Oscar Watching: Taking a Gamble?

Best Picture
Gone Girl was the weekend favorite yet again. But will that be enough when all is said and done? Now we have The Gambler on our radar, too.
1. Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller)
2. The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum)
3. Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
4. Unbroken (Angelina Jolie)
5. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
6. Selma (Ava DuVernay)
7. Interstellar (Christopher Nolan)
8. Gone Girl (David Fincher)
9. The Theory of Everything (James Marsh)
10. Into the Woods (Rob Marshall)
11. American Sniper (Clint Eastwood)
12. Trash (Stephen Daldry)
13. Big Eyes (Tim Burton)
14. A Most Violent Year (J.C. Chandor)
15. Wild (Jean-Marc Vallée)
16. The Gambler (Rupert Wyatt)
17. Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh)
18. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
19. St. Vincent (Theodore Melfi)
20. Top Five (Chris Rock)
21. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
22. The Homesman (Tommy Lee Jones)
23. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
24. Pride (Matthew Warchus)
25. Still Alice (Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland)
Best Director
Despite the genre stigma, David Fincher might end up with a bid here, after all.
1. Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher
2. Richard Linklater for Boyhood
3. Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game
4. Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman
5. Christopher Nolan for Interstellar
6. David Fincher for Gone Girl
7. Angelina Jolie for Unbroken
8. Ava DuVernay for Selma
9. James Marsh for The Theory of Everything
10. J.C. Chandor for A Most Violent Year
Other Possibilities: Rob Marshall for Into the Woods, Clint Eastwood for American Sniper, Stephen Daldry for Trash, Tim Burton for Big Eyes, Mike Leigh for Mr. Turner, Jean-Marc Vallée for Wild, Theodore Melfi for St. Vincent, Paul Thomas Anderson for Inherent Vice, Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel, Damien Chazelle for Whiplash, Chris Rock for Top Five, Matthew Warchus for Pride, Tommy Lee Jones for The Homesman, Rupert Wyatt for The Gambler, Jon Stewart for Rosewater, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland for Still Alice