By Michael O’Connor
New Rochelle, NY – The year is coming to an end and for movie buffs that means Oscars. Historically, most movies that will be nominated for Academy Awards are just being released or haven’t even been released yet. While the nominations will not be announced until January 25, there are plenty of films that have the almighty thing in Hollywood called “buzz,” and seemingly have a great chance of garnerning nominations. Here is a rundown of the six major categories:
Best Actor
As of right now, the front-runner appears to be Colin Firth, who is receiving amazing reviews for his role as King George VI in The King’s Speech.
Close on his heels in terms of buzz is James Franco, for his role in 127 Hours, a true story about a man who is forced to cut off his own arm after being pinned underneath a boulder.
Other possibilities are Jeff Bridges for True Grit, Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network, and Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine.
Best Actress
As of this moment, the biggest buzz belongs to Natalie Portman. Her performance a mentally unstable ballet dancer in Black Swan is garnering her the best reviews of her career and helped the film achieve extraordinary box office in only a few theaters this past weekend.
The Kids Are All Right, which was released in July, has gained awards attention for not one but two of its female leads. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a domestic lesbian couple in the critically acclaimed film. Bening is seen as the more sure-fire nomination, but Moore could acquire the film a rare double Best Actress nomination.
Other likely or possible nominations are Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine, Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice, and Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole.
Best Supporting Actor
The largely male cast of The Social Network helped the film achieve some of the best reviews of the year. But the question is: who, or how many, of the supporting actors can and will receive nominations?
Andrew Garfield as Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin was favored by some critics, while others think scene-stealer Justin Timberlake as Napster founder Sean Parker could just as easily score a nomination. And don’t count out Armie Hammer, who played the role of twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
Some non-Social Network possibilities are Geoffrey Rush for The King’s Speech, Christian Bale for The Fighter and Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right.
Best Supporting Actress
The front-runner appears to be Helena Bonham Carter for her role as Queen Elizabeth in The King’s Speech. It appears that toning down her crazy roles paid off for Bonham Carter. However, it shouldn’t hurt that she had some of her more typical roles in critical and commercial successes Alice in Wonderland as the Red Queen and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One as Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange.
Other contenders include Melissa Leo for The Fighter, newcomer Hailee Steinfield for True Grit, and Marion Cotillard for Inception.
Best Director
The front-runner is Academy favorite David Fincher for The Social Network. Other possibilities are the directors of previously mentioned films like Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan, Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech, and Christopher Nolan for Inception.
And now, to the ultimate Academy Award,
Best Picture
Often times, the best director and best picture nominees coincide. So expect to see The Social Network, Inception and The King’s Speech nominated. It seems that for now The Social Network is the front-runner, but especially for Best Picture things can change in the months ahead.
In addition, this is only the second year where the Best Picture category has 10 nominees, not five. This was done to allow for more room for commercially successful yet critically well-regarded crowd-pleasers. Last year, it allowed for Avatar, Up, and The Blind Side to all be nominated.
Toy Story 3, which got some of the best reviews of the summer and became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, is expected to follow in Up’s footsteps as the animated film in the best picture category.
Other films that have a high chance of being nominated are The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, Black Swan, and True Grit.
Expand your knowledge:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2010/11/17/oscar-watch-best-picture-predictions/?ew%5FpackageID=20311937
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