Oscar Nominations and My Early Predictions

The Oscar nominations were announced today! It's a big day that I look forward to every year. I get so excited around awards season leading up to the Oscars. If I remember correctly, I've been watching the Oscars every year since 1993. I make it a point to see as many of the nominated movies as I can. A few years back, I won an Oscar contest at the White Bear Township movie theater. I think I won a few months worth of few movies.

Here are my early predictions AND who I would pick to win if it were up to me:
* will win
# my vote

Best Picture
127 Hours
The Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network *#
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky--Black Swan
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen--True Grit
David Fincher--The Social Network *#
Tom Hooper--The King's Speech
David O. Russell--The Fighter

Best Acting in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem--Biutiful
Jeff Bridges--True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg--The Social Network
Colin Firth--The King's Speech *#
James Franco--127 Hours

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening--The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman--Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence--Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman--Black Swan *#
Michelle Williams--Blue Valentine

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale--The Fighter *#
John Hawkes--Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner--The Town
Mark Ruffalo--The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush--The King's Speech

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams--The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter--The King's Speech
Melissa Leo--The Fighter *#
Hailee Steinfeld--True Grit
Jackie Weaver--Animal Kingdom

Best Original Screenplay
Another Year--Mike Leigh
The Fighter--Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson.
Inception--Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right--Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg #
The King's Speech--David Seidler *

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours--Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network--Aaron Sorkin *#
Toy Story 3--Michael Arndt
True Grit--Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone--Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Best Animated Motion Picture
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3 *#

Best Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland--Robert Stromberg,Karen O'Hara
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1--Stuart Craig,Stephenie McMillan

Inception--Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias and Doug Mowat #
The King's Speech--Eve Stewart, Judy Farr *
True Grit-- Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

Cinematography
Black Swan--Matthew Libatique #
Inception--Wally Pfister *
The King's Speech--Danny Cohen
The Social Network--Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit-- Roger Deakins

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland--Colleen Atwood
I am Love--Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech--Jenny Beavan *#
The Tempest--Sandy Powell
True Grit--Mary Zophres

Foreign Language Film
Biutiful--Mexico
Dogtooth--Greece
In a Better World--Denmark
Incendies--Canada
Outside the Law--Algeria

Make-Up
Barney's Version--Adrien Morot
The Way Back-- Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman--Rick Baker and Dave Elsey *#

Best Original Score
How to Train Your Dragon--John Powell
Inception--Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech--Alexander Desplat
127 Hours--A.R. Rahman
The Social Network--Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross *#

Best Original Song
Country Strong--"Coming Home"
Tangled--"I See the Light"
127 Hours--"If I Rise"
Toy Story 3--"We Belong Together" *#

Best Film Editing
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

Best Documentary
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo *#
Waste Land

Best Documentary Short Subject
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warrior of Quigang

Best Short Film (Animated)
Day and Night #
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute *
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, a Journey Diary

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

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

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

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception *#
Iron Man 2


We still have a little over a month before the Oscars, so many predictions could change. The King's Speech could gain popularity and steal Best Picture away from The Social Network. My two biggest snubs are probably for Christopher Nolan for Best Director (Inception) and Ryan Gosling for Best Actor (Blue Valentine).

What was your favorite movie from 2010? My choice is The Social Network.

-P McG