Hollywood's Biggest Night! Part One: Oscar Picks.

It's today!! My favourite night of the year! The 83rd Annual Academy Awards!! I'm really looking forward to them, especially to see how James Franco and Anne Hathaway do as hosts. For the past four years I held an annual Oscar party at my house. My mum and I would make ridiculously large amounts of food, despite telling everyone to bring something to share, and then everyone would fill out a ballot and we would enjoy the glitz and glamour of Hollywood's big night together. This year, the circumstances are a little different. I moved away from PG, and my friends are all snowed in by the inordinate amounts of snow they've had up north in the last 24 hours. Thank GOD for the power of the internet and technology. My mum and I are going to video chat while we watch and my good friends and favourite movie-going people, Kim and Craig, will more than likely text through out the ceremony. While it won't be quite the same, we will still be technically watching the ceremony together! In the past we've had actual prizes for the most correct, this year it will be pure bragging rights. And as the winner in all previous contests I feel the pressure this year!! With that being said, here are the picks, and not only mine, but my Oscar buddies picks as well! Also, one more thing, I have no qualms in sharing that I made a super-nerdy spreadsheet to track our picks and the winners. I am a movie geek and proud of it!! Our picks, in no particular order:

Best Picture: You know how the academy loves to award 'based on true stories' and they have no shortage of those this year. Kim, Mum, and I have all picked The King's Speech and Craig has gone with The Social Network.

Best Actor: Yet again it's three against one. Us ladies have gone with Colin Firth from The King's Speech, while Craig has gone with Oscar co-host James Franco from 127 Hours. As someone who's seen 4 out the 5 gentlemen's performances I have to say that while I have officially chosen Colin Firth I think that James Franco has a very good chance at winning this category.

Best Supporting Actor: I'm starting to think there's some kind of trend going on here... Kim, Andrea, Mum: Christian Bale for The Fighter. I don't know about the other ladies, but I chose Bale for his fantastic and horrifying transformation into a crack addict. it was heart-wrenching and amazing However, if he doesn't win, my second choice would be Craig's pick, Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech.

Best Actress: One of the few categories in which we are completely unanimous; Natalie Portman for her turn as the fragile ballerina who suffers one hell of a psychological break in Black Swan.

Best Supporting Actress: Okay, things are starting to split up here: Kim and Mum have gone with Melissa Leo from The Fighter, Craig's picked Amy Adams, from the same movie and I'm going with precocious 14-year old Hailee Steinfield from True Grit, who I'm thinking will win with the vote split between those previous two ladies, and after Melissa Leo tried to shoot herself in the foot with those 'for your consideration' ads...

Director: Nevermind, it's back to girls against boy. Ladies: David Fincher for The Social Network, Craig: Tom Hooper for The King's Speech.

Now after the big six above here, the picks have a tendency to be random, especially in the categories where no one's seen any of the movies; I'm talking to you Live Action and Documentary Short...Anyways, for me, I see as many as I can, research the ones I don't, and go with the one I really do think will win. I know my mum has a tendency to pick based purely on the ones she's either heard of or likes the sound of the title. I'm not sure about Kim and Craig, but it's probably a mix of those two strategies.

Documentary Feature: Our first four-way split! I followed my gut with the expose on the financial crisis The Inside Job, Craig picked Gasland, Kim went with Waste Land and Mum chose Exit Through the Gift Shop [because she read about it]

Documentary Short: Another three against one, but this time I'm the odd man out with Killing in the Name, where the other three have gone with Poster Girl

Animated Feature: Honestly, I think this is probably the most no-brainer choice of all the categories this year. Toy Story 3 for all four of us. I mean come on, it's also nominated for just regular Best Picture! Incidentally, little side note, this is one the categories where I've seen all three nominees.

Foreign Language Film: Interesting! Here's 50-50 split with the Westaway ladies going with Denmark's In a Better World and Craig and Kim picking Mexico's Biutiful, starring Best Actor nominee Javier Bardem. To be quite honest, I wanted to go with Incendies, purely because it's a Canadian film, but alas, I want to try and keep my numbers up. But to make it up to the movie, I think I'll go see it for my matinee tomorrow.

Original Screenplay: Yet another three vs one. Kim, Craig and I have all chosen a monarch's uplifting triumph over a debilitating speech impediment, that would be The King's Speech for those of you following at home. While my dear maman has gone with the family dramedy The Kid's Are All Right.

