Celluloid Playground

Last year I arranged a small contest with my housemates about who we thought would win the Oscars, the lofty prize of 33 pence was tied between me and another housemate. I got around 14 right, so I thought I'd give it a go again. My choices are not necessarily the ones I would pick, but what I believe the Academy will award.

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Nominees:

127 Hours (2010): Christian Colson, Danny Boyle, John Smithson

Black Swan (2010): Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin

The Fighter (2010): David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg

Inception (2010): Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas

The Kids Are All Right (2010): Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray

The King's Speech (2010): Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin

The Social Network (2010): Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Ceán Chaffin

Toy Story 3 (2010): Darla K. Anderson

True Grit (2010): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin

Winter's Bone (2010): Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan

Can't look beyond The King's Speech for this one, was tremendous at the cinema and I believe that it will be a deserved winner

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Nominees:

Javier Bardem for Biutiful (2010)

Jeff Bridges for True Grit (2010)

Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network (2010)

Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010)

James Franco for 127 Hours (2010)

Again this seems almost inevitable, and is again well deserved

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Nominees:

Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole (2010)

Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone (2010)

Natalie Portman for Black Swan (2010)

Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine (2010)

Another inevitable choice, but again I feel it's deserved and that The Academy will be going for many popular and interesting winners this year, possibly as a means of increasing TV ratings.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Nominees:

Christian Bale for The Fighter (2010)

John Hawkes for Winter's Bone (2010)

Jeremy Renner for The Town (2010)

Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech (2010)

As much as I really admire Ruffalo and Renner, I think that Bale has the edge

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Nominees:

Amy Adams for The Fighter (2010)

Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech (2010)

Melissa Leo for The Fighter (2010)

Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit (2010)

Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom (2010)

I believe this would be a deserved win, but also one that will bring good publicity for the Oscars maybe will help ratings.

Best Achievement in Directing

Nominees:

Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan (2010)

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for True Grit (2010)

David Fincher for The Social Network (2010)

Tom Hooper for The King's Speech (2010)

David O. Russell for The Fighter (2010)

Lots of people think that it will be Best Picture for The King's Speech and Best Director for David Fincher and The Social Network, I feel that this will buck that trend, and the Coens will get a deserved Oscar.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Nominees:

Another Year (2010): Mike Leigh

The Fighter (2010): Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington

Inception (2010): Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right (2010): Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg

The King's Speech (2010): David Seidler

While I think that Inception was a great film, I feel that their Academy Awards will come in technical catergories, while The King's Speech's excellent script will bag another statue.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Nominees:

127 Hours (2010): Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy

The Social Network (2010): Aaron Sorkin

Toy Story 3 (2010): Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich

True Grit (2010): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Winter's Bone (2010): Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini

While I think True Grit is in with a shout here, I think that the Academy will honour The Social Network's Aaron Sorkin. His great script gave real life to what could have been quite stale subject matter.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

Nominees:

How to Train Your Dragon (2010): Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders

The Illusionist (2010): Sylvain Chomet

Toy Story 3 (2010): Lee Unkrich

A great film I think this is deserved for the great work done and its mass appeal, however How to Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist are good competition, but I think the Academy will want to be sure of this one.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Nominees:

Biutiful (2010): Alejandro González Iñárritu(Mexico)

Dogtooth (2009): Giorgos Lanthimos(Greece)

Civilization (2010): Susanne Bier(Denmark)

Incendies (2010): Denis Villeneuve(Canada)

Outside the Law (2010): Rachid Bouchareb(Algeria)

So this is a complete punt as I haven't seen any of these, but Biutiful has a lot of buzz.

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Nominees:

Black Swan (2010): Matthew Libatique

Inception (2010): Wally Pfister

The King's Speech (2010): Danny Cohen

The Social Network (2010): Jeff Cronenweth

True Grit (2010): Roger Deakins

A highly contested award, I think that the great Roger Deakins will win, however all the other nominees stand a good chance, so I've gone with a pick for me as I've loved his work over the years and he's been wrongly overlooked in the past.

