simmons is the supernatural expert they call in for help.  Good be spooky good or unintentionally bad.  (Yes)

Snitch    Somehow Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's film career keeps on ticking, though I'm not sure he's ever been in a well-received movie.  The Rock is a father who goes undercover for the DEA in order to try get his son - a first-time drug offender - out of his 10-year prison stint.  Susan Sarandon (huh?), Barry Pepper, and Benjamin Bratt co-star.

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Well, it's Oscar weekend, and here are my picks:

Best Picture

Argo.  It's winning every major award in the run-up to Oscar, and it's a critical and commercial hit.  And, yes, the consensus is that Ben Affleck was robbed, and this will be a way to pay the Academy back. 

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

It's really hard to conceive anyone else winning this award.  Hugh Jackman might have once had a shot, but a lot of people hate Les Mis.  I suppose Bradley Cooper is the wild-card here, but the fact that Lewis has won every award leading up to this might spell doom for the Coop.

Best Actress

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

It seems like her year; anchoring the hugely successful The Hunger Games franchise doesn't hurt.  Jessica Chastain's character in Zero Dark Thirty is said to be a little too flat.  Naomi Watts could pull off the upset.  Some like Emmanuelle Riva's chances for Amour.  Just not me.

Best Supporting Actor

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

The toughest of the acting races to call.  Christoph Waltz and Alan Arkin might have won too recently, and it's thought that Philip Seymour Hoffman has had much better roles.  So it's between DeNiro - who has really been campaigning hard for what is said to be his best role in a long time - and Jones, who many feel walks away with Lincoln.  DeNiro hasn't won since 1980, Jones since 1993.  Hmmm.  I'll go with Jones, but barely. 

Best Supporting Actress

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Next. 

Best Director

Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Minus the competition of Affleck, this really does seem like a consolation prize.  Ang Lee is probably the frontrunner here, for bringing the unfilmable Life to Pi to, um, life, but he is going against an industry titan, earning some of his best reviews for a very different outing this time, a more intimate, actors' piece.  David Russell, Silver Linings Playbook's helmer, could add some spice to the mix.

Original Screenplay: Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino (runner up: Amour)
Adapted Screenplay: Argo, Chris Terrio (runner-up: Lincoln, Tony Kushner)
Visual Effects: Life of Pi
Foreign Language Film: AmourAnimated Film: Wreck-it Ralph
Cinematography: Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
Costume Design: Les Miserables
Documentary: How to Survive a PlagueEditing: Argo
Documentary short: Open Heart
Original Score: Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
Makeup and Hairstyling: Les Miserables
Original Song: "Skyfall," Adele, Skyfall
Production Design: Life of Pi
Animated Short Film: Fresh Guacomole
Live Action Short Film: Curfew
Sound Editing: Django Unchained
Sound Mixing: Skyfall