And the Oscar Goes to…

So, Sunday is the big day.  Sunday is the day where Hollywood’s royalty get together and celebrate the best of the best.  Yep…Sunday is Oscar Sunday.  As a movie lover, I’ve always loved watching the Oscars, if only to nitpick the winners and shout at the Academy’s insistence to reward movies that are strange at best – for example, awarding an Oscar for Best Visual Effects to The Golden Compass over Transformers.  Yeah; I’m still bitter.  Anyway, this isn’t about the 80th Academy Awards; this is about the 83rd Academy Awards.  To that end, I am going to give write-ups and predictions for the major awards, and just give my winners for everything else.  So, let’s begin with the awards from the bottom up, shall we?

Best Visual Effects – Iron Man 2

Best Film Editing – Black Swan

Best Costume Design – The King’s Speech

Best Makeup – The Wolfman

Best Cinematography – Inception

Best Art Direction – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Best Sound Mixing – Inception

Best Sound Editing – Tron: Legacy

Best Original Song – “We Belong Together” (Toy Story 3)

Best Original Score – The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

Best Animated Short – The Lost Thing

Best Live Action Short – The Confession

Best Documentary Short – Poster Girl

Best Documentary Feature – Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Foreign Language Film – Biutiful

Best Animated Feature – Toy Story 3

Best Adapted Screenplay – The Social Network

Best Original Screenplay – The King’s Speech

Okay…now, here are the “Big Six” categories; these are the categories that most people care about, and where I’m willing to bet the most wagers are going to come from.

Best Supporting Actress

The nominees are Amy Adams (The Fighter), Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom).  The good money is on Melissa Leo, as she’s cleaned up this awards season.  The wild card would be Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit.  Honestly, it’s a bit of a disappointment that she’s in this category, because she’s clearly the lead actress in the movie.  I understand why they put her in that category, but I don’t agree with it.  My pick: Melissa Leo – The Fighter

Best Supporting Actor

The nominees are Christian Bale (The Fighter), John Hakwes (Winter’s Bone), Jeremy Renner (The Town), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right), Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech).  Let’s be honest here…this one is Christian Bale vs. the field.  I would try to break this one down, but I’d be wasting your time and mine.  I guess the only other person in this lineup that could challenge Mr. Bale would be Jeremy Renner, but I don’t see it happening.  My pick: Christian Bale – The Fighter

Best Actress

The nominees are Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine).  Much like the fields prior to this one, this is Natalie Portman vs. everyone else.  This is the reason why Hailee Steinfeld is nominated for Best Supporting Actress; they don’t want her to go up against the juggernaut known as Ms. Portman.  I guess if they just wanted to be different (and piss me slap the hell off in the process), they could go with Annette Bening, but I don’t see it happening.  The power of Portman is too strong.  My pick: Natalie Portman – Black Swan

Best Actor

The nominees are Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), and James Franco (127 Hours).  For this year, they might as well call this category Colin Firth vs. the World.  The only people who could try to squeeze in there would be Jeff Bridges or Jesse Eisenberg.  Bridges already has his, and Eisenberg still has time to get his.  So, there you have it.  My pick: Colin Firth – The King’s Speech

Best Director

The nominees are Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Ethan and Joel Coen (True Grit), David Fincher (The Social Network), Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), David O. Russell (The Fighter).  This is the one where I’m the most unhappy with due to the omission of Christopher Nolan for Inception.  But, I digress.  Anyway, this is a tough category as all of the directors have done splendid jobs with their movies.  However, I’m going to buck the trend of the professional prognosticators and go with my gut.  But, if I decided to go with logic, my pick would be David Fincher for The Social Network.  But, I’m not.  My pick: Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

Best Picture

The nominees are 127 Hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter’s Bone.  This is another one of those where I have two thoughts for this.  Let’s cut five of these out of the way now…The Kids Are All Right, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Winter’s Bone, and – I really hate to do this – Inception, thank you for playing.  Now, picking from the other five, I think the Academy has a soft spot for British period pieces.  So, just going from those five, I’m going to go with The King’s Speech.  It’s beautiful, well written, and well performed.  However, if I put the other five back in, I have to go with my heart.  My pick: Inception

So, there you have it.  Just remember…this is just my opinion; I’m not changing mine, but I’m not against hearing yours.