OSCAR TIME!

For anyone who has managed to avoid me for the past month, I'll inform you now: the Academy Awards are on Sunday. Everyone who has talked to me already knows this since I won't shut up about them. It's been a couple years since I have been this invested in the Oscars. I don't know why I care so much this year especially since many people think this is one of the most predictable years. I have made some predictions but now I'm going to blog about them so it makes them official.

The Makeup prize will go to The Wolfman because that is how the Academy thinks: "So much makeup therefore it must be the best!"

Alice in Wonderland will pick up awards for Art Direction and Costume Design. Again, this is how the Academy thinks: "So colorful! Must be awarded!"

Inception will win for Sound Editing and Visual Effects. An entire city folded in on itself. The Academy will give Inception the Visual Effects award for the commercial alone.

But The Social Network will win Sound Mixing. The Social Network will also win for Film Editing.

Day and Night will win Animated Short Film because it's Pixar.

Toy Story 3 will win Animated Film to no one's surprise because it's brilliant (and it's Pixar).

Original Screenplay is going to David Seidler for The King's Speech. Now, I'm very unclear on the Academy's rules for what is an "original" screenplay and what is an "adapted" screenplay. David Seidler had to do research for this screenplay. I mean, he didn't create the character of King George VI. But it's an "original" screenplay? At least it isn't competing against The Social Network...

Because Aaron Sorkin is winning Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network. He's won just about every award he could (and has professed his love for Mark Zuckerberg in every acceptance speech). I think the best part of The Social Network was the script and if it wins nothing else, it will win this...

But I think The Social Network will also pick up Original Score. It's score is "new" and "innovative" and the Academy likes to prove that they're hip every once and a while.

Original Song is going to "We Belong Together" by Randy Newman from Toy Story 3. Randy Newman has one Oscar for Monsters, Inc. He should have won for Toy Story and the Academy knows it. They will make up for that by giving him an Oscar for Toy Story 3.

True Grit was absolutely gorgeous and will win for Cinematography. Whenever someone asks me about True Grit, that's what I tell them. It's simply gorgeous. This will be the only award for True Grit.

Despite her personal For Your Consideration campaign, Melissa Leo will win Supporting Actress for The Fighter. The Academy loves nothing more than an overbearing mother.

The Fighter will win one other award. That one will be Supporting Actor for Christian Bale. The Fighter definitely feels like his film more than Mark Wahlberg's film. Christian Bale plays a sympathetic drug addict. That screams Oscar.

Everyone in the Kodak Theatre is going to pretend to be surprised when Best Actor goes to Colin Firth for The King's Speech. He's going to win and that's that.

If there is any surprise of the night, it will be in the Best Actress race. This one is going to Annette Bening. Now, I despised The Kids Are All Right but Annette Bening is way overdue for an Oscar. The Academy knows this and will add her to the list of people who received "we're sorry we didn't give this to you sooner" Oscars.

The Social Network's David Fincher was a sure thing for Best Director, but then The King's Speech's Tom Hooper won the Director's Guild Award. But then David Fincher won the BAFTA for Best Director and he's back to being a sure thing. I mean, if the British give the award to David Fincher, surely the Americans will too.

And finally, the Best Picture race. The consensus seems to be that this is a two horse race between The King's Speech (the sure thing) and The Social Network (the former sure thing). The King's Speech became the sure thing after a backlash against The Social Network. I predict a backlash against The King's Speech leaving The Social Network to take the top prize. A real shock would be a third film winning it, but that seems unlikely (but if it does happen it will be True Grit because the Academy loves the Coen brothers).

For anyone keeping score, here's how my predictions break down:
The Social Network: 6
The King's Speech: 2
The Fighter: 2
Toy Story 3: 2
Inception: 2
Alice in Wonderland: 2
True Grit: 1
The Kids Are All Right: 1