OSCAR 2011 - NOMINATION PREDICTIONS

For the only award show that matters, or at least the one that I've kept track of the longest, here are the nominations as I foresee them.  I'll be interesting to see how close I come.  I've seen a lot of fine films this year and don't expect too many surprises.   For those movies that are in the running but I excluded from my predictions I’ve put them in bracket’s at the bottom.

BEST PICTURE
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit
Toy Story 3
Black Swan
The Fighter
The Kids Are All Right
Blue Valentine
Winter’s Bone
The Social Network
            [127 hours, Another Year or The Town are the other candidates in the running, I think.]

BEST DIRECTOR
Tom Hooper – The King's Speech
Ethan and Joel Coen - True Grit
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
David Fincher - The Social Network
Christopher Nolan - Inception
            [David O.Russel- The Fighter, Danny Boyle -127 hours or Lisa Cholodenko - The Kids are All Right]

BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth – The King's Speech
Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine
Paul Giamatti - Barney's Version
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
James Franco – 127 Hours
            [Jeff Bridges – True Grit or Javier Bardem – Biutiful]

BEST ACTRESS
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right
Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit
Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine
            [Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone or Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christain Bale - The Fighter
Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech
Andrew Garfield - The Social Network
Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right
Jeremy Renner – The Town
            [Matt Damon – True Grit or Justin Timberlake - The Social Network]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa Leo - The Fighter
Lesley Manville - Another Year
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom
Amy Adams – The Fighter

                [Miranda Richardson - Made In Dagenham]

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Inception
The King's Speech
The Kids Are All Right
Black Swan
The Fighter
            [Another Year, Please Give or Blue Valentine]

 BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Social Network
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
127 Hours
The Town
            [I Love You Philip Morris or Rabbit Hole]

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Toy Story 3
How to Train a Dragon
Tangled
            [Illusionist or Despicable Me]

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Inception
The Social Network
How to Train Your Dragon
King’s Speech
Alice in Wonderland
            [127 hours is the only other one I can think of.]

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Inception
Tron Legacy
Alice in Wonderland
            [Harry Potter 7 Pt. 1 or Iron Man 2]

BEST ART DIRECTION
King's Speech
Tron Legacy
Inception
Alice in Wonderland
Made In Dagenham

BEST COSTUMES
True Grit
Alice in Wonderland
Made In Dagenham
The King’s Speech

BEST EDITING
True Grit
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Black Swan

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The King’s Speech
True Grit
Inception
Black Swan

The sound awards will be dominated by Inception and Tron Legacy.   I know Country Strong will be nominated for Best Song and I’m hoping Tangled gets nominated twice but that’s all I know about that category.  I’m going to skip Best Documentary and Best Foreign Language film because I would be completely guessing, like throwing darts at a dart board.   This is especially true with the three shorts categories.   Well, until 5:30 AM tomorrow the countdown begins.