BEST PICTURE: I think The Social Network will win. It's brilliant and what's more relevant to American culture today than the Internet and Facebook.
BEST ACTOR: 5 excellent nominees but I think Colin Firth will win for The King's Speech. When Colin as King George VI gives his Speech you can almost feel the audience cheer.
BEST ACTRESS: Natalie Portman should win for Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky's great take on ballet as sexual warfare. Annette Bening could pull off an upset as a lesbian mother who fears she's losing her kids to a sperm donor.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale is a strong favorite for his role as Micky Ward's brother in The Fighter.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Race appears to be between great veteran actresses Melissa Leo and Helena Bonham Carter but Hailee Steinfeld is such a smash as little Mattie Ross in True Grit that I sure as hell won't complain if she wins.
BEST DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper won the Director's Guild award for directing The King's Speech and that usually means winning the Oscar but David Fincher could prevail for The Social Network.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Social Network
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: It doesn't get much more original than Christopher Nolan's script for Inception and he did win the Writers Guild Award for original screenplay.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Pixar's great Toy Story III.
IT'S OSCAR WEEKEND!