Tomorrow in Los Angeles the 83rd Academy Awards will be conducted, consumed and later dissected. We will all have our opinions on who will win and who should have won and so forth. So here are mine. These aren't predictions though, but more like who I would like to see win. Seemingly most years there are plenty of worthy winners. Unlike The Grammys quality does shine through. There are rarely bad films that win Best Picture. However it is very, very common for the absolute best film to miss out. The Academy voters seem quite conventional in their choices. Picking the films that are more traditional and 'normal', conveying a story with a hero and a message, rather then the most unique and unconventional film. Sadly it looks like this year will be no exception. After sweeping the Golden Globes "The Social Network" seems to have lost traction recently with "The King's Speech" gaining favourite status. This is shocking to me. Fincher's film is flawless. A perfect concoction of directing, acting and writing, whilst the latter film is enjoyable, precise but very conventional and hardly dazzling. However we might have to live with this result. A lot of the other main categories appear to have clear cut winners. But not to worry. I will list here my thoughts on each category and also dig a bit deeper into the past with a list of losers that should have been winners.

Best Picture (complete with Pitchfork style scores)
The Social Network (9.3)
Black Swan (8.6)
True Grit (8.4)
The Fighter (8.2)
127 Hours (8.1)
Inception (8.1)
Winter's Bone (7.8)
The King's Speech (7.5)
The Kids Are All Right (7.3)
Toy Story 3 (No rating, not seen)

Best Actor
Colin Firth is at unbackable odds and rightly so. It is a wonderful stand out performance. But James Franco would also be a worthy winner and Ryan Gosling was unlucky not to score a nom.

Best Actress
Natalie Portman was astounding as the twisted ballerina and should win. Even though a long shot I would be happy though if Michelle Williams caused an upset.

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale. Hands down, NO other chances.

Best Supporting Actress
Probably the tightest race with Melissa Leo the slight favourite. She would be worthy but I would give the statue to the wonderful Amy Adams.

Best Director
Firstly Danny Boyle and Christopher Nolan were very unlucky not to be nominated. But no matter, this category belongs to David Fincher.

Best Original Screenplay
Favourite seems to be David Seidler for The King's Speech, but I would definitely pick the team behind The Fighter, a wonderfully written film.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network. No question at all!!!!!

Best Cinematography
A hot field, but I am hoping that Roger Deakins finally wins for True Grit.


How the hell did this film win?
Crash over Brokeback Mountain and Capote
American Beauty over Magnolia (didn't even get a Best Picture nom)
Shakespeare in Love over The Thin Red Line
Titanic over Boogie Nights (PTA strikes out again)
The English Patient over Fargo
Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction
Dances With Wolves over Goodfellas
Terms of Endearment over The Right Stuff
Ordinary People over Raging Bull
Kramer vs Kramer over Apocalypse Now
Rocky over Taxi Driver