BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
- Day & Night - Teddy Newton
- The Gruffalo - Jakob Schuh & Max Lang
- Let's Pollute - Geefwee Boedoe
- The Lost Thing - Shaun Tan & Andrew Ruhemann
- Madagascar, carnet de voyage - Bastien Dubois
Should Win: I've only seen Day & Night, which played in front of Toy Story 3, and it was fantastic. But personally, I think it'd be fun to hear whatever "comedic" announcer they bring out for this attempt to pronounce "Geefwee Boedoe".
BEST 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 & Samantha Waite
Should Win: Not Ivan Goldschmidt. I need SOME Wewe in my Live-Action Short films, for God's sake!
BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
- KILLING IN THE NAME
- POSTER GIRL
- STRANGERS NO MORE
- SUN COMES UP
- THE WARRIORS OF QUIGANG
Should Win: Who doesn't have that Rage song playing in their head right now?
BEST MAKEUP
- Barney's Version - Adrien Morot
- The Way Back - Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk & Yolanda Toussieng
- The Wolfman - Rick Baker & Dave Elsey
Should Win: The Wolfman. Shit was amazing.
Conspicuously Absent: No love for Piranha 3D?!
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Another Year - Mike Leigh
- The Fighter - Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
- Inception - Christopher Nolan
- The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
- The King's Speech - David Seidler
Should Win: As much as I love Inception (Check out my Top Ten list from last year), the script is actually pretty sloppy; it's a cinematic experience more than a literate one. Love Mike Leigh, but he probably only "writes" about 1% of his scripts, leaving most of it to improv. It's a good batch, but I think The King's Speech is my favorite from this list. When the majority of the "action" in your film involves a conversation between two characters, and it manages to remain gripping throughout, you know you've done something right.
Conspicuously Absent: Four Lions. Haven't seen it (Come to me!), but I've heard great things. Too soon for a terrorism comedy, America?
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- 127 Hours - Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
- The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin
- Toy Story 3 - John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
- True Grit - Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
- Winter's Bone - Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Will Win: Interesting; We've got two true stories in "Original", and two here. Let's be honest; they might as well just mail this to Sorkin right now.
Should Win: True Grit. The Coens get the period dialogue down pat, and wrote a western in which you want to actually spend time with these characters, not just hurry along to the next shoot-out.
Please Don't Win: Toy Story 3. Meh. I liked it ok, but this is certainly the most overhyped film of the year. Everything this movie has to say was said better, and in a more entertaining fashion, in Toy Story 2.
Conspicuously Absent: Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Edgar Wright effectively condensed a lengthy comic book series into a single film, while his flair for layered dialogue rewards multiple viewings with jokes within jokes. Within jokes. How's that for a slice of Fried Gold?
BEST ART DIRECTION
- Alice in Wonderland - Robert Stromberg, Karen O'Hara
- Harry Potter 7 - Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
- Inception - Guy Henrix Dyas, Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
- The King's Speech - Eve Stewart, Judy Farr
- True Grit - Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh
Should Win: Inception. Guy Dyas' "Zero-G Hotel" set made Stanley Kubrick peek his head out of the grave for a second.
Please Don't Win: Get the fuck out of here, Alice.
Conspicuously Absent: Scott Pilgrim. Shutter Island.
BEST 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
Will Win: The King's Speech. Never bet against a royal period piece, in this category.
Should Win: The King's Speech.
Please Don't Win: No, really Alice - Get the fuck out of here.
Conspicuously Absent: Inception. Girls, I've been told, will go crazy for a sharp dressed man.
BEST SOUND EDITING
- Inception - Richard King
- Toy Story 3 - Tom Myers & Michael Silvers
- Tron: Legacy - Gwendolyn Yates Whittle & Addison Teague
- True Grit - Skip Lievsay & Craig Berkey
- Unstoppable - Mark P. Stoeckhinger
Will Win: Didn't see Unstoppable, but this is a very solid category all around. Eenie, meenie, miney. . . Inception!
Should Win: Inception.
Conspicuously Absent: Sorry to be boring, but Scott Pilgrim.
BEST SOUND MIXING
- Inception - Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo & Ed Novick
- The King's Speech - Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen & John Midgley
- Salt - Jeffrey Haboush, Greg Russell, Scott Millan & Willaim Sarokin
- The Social Network - Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick & Mark Weingarten
- True Grit - Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff & Peter Kurland
Will Win: Inception
Should Win: Inception
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Black Swan - Matthew Libatique
- Inception - Wally Pfister
- The King's Speech - Danny Cohen
- The Social Network - Jeff Cronenweth
- True Grit - Roger Deakins
Will Win: True Grit
Should Win: Inception. Look, I love Deakins as much as the next nerd, but this is hardly his best work. It's a good batch all around, but Pfister really rocked my world.
Conspicuously Absent: Adam Kimmel's work on Never Let Me Go was incredible.
BEST 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
Will Win: Inception. Though Trent might pull ahead.