Adapted Screenplay: Kim's pick for adapted screenplay is with Winter's Bone. She's read the book and said it's phenomenal. Craig's gone with 127 Hours, which honestly would have also been my pick if it weren't for Aaron Sorkin's verbose adaptation for The Social Network, which mum's gone with as well.

Film Editing: For editing, it's my first team-up with my SDCC buddy! [we're going in July! Jealous?! You should be!!] Craig and I have both chosen The Social Network to take this one. Kim' going with The King's Speech, and Mum's picking 127 Hours.

Cinematography: Yet another family joint pick, Mum and I both think the Coen Brother's gorgeous panoramas of the old West in True Grit are going to take this category. Craig's going with that usual safe bet, the sweeping drama, in The King's Speech. While Kim's bucking the trend with The Social Network. To be honest, I'm very interested to see which of us are right. I think cinematography is often ignored by today's movie goers, which is too bad, 'cause it can make a movie for me sometimes.

Art Direction: This is another of the rare categories where I've managed to see all the nominees, and they are all pretty exceptional in my opinion. My mother and Kim are teaming up for this one, both picking Inception. I'm going to let you in on a secret: if Kim could've picked Inception for every award, she would have. I think to say that she loved this movie is a bit of an understatement. Craig picked Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As for me, I can't help it, I love the amazing auteur Tim Burton, and had to go with his beautiful rendition of Alice in Wonderland.

Animated Short: Mum and Kim are together on this one too, The Lost Thing is their pick. Craig went with Night&Day, the only one I've actually seen; despite this I went with the Helena Bonham Carter narrated The Gruffalo.

Live Action Short: Oh live action short! This category mostly drives me crazy 'cause there's almost no way to see these movies unless you physically attend one of the major festivals. That being said our picks [completely at random]: Andrea and Craig: The Confession, Kim: Wish 143, Mum: Na Wewe

Visual Effects: I'm sorry Craig, I know you love Harry Potter and I do too, a lot, like a lot a lot, however I don't think there's anyway it's impressive effects can win over the absolutely stunning and mind-boggling effects in Inception. I've got three words for you. Spinning hallway fight. Seriously.

Sound Mixing: This and sound editing are such strange categories. I understand the basic concept of what these two things are, and I really am happy that they exist as they are often the only way those 'blockbuster' movies that everyone sees actually get nominated. Although there's a good mix of both popular and critically acclaimed in here this year. All four of us went with critically acclaimed AND popular, although it was the young 'uns going with Inception and wisdom going with The Social Network

Sound Editing: For the second of the sound categories there's a small switcheroo. Kim and I have stayed with Inception and mum's joined us in that pick, while Craig's decided to go with Tron: Legacy.

Costume Design: I find costume design to be an often random category. If there's a big, lavish period drama it almost always wins, and the only period drama here is The King's Speech, which Kim has gone with. However, I personally don't think it can win over the exaggerated loveliness of Alice in Wonderland's costumes; Craig, Mum and Kim all agree with me on this one.

Makeup: I know the most exaggerated makeup often wins this category, and Craig has picked the most likely choice, The Wolfman. Whereas us ladies have gone with more subdued but, in my opinion, equally impressive makeup of Canadian flick Barney's Version.

Original Score: We're nearing the end here, and this is another category where I have had the luxury of seeing all the films nominated. I really did enjoy the scores of all five nominees, but I think that Alexandre Desplat's score for The King's Speech, although Hans Zimmer's score for Inception is also a contender in my mind. I know The Social Network's more avant garde score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won the Golden Globe, and Kim and Mum have chosen it to win the Oscar as well. But the academy tends to lean towards towards the more classical scores. Bucking the trend, Craig has gone with John Powell's score for How To Train Your Dragon. This is another one of the categories where I'm eager to see which of us guessed it right!

Original Song: At long last we come to the end of the list! I wonder how they will present original song this year. I, personally, prefer it, when they have the person who performed it for the film perform it for the ceremony. Remember the year they had Beyonce sing all of them?! Ugh, it was awful. For this last category my three Oscar watchers and I have all chosen differently. Mum's gone with Coming Home from Country Strong, Kim's picked one of the two Disney songs, We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 and Craig's picked the other, I See the Light from Tangled. As for me I've gone with A.R. Rahman's If I Rise from 127 Hours. Lately the Academy seems to going a little more untraditional with this category, and I hope they do again.

That's all for this ridiculously long post. I'll have another up to comment on the ceremony and the nights big winners later tonight, or quite possibly, knowing me, tomorrow! Enjoy the show!