Happy Oscar Nominations Eve!

This is it friends. Tomorrow is my 3rd favorite day of the year (behind Christmas and my Birthday), Oscar nominations! I'm going to cut to the chase and get right down to predictions.

Best Picture
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit

Eight of them are locked and loaded, and there are 3 films vying for the last 2 spots, 127 Hours, The Town, and Winter's Bone. I give the edge to The Town for being a crowd pleaser that had great box office, and 127 Hours for Danny Boyle's masterful direction and James Franco's tour-de-force performance. I'm sure I'll probably be wrong about one of them (I got totally (ahem) BLIND SIDED by The Blind Side last year).

For Your Consideration: How to Train Your Dragon, Shutter Island

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

David O. Russell is the most vulnerable, and could easily be replaced with Joel and Ethan Cohen for True Grit or Danny Boyle for 127 Hours. This was the line-up at the DGA though, and they all turned in solid efforts, so I'm fully expecting a repeat line-up tomorrow morning. Nolan will finally get his Oscar nomination, but the prize is Fincher's for the taking.

For Your Consideration: Ben Affleck, The Town

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, The Social Netowrk
Colin Firth as King George IV, The King's Speech
James Franco as Aron Ralson, 127 Hours
Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward, The Fighter

Bridges, Eisenberg, Firth and Franco are pretty much locks. I've been reading about a lot of love in Hollywood for The Fighter, so I'm going to guess that Wahlberg gets swept up in the adoration for his quiet and understated performance. Watch out for Robert Duvall in Get Low and an absolute shocker (in a good way) would be Ryan Gosling for his performance in Blue Valentine

For Your Consideration: Aaron Eckheart as Howie in Rabbit Hole

Best Actress
Annette Benning as Nic in The Kids are All Right
Nicole Kidman as Becca in Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence as Ree Dolly in Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers in Black Swan
Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross in True Grit

This is between Benning and Portman, so the rest of the nominees are just filler. I also think this is where Hailee Steinfeld shows up, even though the studio is pushing her for supportive. Voters can put her in whatever category they want, and they've been known to move a performance like hers to lead (see Kate Winslet in The Reader and Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rideer), she's the female lead in the movie.

For Your Consideration: Michele Williams as Cindy in Blue Valentine

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund in The Fighter
Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network
Jeremy Renner as James "Jem" Coughlin in The Town
Mark Ruffalo as Paul in The Kids are All Right
Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue in The King's Speech

Bale is on a streak right now, and I'm going to predict him for the nomination and the win. The 5th slot is up for grabs, between Andrew Garfield and John Hawkes. Garfield was nominated for the Golden Globe and Hawkes was nominated for the SAG. I'm going to stick with Garfield, but I won't be surprised if it's Hakwes name that is read tomorrow morning.

For Your Consideration: Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur in Inception

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams as Charlene Fleming in The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth in The King's Speech
Marion Cotillard as Mal in Inception
Mila Kunis as Lily in Black Swan
Melissa Leo as Alice Ward in The Fighter

Supporting Actress is usually where the surprises occur, and I'm going out on a limb with Marion Cotillard. She was magnificent in Inception and deserves recognition. If she doesn't make the cut, look for Jacki Weaver from the Australian film Animal Kingdom.

For Your Consideration: Dianne Wiest as Nat in Rabbit Hole

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz and John McLaughlin, Black Swan
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids are All Right
David Seidler, The King's Speech
Eric Johnson, Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy,The Fighter

Best Adapted Screenplay
Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle, 127 Hours. Based on the novel "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralson.
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network. Based on the novel "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich
Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard, The Town. Based on the novel "Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan.
Michael Arndt, Toy Story 3. Based upon characters created by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich.
Joel and Ethan Cohen, True Grit. Based on the novel "True Grit" by Charles Portis.

I'm fully expecting a few surprised. Tune in tomorrow morning at 8:35am to see the announcement life. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight!