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We Got This Covered Picks The Oscar Winners!

Tomorrow, nine terrific films will go head-to-head for the coveted title of Best Picture, and there are still heated arguments about who is currently in the lead, between Alfonso Cuarón's thrilling space odyssey Gravity and Steve McQueen's devastating historical drama 12 Years a Slave. Other races are just as tough to call, with Best Actor looking like a photo finish between Matthew McConaughey, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leonardo DiCaprio. And of course, Oscar night always has surprises in store, so even the most seemingly sure calls are actually far from assured.

Best Supporting Actor:

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JB:

Dallas-Buyers-Club

Will Win: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Should Win: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Here we have a category that’s pretty much all locked up. Jared Leto has practically been unbeatable when it comes to the major award precursors, taking the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and SAG. It’s not that surprising. He’s incredible in Dallas Buyers Club and is very deserving of the award, so expect him to win the Oscar very easily.

JA:

Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club

Will Win: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Should Win: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Sorry, Michael Fassbender. I doubt it will be long until you get your golden statue, but this is Leto’s prize all the way. It could be easy to mock the performance for all it does to ensure the Academy recognizes it – the actor lost a lot of weight and played a transgender woman who fought with AIDS – yet Leto makes Rayon vibrant and vivid enough to thwart these categorizations. The most astonishing moment in Dallas Buyers Club is actually the one where Rayon removes the wigs and makeup and dresses as a more “socially presentable” man to plead for financial support from a family member. The sense of abandonment and betrayal that Leto portrays stands in contrast to his feminine tenderness that glowed in earlier scenes, but it’s still completely shattering. This is Leto’s award to lose, and a rather weak competition does not allow for much of a spoiler here. Leto is a safe bet.

IF:

barkhad_abdi_5266b2bae087c377d7de3549

Will Win: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Should Win: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Though Leto’s brave turn as a transgender woman living with AIDS will undoubtedly bring him a statuette come Sunday, I’m personally rooting for Barkhad Abdi. His riveting, terrifying portrayal of lead hijacker Abduwali Muse in Paul Greengrass’s nail-biter Captain Phillips was the most brilliant debut from any actor I saw last year. Though it would have been easy to play Muse as a megalomanical baddie, Abdi’s finely textured portrait instead paints a picture of a complex human being as much as a prisoner (to his unknown bosses and his very profession, entered into out of sheer desperation) as the titular captain. Muse is both supremely menacing and surprisingly empathetic, and that’s entirely thanks to Abdi.

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