SAG Nominees Predictions 2014: No Surprises For Major Categories!?

Here's a not-so-surprising prediction: the 2014 Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) winners will yield few surprises.

Judging from the pattern, the frontrunners for the Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Picture and Best Director are almost a lock to win their respective categories.

Perhaps, the most interesting face is for the Best Actress category, which as of this writing, is between Emma Thompson for "Saving Mr. Banks" and Cate Blanchett for "Blue Jasmine" and so far, Blanchett has a slight lead.

Sandra Bullock pulled the whole film "Gravity" by herself so it wouldn't be a surprise that that gravitas would play a role in her winning best actress. Of course, nobody should rule out Meryl Streep ("August: Osage County") even if her role is more tailor-fitted for an Oscar.

For Best Actor, nobody will touch multi-awarded Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) while it's going to be Jared Leto for "Dallas Buyers Club."

The obvious absence of Oprah Winfrey from the Best Supporting Actress Category means that no competition for Lupita Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave"). As per an opinion published by the Rope of Silicon, Oprah will get nominated for the Oscars anyway for "Lee Daniels' The Butler."

For Best Director, it seems Steve McQueen will be it because of the buzz the movie is getting from review sites and social media.

Finally, for the Best Picture award, it's going to be a toss u[ between "12 Years a Slave," "Nebraska" and "American Hustle." Out of the three, critics have been pining for "Nebraska" so unless something drastic happens, the film could very well win the plum. Don't count "Gravity" however just because of the technicalities involved and because it was .

The nonimees for the Critics' Choice Awards will be announced next week. On Dec. 27th, the Oscar nomination voting will start. From hereon, any nominations or buzz generated by any of the SAG nominees will impact on whether or not they will win.