Best Achievement in Editing

Nominees:

127 Hours (2010): Jon Harris

Black Swan (2010): Andrew Weisblum

The Fighter (2010): Pamela Martin

The King's Speech (2010): Tariq Anwar

The Social Network (2010): Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

While I think that editing is another award that could go anywhere, I think that Social Network may have this, its slick presentation was great.

Best Achievement in Art Direction

Nominees:

Alice in Wonderland (2010): Robert Stromberg, Karen O'Hara

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010): Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan

Inception (2010): Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Douglas A. Mowat

The King's Speech (2010): Eve Stewart, Judy Farr

True Grit (2010): Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

I think this is the first of a number of technical awards that Inception will win

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Nominees:

Alice in Wonderland (2010): Colleen Atwood

I Am Love (2009): Antonella Cannarozzi

The King's Speech (2010): Jenny Beavan

The Tempest (2010/II): Sandy Powell

True Grit (2010): Mary Zophres

This is a guess but I thought that King's Speech presented a very accurate England and that this will be rewarded in this category

Best Achievement in Makeup

Nominees:

Barney's Version (2010): Adrien Morot

The Way Back (2010): Edouard F. Henriques, Greg Funk, Yolanda Toussieng

The Wolfman (2010): Rick Baker, Dave Elsey

No idea really so I think they'll go for Barney's Version, who's award buzz ebbed as the season has gone on.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Nominees:

127 Hours (2010): A.R. Rahman

How to Train Your Dragon (2010): John Powell

Inception (2010): Hans Zimmer

The King's Speech (2010): Alexandre Desplat

The Social Network (2010): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Again a highly contested category, while my heart says Inception, my head says that this is between The King's Speech, The Social Network and 127 Hours.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Nominees:

127 Hours (2010): A.R. Rahman, , Dido("If I Rise")

Country Strong (2010): Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges("Coming Home")

Tangled (2010/I): Alan Menken, Glenn Slater("I See the Light")

Toy Story 3 (2010): Randy Newman("We Belong Together")

Again I've only heard one of these, but I feel this will be one to lure the public back to the ratings.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Nominees:

Inception (2010): Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick

The King's Speech (2010): Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, John Midgley

Salt (2010): Jeffrey J. Haboush, William Sarokin, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell

The Social Network (2010): Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Mark Weingarten

True Grit (2010): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland

Again I think this could go to a number of the films nominated but I think that the sound of Inception was amazing and will be a worthy winner.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Nominees:

Inception (2010): Richard King

Toy Story 3 (2010): Tom Myers, Michael Silvers

TRON: Legacy (2010): Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Addison Teague

True Grit (2010): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey

Unstoppable (2010): Mark P. Stoeckinger

Again Inception

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Nominees:

Alice in Wonderland (2010): Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas, Sean Phillips

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010): Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz, Nicolas Aithadi

Hereafter (2010): Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky, Joe Farrell

Inception (2010): Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, Paul J. Franklin

Iron Man 2 (2010): Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright, Daniel Sudick

Again a film with an incredible look.

Best Documentary, Features

Nominees:

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010): Banksy, Jaimie D'Cruz

GasLand (2010): Josh Fox, Trish Adlesic

Inside Job (2010): Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs

Restrepo (2010): Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger

Waste Land (2010): Lucy Walker, Angus Aynsley

Well I know very little about the others, my hope is for Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop, but the Oscars may resist giving it to an anonymous man, but then they might give it for just that reason.

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Nominees:

Killing in the Name (2010): Jed Rothstein

Poster Girl (2010): Sara Nesson, Mitchell Block

Strangers No More (2010): Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon

Sun Come Up (2010): Jennifer Redfearn, Tim Metzger

The Warriors of Qiugang (2010): Ruby Yang, Thomas Lennon

Guess

Best Short Film, Animated

Nominees:

Day & Night (2010): Teddy Newton

The Gruffalo (2009) (TV): Jakob Schuh, Max Lang