2011 Oscar Predictions (UPDATED)

-Jerry Lundegaard

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards are this Sunday and it’s about time we predicted who we think will come away with some golden statues. We’re just focusing on the “heavy-hitting” categories here because, frankly, we don’t know anything about sound mixing or short subject documentaries. Anyway, without further ado, our predictions for Sunday’s Oscars ceremony. Be sure to check back on Monday to see just how wrong we were!

UPDATED: Winners are in RED and BOLD

>Best Supporting Actor<

Christian Bale- The Fighter  **OUR PICK**

John Hawkes- Winter’s Bone

Jeremy Renner- The Town

Mark Ruffalo- The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush- The King’s Speech

This is a category full of strong performances from a bunch of talented guys, but come on, the award belongs to Bale this year. It’s hard to believe this is his first Oscar nomination, but after the fairly thankless role of Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise, along with roles in a couple of recent duds (Terminator Salvation, Public Enemies), it’s great to see Bale finally receiving the recognition he deserves. Of course, I wouldn’t be totally shocked if the Academy gave the Oscar to Geoffrey Rush, as it seems to be the year of The Kings Speech. More on that later…

>Best Supporting Actress<

Amy Adams- The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter- The King’s Speech

Melissa Leo- The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld- True Grit **OUR PICK**

Jacki Weaver- Animal Kingdom

A few months back most people probably would’ve expected The Fighter to sweep the two Supporting Actor/Actress categories, with Bale and Melissa Leo both taking the prize. But recently Leo has been losing steam and Hailee Steinfeld has emerged as the little-supporting-actress-that-could. Leo may still be considered the favorite by most, and she is certainly deserving, but we’re going with Steinfeld in a bit of an upset. Not only did she steal scenes from the likes of Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, but she’s also the only woman in this category who actually had A LEADING ROLE!

>Best Animated Feature<

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Toy Story 3 **OUR PICK**

There are a few categories this year that are certainly up for grabs. And there are a few that are not. This belongs in the latter category- Toy Story 3 is a lock.

>Best Documentary Feature<

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Gasland

Inside Job

Restrepo **OUR PICK**

Waste Land

This is one of the more difficult categories to predict for sure. While we at FilmFaced loved Exit Through the Gift Shop (our consensus 2010 Movie of the Year), it seems like the unpredictable nature of street artist/director Bansky might actually hurt the films chances of winning. Not only that, but Restrepo seems more like a movie Academy voters would go for. And for good reason, as Restrepo is one of the most powerful film experiences 2010 had to offer. Look for Inside Job to possibly take this one as well.

>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

Inception- Written Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right- Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

The King’s Speech- Screenplay by David Seidler **OUR PICK**

As we said, this looks to be the year of The King’s Speech. Another category full of worthy contenders, but expect David Seidler to come away with this one.

>Best Adapted Screenplay<

127 Hours- Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

The Social Network- Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin **OUR PICK**

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

Remember what we said earlier about some categories not being up for grabs? Sorkin is a lock.

>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 **OUR PICK**

This category looks to be a two horse race between Zimmer and Reznor/Ross. While Zimmer’s score for Inception is fantastic, iconic even, the score that Reznor and Ross composed for The Social Network is a refreshingly unique work that services the film incredibly well while being able to exist on it’s own as a fantastic soundtrack. But The King’s Speech could win this one too because why the hell not?

>Best Actor<

Javier Bardem- Buitiful

Jeff Bridges- True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg- The Social Network

Colin Firth- The King’s Speech **OUR PICK**

James Franco- 127 Hours

Any other year and this would be James Franco’s award to lose. But this year, the year of The King’s Speech, will have Colin Firth accepting the honor. Nominated for the second consecutive year in the category, Firth has already won practically every award possible for his outstanding performance as King George VI. He’s just got one more to pick up on Sunday…at least Franco gets to host, right?

>Best Actress<

Annette Bening– The Kids Are All Right

Nicole Kidman- Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence- Winter’s Bone

Natalie Portman- Black Swan **OUR PICK**

Michelle Williams- Blue Valentine

Another category stacked with talent, but this one has looked like a pretty decisive contest from the start. Natalie Portman was absolutely incredible in what was no doubt a physically and psychologically demanding role. While the other actresses in this category were great as well, all but Lawrence had the benefit of another strong leading actor/actress to share the screen with. Portman dominated Black Swan from start to finish.

>Best Director<

Darren Aronofsky- Black Swan

David O. Russel- The Fighter

Tom Hooper- The King’s Speech

David Fincher- The Social Network **OUR PICK**

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen- True Grit

The Social Network was big man on campus for a long while. It had critics fawning over it, audiences flocking to it, and everyone in disbelief that a movie about Facebook could be so good. The King’s Speech has since stolen the affection of many critics and audiences alike, but for all the momentum The Social Network has lost heading into Sunday, two aspects of the film have been consistently lauded: Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant screenplay and David Fincher’s equally brilliant direction. Sure, this one could again go the way of The King’s Speech, but we expect the Academy to give credit where it’s due. Fincher deserves this one.

>Best Picture<

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech **OUR PICK**

127 Hours

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

When it’s your year, it’s your year. It seems like almost every year the Academy will latch onto a film that it really likes and ride it all the way through the awards show. This year that film is The King’s Speech. Despite some of our predictions to the contrary, The King’s Speech could win any of the categories it’s nominated for and it wouldn’t be that much of an upset. It’s possible you could see The Social Network come away with an  upset in this category, not long after being considered the hands-down favorite. Another, much larger, upset to look out for could be The Fighter winning Best Picture. But really, it would be pretty shocking for this one to go anywhere but to The King’s Speech.

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards air Sunday, February 27 on ABC.

FilmFaced MiniCast Episode 1

-Ryan Famulari

I know you’ve all been waiting patiently, but wait no longer. Here is our first MiniCast. FilmFaced MiniCasts are short podcasts – usually thirty minutes in length – where we click record and just talk. In this inaugural MiniCast we gush over the masterpiece that is The Zombie Diaries and slowly wander into a brief spoiler-less discussion about The Social Network. I hope you have as much fun listening to this as we had recording it. Enjoy and be sure to join in on the discussion. Put your FilmFace on.

Music: Zombie by The Cranberries