Should Win: How to Train Your Dragon. For real.
Conspicuously Absent: Quality of the overall film aside, the score for Tron: Legacy was actually pretty great.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
- Coming Home - Country Strong
- I See the Light - Tangled
- If I Rise - 127 Hours
- We Belong Together - Toy Story 3
Will Win: Um. . . Who cares? These are always shit. Oh, alright; If I Rise. It's by that A.R.Rahman dude.
Should Win: Haven't heard the Country Strong or Tangled songs. I'm sure they're fantastic.
Conspicuously Absent: "Black Sheep" from Scott Pilgrim. Actually, anything from Scott Pilgrim.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
- Alice in Wonderland - Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas & Sean Phillips
- Harry Potter 7 - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz & Nicolas Althadi
- Hereafter - Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski & Joe Farrell
- Inception - Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley & Peter Bebb
- Iron Man 2 - Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright & Daniel Sudick
Will Win: Inception
Should Win: Inception
Please Don't Win: Alice, we already talked about this. . .
Conspicuously Absent: Scott Pilgrim. Clash Of The Titans actually had some pretty decent monsters in it.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
- How to Train Your Dragon
- The Illusionist
- Toy Story 3
Will Win: Toy Story 3
Should Win: How to Train Your Dragon
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- Exit Through the Gift Shop
- Gasland
- Inside Job
- Restrepo
- Waste Land
Will Win: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Should Win: Exit Through the Gift Shop
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 & Kirk Baxter
Will Win: Black Swan
Should Win: Black Swan
Conspicuously Absent: Not nominating Inception in this category should be a crime. Scott Pilgrim too, but I suppose I'm not expecting much for that film at this point.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- Biutiful - Mexico
- Dogtooth - Greece
- In a Better World - Denmark
- Incendies - Canada
- Outside the Law - Algeria
Will Win: Probably Biutiful. It's got Javier Bardem, it's about dying, etc.
Should Win: I haven't seen any of these, but Dogtooth sounds amazing.
BEST 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
Will Win: Christian Bale. Hands down.
Should Win: Geoffrey Rush. Bale is great, but Rush delivers a much more subtle and nuanced performance.
Please Don't Win: Renner and Ruffalo. These were by-the-numbers, typecast performances from both of them. Love the actors, indifferent to the roles.
Conspicuously Absent: Joel Edgerton from The Square. Armie Hammer from The Social Network.
BEST 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
Will Win: Hailee Steinfeld
Should Win: Hailee Steinfeld
Conspicuously Absent: Dale Dickey from Winter's Bone.
BEST ACTOR
- Javier Bardem - Biutiful
- Jeff Bridges - True Grit
- Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
- Colin Firth - The King's Speech
- James Franco - 127 Hours
Will Win: Colin Firth
Should Win: Man, I'd be happy any way they go with this. I haven't seen Biutiful, but the other four dudes were all brilliant in their respective roles. Push came to shove, I guess I'd say Jeff Bridges.
Conspicuously Absent: Andrew Garfield. The future Spider-Man gave fantastic performances in three films this year - Red Riding, The Social Network, and Never Let Me Go. Not bad for having come out of fucking nowhere.
BEST 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
Will Win: Natalie Portman
Should Win: Portman. Jennifer Lawrence was incredible, though, and it would be cool to see the two "Teenage Girls on a Mission" win both Academy Awards.
Conspicuously Absent: Julianne Moore from Kids. Katie Jarvis from the ridiculously underrated Fish Tank. Chloe Moretz from Kick-Ass. Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan from Never Let Me Go.
BEST DIRECTOR
- Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
- David O. Russell - The Fighter
- Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
- David Fincher - The Social Network
- Joel and Ethan Coen - True Grit
Will Win: This could go a number of different ways, but my bet is on Fincher winning this.
Should Win: All good choices, but I gotta say Aronofsky. Black Swan was one of the most invigorating cinematic rides I've seen in awhile.
Conspicuously Absent: Mark Romanek for Never Let Me Go. Martin Scorsese for Shutter Island. Anton Corbijn for The American. Edgar Wright for Scott Pilgrim. Christopher Nolan for Inception. Debra Granik for Winter's Bone.
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
Will Win: The King's Speech. Yeah, I'm betting this'll be a split-vote year. Fincher's name and pizazz help him win Director, but this will be the Academy favorite.
Should Win: My favorite film out of this crop is Black Swan. The film that best defines the year is probably The Social Network. And the most remarkable achievement is Inception.
Please Don't Win: Toy Story 3. Don't worry; you won't. But you can take home that Best Animated statue as a consolation prize.
Conspicuously Absent: See my previous list of missing Directors.
Well, this should turn out to be a fun year. There are a lot of close calls, and I think Social Network, Black Swan and King's Speech are gonna be fighting neck-and-neck all the way. Can't wait to watch this with a beer, a bowl of Doritos, and the company of friends.
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