FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: BEST ACTOR

CHRISTIAN BALE has never been nominated for an Oscar. But if ever there were a performance to fix that, it's his turn as Rescue Dawn's Dieter Dengler, a German-born U.S. Navy pilot who escaped from a Laotian POW camp in 1966. Even as his body wastes away from starvation and regular beatings, Bale's eyes sparkle with a half-mad optimism and a thrilling will to survive.

See Dave Karger's predicted Oscar nominations for Best Actor