My Oscar Picks and a Chance for you to Win

Oscar Night is one of my favorite nights of the year. If you all haven't been able to tell I kind of love movies... like a lot. And every year I get to watch the snobby millionaire actors get together and celebrate themselves and their profession which grossly overpays them... but I love it! It is always a goal of mine to see as many of the films nominated as possible and develop a strong enough opinion so I can argue why I think my picks will beat yours.

Another great tradition I have is with my best friend who lives in New York, each year we fill out our predictions and the winner gets sushi dinner paid for... Truly a notable prize.

So alas, this is the very first time I get to publish my picks for the world to see. There is a lot of danger that goes into publishing my picks for the world to see. But, I know I am judged on a daily occasion for my lame attempts at jokes, so really I got nothing to lose.

However, you all have a chance to win a KRBK prize pack for playing along. All you have to do is copy/paste the previous post listing the nominees and send your picks to Nathan@krbktv.com and the person who gets the most right wins. And I will throw something special in if you manage to get more than me.

Ok... enough stalling. Now a lot of these I have full confidence in because I have seen them. Yet, when it comes to categories like best short documentary and foreign films, I kind of like to pick whatever title I like the most... Here are my picks in bold:

Art direction

• "Alice in Wonderland"

• "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I"

• "Inception"

• "The King's Speech"

• "True Grit"
  

Costume design

• "Alice in Wonderland"

• "I Am Love"

• "The King's Speech"

• "The Tempest"

• "True Grit"
  

Documentary feature

• "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

• "Gasland"

• "Inside Job"

• "Restrepo"

• "Waste Land"
            Analysis: This was a really tough one. "Exit Through the Gift Shop" is the only one I had seen and I absolutely loved it. I just have trouble seeing the Academy picking a movie that has been so highly debated about.
  

Documentary short

• "Killing in the Name"

• "Poster Girl"

• "Strangers No More"

• "Sun Come Up"

• "The Warriors of Qiugang"             
        Analysis: Sounds the coolest.
  
  

Animated short film

• "Day & Night"

• "The Gruffalo"

• "Let's Pollute"

• "The Lost Thing"

• "Madagascar, carnet de voyage" ("Madagascar, a Journey Diary")
  

Live action short film

• "The Confession"

• "The Crush"

• "God of Love"

• "Na Wewe"

• "Wish 143"
  

Cinematography

• “Black Swan”

• “Inception”

• “The King's Speech”

• “The Social Network”

• “True Grit”
       Analysis: It kind of hurts my heart not to pick "Black Swan." The filming in "Black Swan" is remarkable and quite deserving of an Oscar. But, True Grit is visually stunning and will most likely take home the prize.

Film editing

• "Black Swan"

• "The Fighter"

• "The King's Speech"

• "127 Hours"

• "The Social Network"
  

Makeup

• “Barney's Version”

• “The Way Back”

• “The Wolfman”
  

Sound mixing

• “Inception”

• “The King's Speech”

• “Salt”

• “The Social Network”

• “True Grit”
  

Visual effects

• “Alice in Wonderland”

• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”

• “Hereafter”

• “Inception”

• “Iron Man 2”
  

Original song

• “Coming Home” from “Country Strong”

• “I See the Light” from “Tangled”

• “If I Rise” from “127 Hours”

• “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3"
  

Original score

• “How to Train Your Dragon”

• “Inception”

• “The King's Speech”

• “127 Hours”

• “The Social Network”
     
  

Sound editing

• "Inception"

• "Toy Story 3"

• "Tron: Legacy"

• "True Grit"

• "Unstoppable"
  

Foreign language film

• "Biutiful"

• "Dogtooth"

• "In a Better World"

• "Incendies"

• "Outside the Law"
  

Adapted screenplay

• "127 Hours"

• "The Social Network"

• "Toy Story 3"

• "True Grit"

• "Winter’s Bone"
       Analysis: Perhaps the strongest element behind this great film is Aaron Sorkin's script. I would be shocked if it didn't win.

Original screenplay

• "Another Year"

• "The Fighter"

• "Inception"

• "The Kids Are All Right"

• "The King’s Speech"
      Analysis: I really wanted to pick "Inception" here due to its orginality and overall creativeness. But the Academy's snub of Christopher Nolan from Best Director makes me think that an "Inception" upset win is highly unlikely.
  
  
    ACTING AWARDS

Supporting actor

• 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"
     Analysis: Bale is absolutely outstanding in this film. Hopefully the band doesn't try to end his acceptance speech too soon, we know about Bale's temper.

Supporting actress

• Amy Adams, "The Fighter"

• Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"

• Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"

• Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"
• Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom"
     Analysis: Of all of the acting categories this is the most wide open. I can see Helena Bonham Carter winning, but I think Leo will edge her out barely and take home her first Oscar.
  

Actor

• Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"

• Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"

• Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"

• Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"

• James Franco, "127 Hours"
     Analysis: I am a little sad that this is the year Colin Firth had to bust out his greatest performance. It would be a lot of fun to see James Franco take home and Oscar, and his performance in "127 Hours" is very deserving of Academy Award. However, Firth is outstanding and will hands down win.
  

Actress

• Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"

• Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"

• Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"

• Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"

• Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine"
      Analysis: No way Portman doesn't win. Although Annette Bening is brilliant in "The Kids Are All Right" as well as Jennifer Lawrence. That was Portman's perfect role and this is her year to win.
  
  
  THE BIG ONES

Animated feature

• "How to Train Your Dragon"

• "The Illusionist"
•  "Toy Story 3"

                 Analysis: Pixar always seems to win this although "How to Train Your Dragon" is a worthy  opponent. "Toy Story 3 will bring home the award for sure.

Director

• Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"

• David O. Russell, "The Fighter"

• Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"

• David Fincher, "The Social Network"

• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "True Grit"
       Analysis: This will be a close race. I can see Tom Hooper winning, and I would love to see Aronofsky win, but I have a feeling David Fincher will win his first Oscar here.

Best picture

• "Black Swan"

• "The Fighter"

• "Inception"

• "The Kids Are All Right"

• "The King’s Speech"

• "127 Hours"

• "The Social Network"

• "Toy Story 3"

• "True Grit"

• "Winter’s Bone"
       Analysis: Wait! What??? Yep, I am being quite the flip flopper. If you watched my attached video then you may have noticed I predicted "The King's Speech" to win Best Picture. But now I am switching my vote to "The Social Network." Over the past few days it seems the film about Facebook is garnering some steam. But you never know, I could switch it again by Sunday.

  

Well those are my picks. Do you agree? Disagree? Think you can do better? Well then please fill out your own and e-mail it to me with your name and e-mail address. If you win, you get a prize and can be featured in one of my next segments if you would like. I hope you all enjoy Oscar Night and please don't make fun of me if I fail at this terribly.