.........were harder to make than usual, for me, in several categories.
The "Best" in each category is where I predict the Oscar will go.
"My Second Place" is who I expect the Oscar will go to, if my prediction for the winner is wrong.
"Dark Horse" is a nominee I think is genuinely worthy, but I'd be quite surprised to see the Academy vote that way.
"My Personal Favorite" is the movie or performance I personally liked best of all those nominated in that category this year.
So here goes.
Best Picture: "The King's Speech" will, IMHO, win in a race pitting traditional Oscar voting tastes against the more modern buzz and relevance of "The Social Network." Whichever of these two movies wins Best Picture will weigh heavily in determining Best Director, Best Screenplay and/or Best Film Editing.
My Second Place: "The Social Network."
My Personal Favorite: "The Kids Are All Right."
Best Director: Tom Hooper for "The King's Speech."
My Second Place: David Fincher for "The Social Network." I cogitated long and hard about predicting him as the Oscar winner. Probably a tossup between Hooper and Fincher, IMHO.
Dark Horse: Danny Boyle for "127 Hours" or Darren Aronofsky for "Black Swan."
My Personal Favorite: David Fincher for "The Social Network."
Best Leading Actor: Colin Firth will win for "The King's Speech."
Best Leading Actress: Natalie Portman will win for "Black Swan."
Dark Horse: Annette Bening for "The Kids Are All Right."
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale will win for "The Fighter."
My Second Place: Geoffrey Rush for "The King's Speech."
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo will win for "The Fighter."
My Second Place: Hailee Steinfeld for "True Grit."
My Personal Favorite: Jacki Weaver for "Animal Kingdom."
In the past, I've usually only posted my predictions in these six main categories, but this year I've also decided to recognize and predict as Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Social Network" by Aaron Sorkin
And to recognize My Personal Favorite for Best Original Screenplay: "The Kids Are All Right" by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, a category in which I predict "The King's Speech" will win the Oscar.
I also think "Inception" will receive a number of awards for movie making excellence in such categories as Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing.
In addition, I thought Christopher Nolan's original screenplay for "Inception" was quite innovative and very clever, but just too long and tedious in its entirety for me.
I personally liked the Film Editing in "The Social Network" with either "The King's Speech" or "Black Swan" winning this Oscar and "127 Hours" being a worthy Dark Horse.
And I'll bet Best Cinematography goes to nine-time nominee, but by Oscar previously unrewarded, Roger Deakins for "True Grit," while Best Costume Design goes to "Alice in Wonderland" and Best Makeup, almost by default, to "The Wolfman."
I think Best Animated Film goes to "Toy Story 3."
Best Documentary (feature) will be "Exit Through the Gift Shop."
And, I predict, Best Original Song will go to "We Belong" by Randy Newman from "Toy Story 3."
And Best Original Score will go, I believe, to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for "The Social Network."
JMO.
I googled these Academy voting rules up:
The active members of the various branches of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can only nominate in their respective fields, except all members may submit nominees for Best Picture.
So, actors who are active members of the Academy nominate actors, directors nominate directors, film editors nominate film editors and makeup artists nominate makeup artists.
However for the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected multi-branch screening committees.
Then, the Academy’s entire active membership is eligible to select Oscar winners in ALL categories during a second round of voting, although in five – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Foreign Language Film – members can vote only after attesting they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories
I've seen almost all the nominees in all the categories I've predicted and I've posted reviews for most of the movies involved.
We'll find out this Sunday evening how the Academy votes.
Your thoughts?
The "Best" in each category is where I predict the Oscar will go.
"My Second Place" is who I expect the Oscar will go to, if my prediction for the winner is wrong.
"Dark Horse" is a nominee I think is genuinely worthy, but I'd be quite surprised to see the Academy vote that way.
"My Personal Favorite" is the movie or performance I personally liked best of all those nominated in that category this year.
So here goes.
Best Picture: "The King's Speech" will, IMHO, win in a race pitting traditional Oscar voting tastes against the more modern buzz and relevance of "The Social Network." Whichever of these two movies wins Best Picture will weigh heavily in determining Best Director, Best Screenplay and/or Best Film Editing.
My Second Place: "The Social Network."
My Personal Favorite: "The Kids Are All Right."
Best Director: Tom Hooper for "The King's Speech."
My Second Place: David Fincher for "The Social Network." I cogitated long and hard about predicting him as the Oscar winner. Probably a tossup between Hooper and Fincher, IMHO.
Dark Horse: Danny Boyle for "127 Hours" or Darren Aronofsky for "Black Swan."
My Personal Favorite: David Fincher for "The Social Network."
Best Leading Actor: Colin Firth will win for "The King's Speech."
Best Leading Actress: Natalie Portman will win for "Black Swan."
Dark Horse: Annette Bening for "The Kids Are All Right."
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale will win for "The Fighter."
My Second Place: Geoffrey Rush for "The King's Speech."
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo will win for "The Fighter."
My Second Place: Hailee Steinfeld for "True Grit."
My Personal Favorite: Jacki Weaver for "Animal Kingdom."
In the past, I've usually only posted my predictions in these six main categories, but this year I've also decided to recognize and predict as Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Social Network" by Aaron Sorkin
And to recognize My Personal Favorite for Best Original Screenplay: "The Kids Are All Right" by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, a category in which I predict "The King's Speech" will win the Oscar.
I also think "Inception" will receive a number of awards for movie making excellence in such categories as Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing.
In addition, I thought Christopher Nolan's original screenplay for "Inception" was quite innovative and very clever, but just too long and tedious in its entirety for me.
I personally liked the Film Editing in "The Social Network" with either "The King's Speech" or "Black Swan" winning this Oscar and "127 Hours" being a worthy Dark Horse.
And I'll bet Best Cinematography goes to nine-time nominee, but by Oscar previously unrewarded, Roger Deakins for "True Grit," while Best Costume Design goes to "Alice in Wonderland" and Best Makeup, almost by default, to "The Wolfman."
I think Best Animated Film goes to "Toy Story 3."
Best Documentary (feature) will be "Exit Through the Gift Shop."
And, I predict, Best Original Song will go to "We Belong" by Randy Newman from "Toy Story 3."
And Best Original Score will go, I believe, to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for "The Social Network."
JMO.
I googled these Academy voting rules up:
The active members of the various branches of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can only nominate in their respective fields, except all members may submit nominees for Best Picture.
So, actors who are active members of the Academy nominate actors, directors nominate directors, film editors nominate film editors and makeup artists nominate makeup artists.
However for the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominations are selected multi-branch screening committees.
Then, the Academy’s entire active membership is eligible to select Oscar winners in ALL categories during a second round of voting, although in five – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Foreign Language Film – members can vote only after attesting they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories
I've seen almost all the nominees in all the categories I've predicted and I've posted reviews for most of the movies involved.
We'll find out this Sunday evening how the Academy votes.
Your thoughts?
