Oscar Time Again Again! Who Wins Again? Who Cares Again? - Again!

As anyone who owns a TV or a radio will tell you, the Oscars nominees have once again been announced, starting up the grist train for the rumor mill as to who is once again going to win their own little man to take home...and no, I don't mean Perez Hilton.

Keep in mind that I'm not necessarily down on these stupid awards because I know I'll never win one (BTW, Death 4 Told was just plain ROBBED), but becaue these things are NOT about talent and NOT about mutual love from celebrity to celebrity and NOT about enjoying movies, but about how much can be paid to The Academy (c) to get your little flick the gold it so richly desreves.

Grrr...I'll blow a gasket if I go on with this nonsense; I'd much rather focus on how well I have, the last two broadcasts of this...THING...guessed just exactly who would, in fact, not win. I think I have a handle on the way to pare these things down to the losers so, again, let us double-dip into our selections and see what we gots here:

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BEST PICTURE

The King's Speech

True Grit

Toy Story 3

Black Swan

The Social Network

127 Hours

Inception

The Fighter

The Kids Are All Right

Winter's Bone - Look at this: some of the biggest movies of the year, for a change, all get nominations for this award - even The Fighter has been seen by some folks - but Winter's Bone? Have you seen it? You have? Ohhh... you're the one. Even people who don't watch movies saw The Social Network, so what chance do you think a movie only a handful of people have watched? Oh, it might pull a Chariots of Fire, but I doubt it. That movie had Vangelis, anyway. Vangelis wasn't in this film's soundtrack, so I'm gonna say no.


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BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

James Franco (127 Hours)

Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)

Javier Bardem (Biutiful) - Everyone here stands a pretty good chance of winning, so why Javier? It's not just because he's already won one - for that matter, Jeff Bridges did last year, too - but Javier's had his run, I think, and getting nominated is just something they do for some actors when they owe him too much for paying for one's Oscar previously. Must've been a package deal or something. Anyway, at least Javier's got his money worth. How nice.








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BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)

Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)

Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) - Who? Jennifer who? What's-er-name Lawrence? Against a bunch of actresses everyone's actually heard of? I just don't feel good about this one...and I think this is another case of "footnote territory". Ah well....













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BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Jeremy Renner (The Town)

Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)

John Hawkes (Winter's Bone) - I know, I know; it looks like I'm picking on Winter's Bone this installment, but look at who he's up against. Bale might get one just as an apology for Heath Ledger dying and becoming a shoo-in last year. Even Jeremy Renner from Hurt Locker got nominated again, and he at least is a return, so he probably stands a chance. A better chance than someone very few (if any) people have even heard of. Unless his manager's got a lot of extra money or the guys who hold onto the winner envelopes in his back pocket, I think Hawkes is best off making sure he doesn't spend a whole lot on his hotel room, so he can check out early.






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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams (The Fighter)

Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)

Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) - Look at it this way: Adams has proven her chops time and again, Carter always was a good actress, Leo is a return (just like Renner) so stands a chance and Steinfeld has that whole Kim Darby-vibe going on. Weaver, however, is walking into this one cold - and we've all seen how this has worked out before. Need I elaborate? Sorry, Jacki.











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BEST DIRECTOR

Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)

David O. Russell (The Fighter)

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (True Grit)

David Fincher (The Social Network)

Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) - Oh, I'm sure it'll win an award or two, but up against the other names like here, you're looking at one of those situations like a stuttering king in front fo a crowd: public embarrassment. It's a toss-up mostly, but in comparison, it may just be a fact that a guy was nominated for a direction Oscar because he looks like James Cameron. Just sayin'.











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BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

The Illusionist

Toy Story 3

How to Train Your Dragon - Oh sure, a Dreamworks picture stands a chance against one of the best-reviewed, biggest money-making, most fun, exhilirating and all-around best Pixar movies ever. Then again, I don't think this would have been able to beat Cars. At any rate, keep trying, Dreamworks.














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Okey-dokey; here you go with some even more finely-honed lucky guesses as to the ones with bad luck on that night of nights. Make your own guesses as to who will win. Me, I'll stick with my losers, thanks.

Dope out.

- TGWD