My Oscar Picks for the 83rd Academy Awards

I don’t really go in for awards shows. I’m not against getting or giving awards; I just don’t care for how a lot of the big award shows work. You can’t get bigger than the Oscars, but that only makes things like Hailee Steinfeld being nominated as Best Supporting Actress instead of Best Actress for True Grit or Daft Punk not even being nominated at all in the Best Music category for Tron: Legacy that much more egregious. If you’re going to give out awards for “Best” in film, then the best should be nominated and in the proper category.

In the case of Steinfeld, I just don’t get how a character that appears in practically every scene of the movie that is about that character’s quest for vengeance can be consider a “Supporting” role. You could more easily make the argument that Jeff Bridges plays a supporting role in True Grit than you can Steinfeld. And, for whatever you think about Tron: Legacy as a movie, you can’t deny that the music was phenomenal.

On top of the maddening awards show shenanigans that take place, I usually don’t go much in for the Academy Awards because I’ve usually seen very few, if any, of the films that make up the nominees. Yet, this year I did the AMC Best Picture Showcase over the last couple Saturdays and have now for the first time actually seen all of the Best Picture nominees before the Oscars broadcast. Under normal circumstances, even back when there were only five nominees, I’d very seldom have seen many of them. Before the last couple Saturdays, I’d only seen four of this year’s nominees. Since this year I’ve seen most of the movies that make up the nominees, I’m actually going to watch the show and make some picks for which I’d select as the winners in a few categories.

One last thing before I do, if anything other than Toy Story 3 wins for Best Animated Film, it will be just another example of things at award shows that don’t make sense. The fact that it is nominated for Best Picture overall and the other two animated film nominees are not, means it has to be the winner for that category.

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• 127 Hours
• The Social Network – Everything (directing, editing, music, etc.) worked together to make this movie great, but it all started with the fantastic script by Aaron Sorkin.
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

• Another Year
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech

Best Music (Original Score)

• How to Train Your Dragon
• Inception
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network – By default, since the best score wasn’t even nominated. But, the music helps drive the rapid pacing of the movie.

Best Visual Effects

• Alice in Wonderland
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollow, Part 1
• Hereafter
• Inception
• Iron Man 2

Best Supporting Actor

• Christian Bale, The Fighter – He was almost unrecognizable in the part.
• John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
• Jeremy Renner, The Town
• Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
• Geoffrey Rush, The Kings Speech

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams, The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter, The Kings Speech
• Melissa Leo, The Fighter – This is where things get really messed up. Leo gives the best “supporting” performance.
• Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit – Should be nominated for Best Actress.
• Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Actor

• Javier Bardem, Biutiful
• Jeff Bridges, True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• Colin Firth, The Kings Speech – Haven’t seen Bardem’s performance, but can’t imagine it could outdo Firth this year.
• James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Actress

• Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
• Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman, Black Swan – Like Bale, she completely transformed herself for the role.
• Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine – This is the spot that should have gone to Steinfeld.

Best Director

• Darren Aronofosky, 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

Best Picture

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech – The gravity of the story being told pushes it to the top for me, just edging out The Social Network. Yet, if you ask me which one I’m likely to watch again, it would be the latter and I’ve already seen it twice.
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

What are your picks for The 83rd Annual Academy Awards?