Many film critics, fans and pundits – including an effusive Stephen Fry at this year’s British Academy Film Awards – have commented that 2012 was an exceptional year in movies, and I can’t help but agree.

If Tommy Lee Jones walks away with the award for his role as a crotchety senator in Lincoln, I will happily applaud

As we head for the 85th Oscar ceremony tonight, the task of predicting the winners is hard. Unlike previous years, there are few really obvious frontrunners.

Only Daniel Day-Lewis in the Best Actor race and Anne Hathaway as Best Supporting Actress are sure bets. Otherwise, all the major categories are wide open. The main contenders have shared numerous significant critics’ prizes and other major industry awards, including the Golden Globes and Baftas, between them.

Moreover, choosing who I think should win is also proving to be a thorny issue, as I am hard-pressed to name a firm favourite out of the many outstanding films that have graced our screens over the past few months.

So here goes. The Best Original Screenplay will, in all likelihood, go to Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained. Much as I love the director, however, I don’t think it is one of his better efforts and my choice would certainly be for Mark Boal’s taut and thrilling screenplay for Zero Dark Thirty, which chronicles the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

The Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar will go to Chris Terrio for his drama Argo. The Ben Affleck-directed-and-starring thriller, based on the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, has proven to be a firm favourite. Close contenders Tony Kushner’s rich and riveting work for Lincoln and David Magee’s adaptation of the ‘unfilmable’ Life of Pi would also be deserving winners.

While it would be a brave few that would bet against Pixar’s Brave in the Best Animated Feature category, those who would dare might cash in, as I believe Wreck-It Ralph has the edge to carry off this award.

The Best Foreign Language film will clearly go to Amour. Of the five nominations this wonderful love story has earned, this is the one it’ll definitely go home with.

Although the Best Supporting Actor category seems quite open, I’d bet on Christophe Waltz for Django Unchained. While some critics have commented that the Austrian actor will not win a second Oscar for his second Tarantino film, I believe that is the exact reason he will – and should – win.

So completely different are the two roles – and all he has done in between – that he is proving to be one of the best character actors of our times. Having said that, if Tommy Lee Jones walks away with the award for his role as a crotchety senator in Lincoln, I will happily applaud.

Hathaway will walk away with the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her heartrending performance in Les Misérables. I am convinced of this, because firstly, she has won practically every other award going, and secondly, she deserves it.

Best Actor will be Day-Lewis for his astonishing portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. Truly a masterful performance, this intense and versatile actor deserves to walk away with his third Best Actor gong. However, I felt a more emotional connection with Hugh Jackman’s Valjean in Les Misérables and would possibly have cast my vote for him .

The Best Actress category is by far the hardest to call. Jessica Chastain had the momentum for her sublime performance as a CIA operative in Zero Dark Thirty, but Jennifer Lawrence recently won the Screen Actors Guild Best Actress Award for her remarkable role in the comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook, while the 85-year-old Emmanuel Riva took the Bafta for the beautiful Amour.

They are three deserving actresses in three flawless roles in three completely different movies. However, my gut tells me Chastain will prevail... and much as I admired Riva and am a big fan of Lawrence, I agree that Chastain’s profound and complex performance should be rewarded.

You’d have thought that the Best Director award would go to Affleck for Argo, since he has deservedly taken most of the major prizes to date. However, in one of the biggest shocks when the nominations were announced, his name was not on the list, so this award will go to Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. I would choose Life of Pi’s Ang Lee for taking an extraordinary book and making a more extraordinary film.

Affleck can take great comfort in the fact that Argo will win Best Picture tonight. It is truly a great film and celebrates Hollywood in a unique way.

Which film do I think should win? Really, to choose between Argo; the emotional ride that was Les Misérables; the fascinating account of the abolishment of slavery in Lincoln; the magic of Life of Pi; and the intricate and thrilling tale of the hunt of Bin Laden as told in Zero Dark Thirty?

Let me think about it...