Hollywood's golden night is just 24 hours away; the Oscar race is about to cross the finish line. And as Hollywood Blvd. rolls out the red carpet and lines the street in front of Kodak Theatre with bleachers for fans lucky enough to get within inches of Hollywood royalty, these questions are on everyone's mind: Does early favored-to-win The Social Network have a chance at beating The King's Speech's late surge in popularity for Best Picture? Will Annette Bening score an upset and take home the statuette for Best Actress rather than front-runner Natalie Portman? Will Melissa Leo's controversial campaign ads cost her a Best Supporting Actress win? And can anybody beat Colin Firth for Best Actor?
With that, here are my promised Oscar win predictions for the top eight categories:
*Predictions are bolded.
BEST PICTURE
The Social Network
The King's Speech
Inception
The Fighter
Toy Story 3
Black Swan
True Grit
The Kids Are All Right
127 Hours
Winter's Bone
BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges (True Grit)
James Franco (127 Hours)
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)
Christian Bale (The Fighter)
John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)
Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)
Jeremy Renner (The Town)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
BEST DIRECTOR
David O. Russell (The Fighter)
Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
David Fincher (The Social Network)
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
Joel & Ethan Coen (True Grit)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)
Joel & Ethan Coen (True Grit)
Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy (127 Hours)
Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3)
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini (Winter's Bone)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
David Seidler (The King's Speech)
Christopher Nolan (Inception)
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg (The Kids Are All Right)
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (The Fighter)
Mike Leigh (Another Year)
Tune in to watch James Franco & Anne Hathaway co-host Hollywood's biggest night, the 83rd Academy Awards this Sunday, February 27 at 5pm PST. Good luck to all the nominees and here's to another year of Reel Reviews!
