Overall, I didn't do too badly. I correctly picked more than half of the actual wins. I think the academy went very traditional with "The King's Speech" for best director and Picture. I know many of us thought that something as different as "The Social Network" might win. Otherwise I would have choosen "The King's Speech" anyway, had "The Social Network" not been nominated. My picks and winners are in purple and the winners I didn't pick are in gold, as in the color of Oscar.
The show was much faster and shorter, thank goodness. James Franco and Anne Hathaway as hosts were good, but Anne was exceptionally good. The inserts of the hosts into the nominated films are always fun. I liked seeing Alec Baldwin and Morgan Freeman in them. Great job, overall. Kirk Douglas stole the show for a moment and the show moved along better than usual. I hope they will try to beef up the comedy in the future, it helps to keep it more entertaining.
Below are my picks with a few comments and the actual wins where I didn't get it right.
Best Picture
The show was much faster and shorter, thank goodness. James Franco and Anne Hathaway as hosts were good, but Anne was exceptionally good. The inserts of the hosts into the nominated films are always fun. I liked seeing Alec Baldwin and Morgan Freeman in them. Great job, overall. Kirk Douglas stole the show for a moment and the show moved along better than usual. I hope they will try to beef up the comedy in the future, it helps to keep it more entertaining.
Below are my picks with a few comments and the actual wins where I didn't get it right.
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"
Best Director
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Best Actor
Javier Bardem “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg “The Social Network”
Colin Firth “The King's Speech” I got it right.
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” I got it right
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale in “The Fighter” I got it right.
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” Did anyone notice that I originally picked her to win and then changed it to Amy Adams. Oh well, It's not like I had money on it or anything!
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”
Best Adapted Screenplay
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin I got it right.
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Best Original Screenplay
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler I got it right.
Best Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich I got it right.
Best Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland” How did I miss this one? Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
Best Cinematography
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister I got it right.
“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins
Best Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood Okay, I got this one right.
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres
Best Feature Documentary
“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
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 and Kirk Baxter
Best Makeup
“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey I couldn't miss on this one. The makeup was fantastic!
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 Anyone recall that I couldn't even remember there was a score when I reviewed the movie?
Best Original Song
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman I still think my pick was a better song choice.
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers
Best Sound Editing
“Inception” Richard King I got it right
“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger
Best Sound Mixing
“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick Don't ask me how I didn't pick this, when I picked it for best sound editing. I screwed up!
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Best Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb Oh, please this was a no brainer. Did you see the movie?! Special effectorama!
“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
