Johannson will be playing Russian spy and possible Tony Stark love interest Black Widow. Which means the nearly 44-year-old Robert Downey Jr. will be sucking face with an actress 20 years his junior.

To be fair, Blunt's only about a year and a half older. But somehow she comes across as more woman than jailbait, no?

(Oh yeah: Mickey Rourke's definitely in, too.)

And if you've yet to re-fall in love with Rourke like the rest of America, watch these clips. The first is his interview with Walters. (How I wanted to smack her when she interrupted to underline and italicize his perfectly clear and very sad "I didn't want to be here.") The second is his joyful, foul Spirit Awards acceptance speech.

The Oscar would have been nice, but I'm guessing that Rourke isn't too down on himself today.

But for the record, here are my predictions anyway. And tune in at 8:30 when, give or take some DVR-shifting, I'll be live-blogging the entire ceremony. Or at least for as long as my cold medicine holds out.

BEST PICTURE
WALL*E. Not nominated? The Dark Knight. Sigh! How about The Wrestler? OK, I'll stop. It's gonna be Slumdog Millionaire, though between the five that were chosen I loved Milk the most.

BEST ACTOR
I'd love to see Mickey Rourke get this, but Sean Penn's performance as Harvey Milk was so completely transformative, it's gotta be recognized.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Please. (In this usage, "please" is defined as "Heath Ledger.")

BEST ACTRESS
I'm going with Kate Winslet, though her speech better include shout-outs to the makeup crew and her nipples for help making her turn remotely remarkable in The Reader.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz has the buzz, but c'mon, she could be passionate and sensuous in her sleep. Would be nice if D.C. native Taraji P. Henson got it, but my guess is Viola Davis for her brief role in Doubt. The Academy loves those incisive knock-outs.

BEST DIRECTOR
I'm torn. My gut says it'll go to Danny Boyle in a Slumdog lovefest. But I wouldn't be surprised if David Fincher won for his technically proficient handling of Benjamin Button.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
WALL*E would be a nice upset, and Frozen River and In Bruges were great stories. but I'm thinking this is where Milk will get its love.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Slumdog.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Please. (In this usage, "please" is defined as "WALL*E.")

BEST ART DIRECTION and CINEMATOGRAPHY
Both to The Dark Knight.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Period pieces = Oscar. The Duchess.

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Man on Wire.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Total blind guess, but I'm going with The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306.

BEST FILM EDITING
Slumdog.

BEST FOREIGN FILM
I've only seen two of the nominees, but I can't imagine a doc more imaginative and affecting than Waltz With Bashir.

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Ben Button.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Slumdog.

BEST SONG
The popular opinion is that the two Slumdog noms will split the vote. But really, have you heard anything more catchy in a movie this year than Jai Ho? Sorry, Peter Gabriel, but Down to Earth is kind of a snooze.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Presto was adorable, the Academy doesn't really do adorable. Going with La Maison en Petits Cubes.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
No idea, but Auf der Strecke seems to be getting the praise.

BEST SOUND EDITING and BEST SOUND MIXING
Considering it's nearly dialogue-free yet still the most engaging film of last year, WALL*E's gotta win both.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Benjamin Button, because if you're honest about it, the film's strongest characteristic is its looks.

(Seriously. I expected to FF through it underwhelmed, a la the common man's trophyfest, the People's Choice Awards. But I was enraptured, unable to skip a single "thank you" or moment of the brilliant Mingle Cam.)

But it's probably just because the Hollywood Foreign Press has terrible taste.

Not all the time, of course. There were plenty of deserving (or at least herd-approved) noms and wins: Slumdog Millionaire took all four categories for which it was nominated (best picture drama, best director, best screenplay, and best original score). I was thrilled that Mickey Rourke, looking totally gangsta, won Best Actor for The Wrestler, and although I was generally zipping through the television categories, I had to stop to watch the love for 30 Rock, my only must-see show that I can admit to adoring without shame. (As opposed to Rock of Love, whose every incarnation I got sucked into. There, I said it.)

