By John C.

 

It’s hard to believe that we’re about to enter the home stretch of the 2010 awards season, with the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards set to be announced tomorrow morning.  I will finally get around to sharing my picks for the best movies of last year next Monday, but first here’s a look at what I expect to see nominated in 7 of the 24 categories come early tomorrow.

 

For Best Picture, it’s pretty much set in stone that we’re going to see nominations for current frontrunner The Social Network, as well as nods for The King’s Speech and Black Swan.  Due to their critical and commercial success, True Grit, Inception, and Toy Story 3 are also going to be there.

 

The indie dramedy The Kids Are All Right and the boxing biopic The Fighter are almost guaranteed spots on the list, and despite the hard subject matter, I also expect to see a nomination for Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours.  That pesky tenth spot will likely go to Ben Affleck’s The Town, but Winter’s Bone could also sneak in with a nomination.

 

Although all of the contenders are good movies in their own right, I would personally trade The Kids Are All Right and either The Town or Winter’s Bone to nominate to both Dreamworks Animation’s masterpiece How To Train Your Dragon and the masterful Never Let Me Go.  But the former is suffering from the fact that it is animated and was released far to early in the year, and the latter features several great performances, but was sadly under-appreciated by the majority of audiences.

 

The five of the ten that will also have their directors honoured are likely going to be David Fincher for The Social Network, Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech, Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan, and Christopher Nolan for Inception.  The fifth spot will likely be reserved for The Fighter’s David O. Russell, but one of the other directors could also sneak in a nomination.

 

The acting fields are as strong as ever, and in the Best Actress category we’re going to see nominations for Natalie Portman’s exquisite work in Black Swan, and for Annette Bening of The Kids Are All Right.  I also expect to see a nomination for Winter’s Bone newcomer Jennifer Lawrence, and for Nicole Kidman’s heartwrenching turn in Rabbit Hole.  The fifth spot is a bit of a toss-up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Julianne Moore of The Kids Are All Right also gets a nomination.

 

For Best Supporting Actress, both Melissa Leo and Amy Adams of The Fighter are going to get nominated, as well as Helena Bonham Carter for The King’s Speech.  Newcomer Hailee Steinfeld is almost guaranteed a nomination for her outstanding work in True Grit, and the fifth spot will likely go to either Lesley Manville of Another Year, or possibly Mila Kunis of Black Swan.

 

The Best Actor category is going to see nominations for Colin Firth’s brilliant work in The King’s Speech, as well as for James Fraco’s outstanding and demanding performance in 127 Hours.  Robert Duvall will surely get a nod for Get Low, as well as Jeff Bridges for True Grit, but Jesse Eisenberg is likely to get the fifth spot for his excellent work in The Social Network.

 

The category for Best Supporting Actor will see nominations for Christian Bale’s excellent performance in The Fighter, as well as for Geoffrey Rush of The King’s Speech.  Mark Ruffalo’s work in The Kids Are All Right is likely going to be noticed, and Andrew Garfield of The Social Network remains a hopeful nominee.  The fifth spot might end up going to Jeremy Renner of The Town, but could just as easily go to Matt Damon for True Grit.

 

Aside from the excellent live action performances, there were also several great animated films released last year.  The three nominations in the animated category will likely be Toy Story 3, How To Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist, but other possible contenders include Despicable Me and Tangled.

 

Come back after 8:30 AM tomorrow morning for a full list of nominees for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, and throughout the next month for full coverage of the Oscars and all nominated films.