127 Hours - after Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle brings a "one man show", a veridic story of a mountain climber who cut his own arm in order to save his life. 127 Hours is currently receiving a lot of critical praise and the Academy loves extraordinary true stories. This may seem a little bit with Sean Penn's Into the Wild (it was snubed in the major categories in its year Oscar race), but Danny Boyle's latest work benefits from an happy ending, the suspense factor of the movie and the fact that no one has already forgotten Slumdog Millionaire. 127 Hours is in a good way to get a Best Picture nod.
Another Year - Mike Leigh brought an highly acclaimed movie to Cannes Film Festival and, in spite of failing any prizes at Cannes, Another Year was considered one of the best in competition and, for some critics, the best one. Another Year it's the story of Tom and Gerri and their friends, a group of unhappy people who try to find some sense to their lives, the kind of emotional and melancholic movie that the Academy oftenly like. But it seems that the Best Picture race is becoming even more competitive with some recent releases and I think that "small movies" may be the ones who will be eliminated by Oscar voters, but... Hey! We're talking about a Mike Leigh's movie! The Academy loves Mike Leigh!
Black Swan - one of the sensations of Venice Film Festival is Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream; The Wrestler). The movie has been collected raves since Venice and it's getting stronger in the Oscar race. In fact, the movie is a study about a baillet dancer named Nina in a thriller format and reviews says that this one is captivating, with a great direction, great acting from an ensemble cast (Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vicent Cassel and Barbara Hershey) and great technical aspects! Black Swan seems so close to get a Best Picture nod that's impossible not to include him in my predictions.
Inception - Christopher Nolan created another critical acclaimed blockbuster and the sensation-movie of this Summer. Starring an amazing cast with Leonardo Di Caprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy and Michael Caine between others, Inception was described as something very inovative, smart and thrilling, a movie about dreams that became a kind of "dream movie" and a technical masterpiece. In spite of a little part of the movie's heat has gone, Inception remains in all the audiences memory and it's a hard movie to forget! A place between the 10 nominees is almost sure for Inception, which deserves such a honour.
The Kids Are All Right - the small indie production with a $4 million budget that received all the critics love this Summer after an acclaimed presence in Sundance Film Festival and became the that film scored the highest average gross in the year to date is one of the "guaranteed" this year's Oscar race nominees. With a respectful cast composed by Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson that got raves for the great acting, The Kids Are All Right is a light-comedy-movie and a portray of a modern family in such an honest way that the Academy almost surely will love and give an Oscar nomination for the Best Picture category. Nothing else to say!
The King's Speech - I must admit that I had no hope in the Oscar potencial of The King's Speech some weeks ago, so I was surprised when I watched the trailer and read some reviews and I must say that my first thoughts were wrong. The King's Speech seems more than a portray of a king and his speeching problems, it seems something more, the portray of a man. This movie was very well-received in Toronto Film Festival, winning the top prize, features an amazing cast, with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter in the leading roles, and got raves since then, having the pedrigree that's necessary to be a Best Picture Oscar nominee and, maybe, a winner. The King's Speech will easily get a place between the 10 nominees for Best Picture and it's a strong contender for a win!
The Social Network - David Fincher has already brought us some great movies like Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and, this year, he brings a movie about the most popular social network of nowadays: the Facebook. In fact, The Social Network got both commercial and critical sucess, being described as "the best movie of the year" by some critics. Fincher's direction was described as brilliant and as so were the acting and the screenplay. The Social Network has everything it needs to be between the 10 Best Picture nominees and a win will be a fight between the Facebook movie and The King's Speech, with The Social Network winning the 1st round of the battle.
Toy Story 3 - Toy Story 3 is the 5th highest-grossing film of all the time and it's also a critical acclaimed: an animated feature that has a place between the 10 nominees for the Oscar of Best Picture guaranteed as well as the Oscar of Best Animated Feature. Toy Story 3 tell us the adventures of a group of toys who are abandoned by their owner when he goes to college. But it isn't only the story, the comedy-adventure style, the deep and honest emotions and the message of Toy Story 3 that make it a strong contender, it's all about one thing: everybody loved Toy Story and Toy Story 2. The Academy loves to be a child sometimes and children (and grown-ups) loved Toy Story 3!
True Grit - It's impossible not to consider True Grit as a strong Academy Award of Best Picture contender, specialy after seeing the trailer that was released some time ago. The Cohen Brothers and Academy's darlings and there's something written in the stars that says "Cohen Brothers movies are bad only once in each century". True Grit has everything to be a contender for the Oscar of Best Picture: the Cohen brothers as directors and screenwriters, a cast with respectable actors (Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin) and being a western (since the Unforgiven that the world hasn't seen a TRUE WESTERN). Let's wait until the day True Grit will be released to see if it has "Oscar quality". By now, it has Oscar potencial!
Winter's Bone - Winter's Bone is another indie production that may have its place between the 10 Best Picture Oscar nominees. Receiving raves in Sundance Film Festival (winning the Grand Jury Prize and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award) and in Berlin Film Festival, Winter's Bone has enough attention to keep on the running for the Best Picture (attention that went stronger when Winter's Bone was the movie with most nomination in Gotham Independent Film Awards) and has the outstanding performances of the cast (specially from Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes and Dale Dickey), the refined direction of Debra Granik (2003's Down to the Bone) and a good screenplay based on a well-known novel (a young woman's journey to find her dad in order to protect all she most love). Winter's Bone deserve a Best Picture nod, because it is a true deserver of such an honour, I hope the Academy didn't go blind to ignore it!
in consideration: The Fighter; Somewhere; The Town; The Way Back;
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