83rd Annual Academy Awards

Yes, it’s that time of year once more… Oscar has been spotted. It's time for the battle to be joined anew - Oscar Vs. Chicken!

But first...

Harry Knowles is one of my all-time favorite bloggers. He has been writing about movies even before there were things called, “bloggers”. On his site (aintitcoolnews.com) he is known as, “Head Geek” and that about sums it up. His site is one of the must stop places where both the unwashed and the true believers go to get their finger on the pulse of All Things Geek. Anyway, I tell you this, Gentle Reader, to give you somewhere to go if you desire a full and thorough rundown of all the films that have been nominated this year. You can find that here: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/48221.

Here at Chicken Scratch I’m gonna give you my spin on the down and dirty of the Academy Awards. Now some years are better than others, when speaking of the Academy voters. What should win and what does win are two entirely different animals. When picking winners in the Academy Awards one must think like the Academy thinks… It is in that vein that I humbly submit the following picks.

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges. The Dude will walk away with Oscar for a second consecutive time. Colin Firth or James Franco would be sweet too but with Bridges walks in two worlds; old Hollywood and modern American cinema.

Best Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush. He’s simply an amazing actor. Christian Bale is up there on the possibility scale too but 2010 remembers him better for blowing up at lighting guys than acting. I hear “The Fighter” is an amazing film but what’s going to stick out in the Academy’s mind are his tirades and not his talents.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman. Yup, the Academy will recognize her name from other outings although I hear her performance in “Black Swan” is pretty good – Oscar worthy good.

Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter. Hailee Steinfeld did a pretty amazing job in “True Grit” but this year is Ms. Carter’s year.

Animated Film: “Toy Story 3”. I loved this film. It’s one of my favorite films released this past year. It pulls you in and just when you think you’ve got away unscathed it will undo your heartstrings all together. Pixar has yet to make a bad film and this is brilliant.

Best Visual Effects: “Iron Man 2”. “Inception” was amazing but watching Tony Stark in action on the big screen as Iron Man is pure, unadulterated eye candy.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Those Coen brothers again. “True Grit” is going to take it.

Best Original Screenplay: “The King’s Speech” will take this.

Art Direction: “Inception”. Christopher Nolan took a break from Gotham City to play in our dreams. Unbelievable that he didn’t get an Oscar nod for Best Director. “Inception” will take the Sound Editing too.

Documentary Feature: “Exit Through the Gift Shop”. The Academy wants to be ‘edgy’ and the act of embracing the artist Banky will let them believe they are.

Best Editing: “127 Hours” will walk away with the Oscar. “Inception”, a film that was not nominated for this category, should have at least been in the running. Oh well.

Best Makeup: Rick Baker will take this posthumously for “The Wolfman”. I really did not like this film for reasons that I have already expressed here at Chicken Scratch in the “Blu-Ray Dossier”; that being said the makeup effects are worth the nomination. Baker was a genius. Bottom line.

Best Original Musical Score: “The Social Network”. Trent Reznor will take it but what is practically highway robbery is the fact that Daft Punk’s soundtrack for “TRON Legacy” was not nominated. This is some of the most original music from the movies that has been heard in a long time. It’s a real shame the Academy was not given their score as a choice. This would have won. It should have won.

Best Cinematography: “True Grit”.

Best Director: The Coen brothers, Joel & Ethan for “True Grit”.

Best Picture: “True Grit”. The Academy has TEN nominations this year for the ‘Best Picture’ category. It’s gonna be “True Grit” although “Inception” (which has been ignored in most other categories) and “Toy Story 3” (which is animated and has no hope of EVER garnishing a ‘Best Picture’ win) is one of the best stories of the year. I’ve heard great things about “The King’s Speech” as well. “True Grit” is going home with the statue.

So there they are, my picks for the 83rd Academy Awards.

So who do you think will win?

We’ll find out together on 2/27/11.

See you then.