After months of uncertainty during the Hollywood writers strike, the movie industry’s biggest party of the year will get underway at 5 pm (0630 IST on Monday) at the Kodak Theatre.

Streets around the venue were being cordoned off as authorities prepared to drape a security blanket over the neighbourhood that is normally packed with tourists, Marilyn Monroe and Darth Vader impersonators.

Around 3,400 guests comprising hundreds of A-list celebrities and movie industry powerbrokers will descend on the red carpet, although forecast rain could dampen the party atmosphere.

The awards themselves are expected to be carved up between several violent, bleak movies, with the eight-times nominated No Country for Old Men heading the field along with There Will Be Blood.

There Will Be Blood, an edgy movie about a tyrannical oil prospector, is joined in the best picture category by legal thriller Michael Clayton, historical drama Atonement and comedy Juno.

But after scoring a sweep of the movie industry’s professional awards — seen as key Oscar indicators — Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men looks unstoppable as the best picture winner.

Bookmakers have made the film a 1/3 favourite while the Coens are backed at 1/4 to scoop the best director prize.

Pundits say the expected success of No Country for Old Men indicates the willingness of the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science’s 5,829 voters to reward quality film-making regardless of the level of violence.

“The old days of The Sound of Music and Oliver winning best picture are gone, at least for the time being,” said Tom O’Neil, an awards season pundit with the Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com.

Beyond the contests for best picture and best director clear front-runners have emerged in most of the acting categories.

Daniel Day-Lewis is regarded as a shoo-in to scoop the second best actor statuette of his career for playing an oil baron in There Will Be Blood, ahead of fellow nominees that include George Clooney for Michael Clayton and Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah.

However, O’Neil cautioned that the widely popular Clooney may yet pull off a shock. “In the history of the Oscars there is usually one absolutely jaw-dropping upset,” O’Neil said.

“Michael Clayton is a very popular film and the reason for that is Clooney. That could carry him.”

The best actress award is expected to be a straight fight between British veteran Julie Christie, who plays a woman grappling with Alzheimer’s in Away from Her, and France’s Marion Cotillard, nominated for her startling portrayal of tragic chanteuse Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.