Tonight's the night! It's Oscar Sunday! You know I'll be glued to my TV like the true nerd I am (nail biting and all) watching the year in movies come to its close. I managed to watch all ten best pictures in just the nick of time, and I have to say, they were all very well deserved of their Oscar noms. My pick for best picture of the year? Definitely The Social Network. That's not to say that they will win tonight because The King's Speech (another great movie this year -- and I say great, because while it was well acted and scripted, it was not the year's best) has given them quite a run for their money. I can only imagine what it would be like sitting in a room with both Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin as they each attempted to lobby for their respective movies. Alot of spit flying, I assume.
Alrighty, so here's my 2011 Oscar ballot! Hurry on up and put your bets in for tonight, people!
Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Who will win: Colin Firth -- it's pretty much in the bag at this point. He's swept awards across the board, and he will finally get the Oscar that has eluded him. I loved Colin in this movie, but honestly, I thought he was better last year in A Serious Man. He broke my heart in that movie. Beautiful, just really beautiful.- Who deserves to win: See, I'm torn here between Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network and Colin Firth. I was really blown away by Jesse in TSN. The way he delivered Aaron Sorkin's acerbic, quick-witted screenplay was nearly a masterpiece. No one could have done it better.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”
- Who will win: Christian Bale -- another sweep this awards season, although I'm not sure it's completely warranted. Bale is notoriously known as a method actor and that's exactly how he prepared for the The Fighter. He transformed his body into the body of a gaunt, crack addicted boxer who has fallen on hard times. In my eyes, his performance was too much of a gimmick, a little too show me, show me, and a parody, if you will. However, since Hollywood has pretty much been jumping on the The King's Speech bandwagon these days, Geoffrey Rush might just win.
- Who deserves to win: Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech. Geoffrey was flawless in this movie. Without the heart that he delivered in his role, the relationship between himself and the king would have fallen apart, and subsequently, so would have the rest of movie since that strong bond was exactly what the plotline rested upon.
Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”
- Who will win: Natalie Portman in The Black Swan. Natalie has won every major award this awards season in this category and we will see her on Sunday night, waddling up to that podium, preggers and all. Let's just hope her dress will be better than all of the other red carpet choices she's made this awards season. Hey Natalie, just because you're pregnant doesn't give you a pass to wear terribly ill-fitting bags that you think pass for dresses.
Who deserves to win: Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine. Michelle blew me away in this movie and she completely deserves to win. I'm disappointed that Natalie has consistently won for The Black Swan, because while the movie was thrilling and beautiful, her performance was not exactly Oscar worthy. Now don't get me wrong, Natalie was great in the movie, but I didn't leave the theater feeling altered by her performance, like I did after seeing Michelle in Blue Valentine.
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
- Who will win: Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit, although let's be real here -- everyone knows Hailee was undoubtedly the lead in True Grit. Another flawless performance this year. I was truly amazed by her performance in the Coen brothers' remake of this classic western. She completely deserves to win and I suspect she will, although she'll have tough competition from Melissa Leo, who has consistently won for her role in The Fighter.
- Who deserves to win: Hailee Steinfeld
Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich
- Who will win: Toy Story 3 -- pretty obvious, right?
- Who deserves to win: Toy Story 3
Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
- Who will win: Alice in Wonderland. I'd say this would be well deserved considering the fact that the production and set designers had to create a whole new fantasy world, and one that reflected Tim Burton's crazy eye for imagination, no less.
- Who deserves to win: Alice in Wonderland
Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins
Who will win: True Grit, Roger Deakins -- Roger has been nominated several times in this category and I suspect he will win this year. True Grit was visually arresting and the story was really brought to life thanks to Deakins' amazing eye for cinematography.- Who deserves to win: True Grit, Roger Deakins
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres
- Who will win: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood. Colleen is a previous winner in this category and she will most likely win again this year for her whimsical costumes in Tim Burton's take on Alice.
- Who deserves to win: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood.
Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
- Who will win: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech. Just when I thought The Social Network was riding high on its Oscar wave, The King's Speech caught up and surpassed the latter in the race towards Oscar after securing wins at the PGAs, SAGs, and DGAs. After nabbing the top prize at the DGA, I'm pretty certain Tom Hooper will win for The King's Speech.
Who deserves to win: David Fincher, The Social Network. How can you watch this movie and not feel a deep appreciation for Fincher's work? It was artfully directed and fantastically paced, and I stand by that for all time.
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
- Who will win: I can't really speak about these documentaries with much knowledge, but from what I've been hearing, Inside Job, a documentary about Wall street and the financial crisis that ensued after a corporate world meltdown, will win.
- Who deserves to win:
“Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
“Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
- Who will win:
- Who deserves to win:
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
- Who will win: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter. Anyone who can make a bunch of nerds writing code and battling over millions inside a conference room look not only appealing, but fast paced and exciting, deserves to win an Oscar.
- Who deserves to win: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter.
Foreign Language Film
“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria
- Who will win: Having not seen any of these movies, I still suspect Denmark's In a Better World will win, considering they won the same prize at the Golden Globes earlier this year.
- Who deserves to win:
Makeup
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
- Who will win: I'm thinking The Wolfman here, because that's the movie that consisted of the most makeup work, and I suspect that's usually what Academy voters usually look for in this category.
- Who deserves to win:
Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Who will win: The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Words cannot express how much I loved the score in this movie as it was so critical in every scene. Just a really hauntingly beautiful piece of work. You can't listen to the score in this movie and not feel moved by it.- Who deserves to win: The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
- Who will win: "We Belong Together", Randy Newman. The Academy just loves some good 'ole sentimental music by Randy Newman, especially if he wrote it for a fantastic animated franchise, such as Toy Story.
- Who deserves to win: "Coming Home" from Country Strong.
“Day & Night” Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois
Short Film (Live Action)
“The Confession” Tanel Toom
“The Crush” Michael Creagh
“God of Love” Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
- Who will win: "Day and Night"-- I predict this adorable little animated short that played before Toy Story 3 in theaters will win.
- Who deserves to win: "Day and Night"
Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King
“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger
- Who will win: Inception. I'm thinking Inception will pick up sound editing and mixing, as these two awards usually go together.
- Who deserves to win: Inception
Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
- Who will win: Inception
- Who deserves to win: Inception
Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
Who will win: Inception, simply because the visual effects team managed to roll up a street like a piece of paper.- Who deserves to win: Inception
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
- Who will win: The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin -- totally and undeniably deserved win, and not to mention pretty much locked in.
- Who deserves to win: The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler
- Who will win: The King's Speech -- I suspect Oscar voters will jump on The King's Speech bandwagon to up its Oscar count come Sunday night.
- Who deserves to win: The Kids Are All Right -- a lovely screenplay with fantastic character development. I can't really speak confidently in this category though, because I haven't seen Another Year, which I hear had an amazing screenplay.
“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
- Who will win: The King's Speech. It pains me to have to admit that this movie will most likely win. For awhile I was convinced The Social Network would take home the top prize, but the Weinstein Company must be in overdrive this Oscar season because they've really managed to come from behind and take the reins during this awards season.
- Who deserves to win: The Social Network. Scott Rudin is one of the best producers out there and I was really hoping that he'd edge out Harvey Weinstein in this Oscar race. The Social Network is not only the best of the year and a social commentary of modern times, but it's the kind of movie that defines a generation. It's not just about a bunch of nerds coming up with the concept of Facebook, it's about the proliferation of social networking and how it has fundamentally altered the way we communicate today. Not only that, but it was terrifically acted, directed, and edited. Even the score was phenomenal. Shouldn't all of that be the basis for a best picture win? I guess not in this day and age. It seems pretty obvious to me that Academy voters would rather vote for a movie with older actors playing historical figures who have to overcome some kind of challenge or hurdle, rather than a bunch of fast-talking, witty nerds who set out to change a little something called the Internet.
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