But Burn After Reading and Mamma Mia! for best comedies? Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson for their (literally) walk-in-the-park performances in feel-good romance Last Chance Harvey? I wasn't blown away by Sally Hawkins' Globe-winning turn in Happy-Go-Lucky, but I'm glad she won the category, because between her, Thompson, Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia!), Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading), and Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Hawkins was the only actress who actually had to break a sweat.

That said, here are some of the show's highlights:

1.) Sting, presenting Best Song but looking like he should be slaying vampires with a dark beard and goth-y black coat;

2.) Bruce Springsteen's win for his contribution to The Wrestler, because I'm just as happy to hear him talk as sing;

3.) Andrew Stanton, who said that his wife and kids "inspire every emotion I try to capture onscreen" in his acceptance speech for the lovely WALL*E;

4.) Colin Farrell, who was funny when he blamed his sniffing on a cold and "not the other thing it used to be" while presenting an award and touching when he talked about love while accepting one for In Bruges;

5.) Renee Zellweger's crazy-person dress, which narrowly beat Maggie Gyllenhaal's fashion disaster;

6.) Rourke giving a loving shout-out to his pets, because "sometimes when a man's alone, all you got is your dog;"

7.) Darren Aronofsky, so seemingly mild-mannered, caught on camera giving Rourke the finger;

8.) Tracy Morgan announcing that "I am the face of post-racial America. Deal with it, Cate Blanchett!"

and, perhaps my favorite,

9.) Tina Fey telling her Internet haters to "suck it":

The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association today announced its pick of Fox Searchlight's Slumdog Millionaire as Best Film of 2008, additionally awarding it Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Breakthrough Performance (Dev Patel), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy).

Other notable nods include a posthumous Best Supporting Actor win for Heath Ledger, whose creepy, mesmerizing Joker in The Dark Knight more than compensated for Two-Face's limp storyline and Batman's phlegmy growl, and Best Actor going to Mickey Rourke as The Wrestler's charming titular fuck-up.

The rest:

Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Best Supporting Actress: Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Original Screenplay: Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married)
Best Animated: WALL-E
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Best Foreign Film: Let the Right One In
Best Ensemble: Doubt
Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The film is a surprisingly touching story about a washed-up pro wrestler that stars Tomei and an Oscar-worthy Mickey Rourke. Fans of Aronofsky's, whose previous work includes Pi, Requiem for a Dream, and The Fountain, may be disappointed to find that The Wrestler is...absolutely straightforward. Linear. No trippiness, no confusion. (Drugs, though...there are drugs.)

But it's a stellar movie, a standout in a year that's seen far too few. Here are a few fun facts from the postfilm Q&A:

–Bruce Springsteen, a friend of Rourke's, wrote and performed the film's closing-credits song for free.

–The screenplay is by former Onion editor-in-chief Robert D. Siegel.

–Aronofsky says he chose Rourke because he's "kind of into actors that are a surprise."

–Rourke, gruff, burly, and with his peroxide-blond locks in a hair net, served actual customers in scenes that show Randy working at a supermarket deli counter (which accounts for the shoppers' mostly befuddled and somewhat amused expressions).

–Aronofsky chose to frequently shoot Rourke from behind because his mentor, The Pope of Greenwich Village director Stuart Rosenberg, told him that "Mickey is so expressive with his back."

–Tomei was instructed to text the director when she decided whether she wanted the role of Randy's love interest, a stripper named Cassidy: "rock 'n' roll" meant yes, "easy listening" meant no.

–"Rowdy" Roddy Piper gave the film his blessing, after standing up at a screening and scaring the crap out of Aronofsky and Tomei with a brusquely stammered, "What you guys did...I don't know where you did your research..."

–When one audience member said that he's never touched drugs because he saw Requiem for a Dream when he was 14, Aronofsky replied, "I'm really, really sorry about that. You don't know what you're missing."

Photos courtesy of Nell "Movie Mom" Minow.

Aronofsky and WAFCA's Kevin McCarthy

Tomei with WAFCA's Nell Minow