THEY COULD BE CONTENDERS

Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club: coming soon!

It's early days yet, but here are the men I think most likely to succeed as Best Actor nominees in next year's Oscar race:

Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave)
Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Robert Redford (All Is Lost)

 (As yet unseen: Bruce Dern, Nebraska; Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis)

As to the ladies, so far there are only two sure-fire Best Actress nominees:

Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

But femme-o-centric August: Osage County, should earn nominations for somebody, most likely Meryl Streep and/or Julia Roberts.

Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

And let's not discount the impeccable Emma Thompson as the starchy author of the Mary Poppins books in the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks.

And while I wouldn't dare try to predict all 10 Best Film nominees a this early date (the Academy always likes to throw in at least a couple of weirdsmobile choices just to prove how fresh and unpredictable they are), I'll hazard a guess that the only five that matter will be 12 Years A Slave, Gravity, Captain Phillips, and most likely Alexander Payne's Nebraska, and the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis.

(Although, given their track records, Oscar-wise, we can't overlook Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street or David O. Russell's American Hustle.)

But, hey, I could be proven wrong (and I usually am). The point is to get out and see these movies now, and in the next few weeks as they arrive, while they're up on the big screen. Remember, you read it here first!