83rd Academy Awards Preview

On February 27, ABC will proudly air the 83rd Academy Awards, which will feature, in my humble opinion, the most deserving nominees for every category since the 90s. But will it be watched? With recent developments in the NBA, expect everyone to instead watch the Miami Heat take on Carmelo Anthony's first nationally televised game as a New York Knick. You can expect me to do the same despite how much I love these nominees. The following are my picks for winner, as well as a potential spoiler pick, in each of the 6 major categories and why.

Best Actor:
Colin Firth in The King's Speech
Spoiler Pick:
James Franco in 127 Hours

Firth is widely being seen as the favorite to win this category, but Franco is looking to be a potential spoiler in the category as 127 Hours is a more general audience friendly film in terms of tone and subject matter. Even though both films are based on real events, 127 Hours is much more appealing to the 15-30 target demographic. The Academy has taken great steps acknowledging how out of touch it appears to be, so it just may give Franco the award.

Best Actress:
Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
Spoiler Pick:
Natalie Portman in Black Swan
 
Like Firth, Bening is being seen as the obvious pick, and will more than likely win with the heavy weight of her entire career behind her. If, however, the Academy does not fall for Bening's illustrious career, Portman will win for the same reason that DeNiro won an award for Raging Bull; she sacrificed her body and lived her role, aka the Trope known as Dying For Your Art.

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale in The Fighter
Spoiler Pick:
Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech

Bale has been Dying For His Art for basically his entire adult career, exercising religiously for American Psycho, losing nearly half his weight for The Machinist, then putting back on all his weight and then some for Batman Begins, and now losing some weight once again for The Fighter. If Rush pulls off the shocker, expect this to be the big upset of the night.

Best Supporting Actress:
Melissa Leo in The Fighter
Spoiler Pick:
Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit


If there's any reason at all that Leo will not win this award, it will be because of her ridiculous "Consider..." ads that she once lambasted only a few months ago. She definitely deserves to win, but those "Consider..." ads may have caused some voters to turn their heads towards Steinfeld who appears to be the next Anna Paquin.

Best Director:
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
Spoiler Pick:
David O. Russell for The Fighter

It's not so much of a spoiler pick, but rather a toss-up. Aronofsky deserves to win not only for Black Swan, but for being snubbed for Requiem for a Dream. Russell has a good shot at winning, but his decision to direct and write the film adaptation of Uncharted has many people worrying about his decision making.

Best Picture:
The Social Network
Spoiler Pick:
The Fighter 

I hated The Social Network, but the Academy are a bunch of suckers for Aaron Sorkin dialogue (which will win Best Adapted Screenplay) and with so many critics calling it the "defining movie of a generation," the older voters will take this to mean that The Social Network is to the Nintendo Generation what Forrest Gump was to Baby Boomers, or The Breakfast Club to Gen-Xers. No, we already had our generation defining movie and it was called Scott Pilgrim vs The World. The Fighter will be the upset pick and also the most likely movie to win other than The Social Network. The other movie that has every right to win Best Picture, but most likely won't, is Toy Story 3. Color me absolutely shocked if it wins the first Best Picture for an animated movie.