Yidio Oscars 2012 Predictions: Who Will Win Best Supporting Actor?

In the Yidio Oscars Spotlight, we take a look at the key races at this year's Academy Awards. Today we look at the Best Supporting Actor Category, where the race is more or less locked up.

Best Supporting Actor

Though there's a tremendous amount of talent in the category this year, the winner is all but decided. This could be the easiest category to predict, so put your money on this one.

Past Winners

This category is often a good one for giving us new names to watch out for. Case in point, we saw Christoph Waltz win a couple of years ago for "Inglourious Basterds" and Javier Bardem win a couple years before that for "No Country for Old Men."

But veterans tend to do well here also, and we saw Alan Arkin, Morgan Freeman, George Clooney and Christian Bale win in the last decade.

The Nominees

Kenneth Branagh - "My Week with Marilyn"

Jonah Hill - "Moneyball"

Nick Nolte - "Warrior"

Christopher Plummer - "Beginners"

Max von Sydow - "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

What Critics are Saying

While every name on the list has received a great deal of praise, there's one pretty clear choice here. Christopher Plummer has swept the awards so far, collecting a Golden Globe, SAG award, and BAFTA win.

The chances of any of the rest upsetting are slim. Hill, while very impressive in "Moneyball," is likely too young to gain a lot of votes, or else will be thought of as "that guy in 'Superbad.'" Nolte was incredible in "Warrior," but the movie itself didn't garner much attention.

Prediction

Bet the farm on Christopher Plummer.