Oscar Fever

Just one day left before the Oscar nominations are announced. Who will make it among the finalists of this prestigious race for glory ? If you've been following all the awards so far, you probably already have the nominees figured out. "The Social Network", "The King's Speech", "Black Swan" will probably earn the most nominations and, probably, a solid number of wins, while "Inception", "True Grit" and "127 Hours" will also get plenty of attention, but will have little chance at any actual awards. I'm still hoping for some surprises, but it's unlikely this far in the race. The competition is solid, and the results will be close, unlike other years. Best picture will probably be disputed between "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech". While the Golden Globes preferred the former, a big surprise was the latter's big win at the PGA awards, so I guess it's really going to be close here. Maybe they'll pull another split between Best Director and Best Picture like in 1999, with "Saving Private Ryan" and "Shakespeare in Love". David Fincher has the best chances to win this year, I think. Natalie Portman, Colin Firth and Christian Bale are a sure bet for Leading Actress, Leading Actor and Supporting actor, respectively. "Inception" might have a really good shot at some of the technical awards like Editing, Visual Effects, Sound, Sound Editing, maybe even Cinematography, though I'd personally prefer "127 Hours" for that last one. Time will tell.