It is time for my OTHER obsession… the Oscars.

Yup, I need to take a quick pause from talking baseball to feed my other beast: I am an Oscars addict. Now I promise I won’t turn this blog into Sully: Oscars, but each year I need to make my predictions for the big show.

So here are my picks for the nominations that will be announced tomorrow morning.
Note that these AREN’T the films that I think should necessarily win.
These are the films that I think WILL be nominated.

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are Alright
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
Joel and Ethan Coen – True Grit
David Fincher - The Social Network
Tom Hooper - The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan – Inception

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours
Mark Wahlberg – The Fighter

Best Actress
Annette Bening – The Kids are Alright
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
Andrew Garfield – The Social Network
Jeremy Renner – The Town
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids are Alright
Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis – Black Swan
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit

Best Original Screenplay
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are Alright
The King’s Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
The Social Network
The Town
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Best Animated Feature
Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3


Best Documentary Feature
Client 9
Inside Job
The Tillman Story
Waiting for Superman
Who is Harry Nilsson?

Best Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Best Cinematography
Inception
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Burlesque
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Best Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
127 Hours
The King’s Speech

Best Sound
Black Swan
Inception
127 Hours
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Sound Effects Editing
Inception
127 Hours
TRON: Legacy

Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Inception
The Social Network
TRON: Legacy

Best Music Score
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Original Song
“I See the Light” – Tangled
“If I Rise” – 127 Hours
“Shine” – Waiting for Superman
“We Belong Together” – Toy Story 3
“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me Yet” - Burlesque



I am predicting that the Academy will not nominate David O. Russell… perhaps the clash with Lily Tomlin on Youtube would still be on their minds. And I think that the DVD release of Winter’s Bone will make it the surprise Best Picture nomination.

And while The Town will get shutout of the big prize, Ben Affleck will get another writing nomination.

And I am also predicting some serious distribution of wealth amongst the nominations.
I see both The King’s Speech and True Grit getting double digit nominations with 10.

Black Swan, Inception and The Social Network should all get 9 nominations.

That’s 5 films with a pile of nominations.
And with 8 nominations for 127 Hours and 7 for The Fighter the possibility of another upset is strong. (Remember how The Hurt Locker upset the blockbuster Avatar last year?)

Alrighty. Get some sleep. Tomorrow is nomination day and always a big day in my insane calendar.