It's that time of year.....

Lo and behold! The coveted 83rd Oscar Award nominations have be announced and the race looks like it's going to be a race! Here are my picks for the winners this year! Majority of the time I'm right or get REALLLYYY close! So let's see...(my picks are in bold!)

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"


ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours"

*Unfortunately, though the other men did well, it will be either Jesse or Colin. I'm pulling for Colin though!! He was gibed last year for "A Single Man" and he DESERVES to win this year!!

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

*Surprise win may be: Michelle Wiliams

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Christian Bale in "The Fighter"
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"

*If Rush doesn't win then I will doubt the Academy's judgment from now on!

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

*These ladies were TRULY amazing in their roles!! Surprise win may be: Amy Adams

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

*Both of these wonderfully directed!! The surprise win out of this category would be "True Grit" if the lame-os at the Academy don't pick one of the others.


FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Biutiful" (Mexico)
"Dogtooth" (Greece)
"In a Better World" (Denmark)
"Incendies" (Canada)
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)" (Algeria)

*Suffer through subtitles if you don't speak Spanish! It's worth it!


MUSIC (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

*I chose both of these because when I decide on a favorite score it has to be something that I'm either humming to myself after wards or just resonates in my head. Both of these scores did that!

MUSIC (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

*These kind of songs tend to win, but if not you know it's going to one of the Disney movies!

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"How to Train Your Dragon"
"The Illusionist"
"Toy Story 3"

*Tell me you didn't love it?! I'll know if you're lying if you say you don't!!

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
"127 Hours" Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
"The Social Network" Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"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

*HAS to win! It was soooooo well written and everything!!


WRITING (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
"Inception" Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right" Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
"The King's Speech" Screenplay by David Seidler

*Would not be surprised if "The Kids" took this one, but just in case! "King's" FTW!!

ART DIRECTION
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"

*This is truly one that I cannot decide on! They were just all beautiful!

CINEMATOGRAPHY
"Black Swan"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"

*Amazingly done!!

COSTUME DESIGN
"Alice in Wonderland"
"I Am Love"
"The King's Speech"
"The Tempest"
"True Grit"

*Google them if you haven't seen any of these amazing costumes!!

MAKEUP
"Barney's Version"
"The Way Back"
"The Wolfman"

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Exit through the Gift Shop"
"Gasland"
"Inside Job"
"Restrepo"
"Waste Land"

*If doesn't win, I'm stopping everything documentary-wise in the pickings because it was pure amazingness!

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
"Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
"Day & Night"
"The Gruffalo"
"Let's Pollute"
"The Lost Thing"
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)"

*Loved this short! It's sooo adorable! If you haven't seen it yet You Tube it!!

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
"The Confession"
"The Crush"
"God of Love"
"Na Wewe"
"Wish 143"

*Two words: A MAZING!

FILM EDITING
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"

*Hands down "King's Speech"!!

SOUND EDITING
"Inception"
"Toy Story 3"
"Tron: Legacy"
"True Grit"
"Unstoppable"

*I have no pick for this because I thought all the editing was done superbly...even in Tron, which I hated. I have my reasons....

SOUND MIXING
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"Salt"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"

*So let's face it majority of the time the winner of this category is an action movie.

VISUAL EFFECTS
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Hereafter"
"Inception"
"Iron Man 2"

*"Inception" is going to win because it was the only movie done really well in the visual effects, other than "Alice", "Alice", though COMPLETELY done in CGI minus a few things, didn't do it for me. I wouldn't be surprised though if it won over "Inception".



The Oscar's are to broadcast on ABC at 8/7c on February 27!