Taking the Leads: Who Will Go Home with Oscar 2011?

Best Actor
Colin Firth          The King's Speech
James Franco      127 Hours
Javier Bardem      Biutiful
Jesse Eisenberg    The Social Network
Jeff Bridges          True Grit

Before I begin handicapping, a bit of trivia - four of the five nominees have "J" as their first initial. That said, the odd man out here, Colin Firth, is the definitive front-runner, having scooped up all the main awards leading up to Oscar time.

Jeff Bridges, who conquered all last year with Crazy Heart, could repeat this year, but you'd have to go back almost 17 years to find the last actor - Tom Hanks - with consecutive wins in this category. To the best of our knowledge, James Franco is the first host (or co-host) to be simultaneously up for a major award, and on the topic of firsts, Javier Bardem is the first actor form a foreign language film to show up on the Best Actor list.

All that, of course, is ultimately trivia. Firth (who many feel was deserving of the honour last year) is the guy to beat.


Best Actress

Natalie Portman       Black Swan
Annette Bening       The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman          Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence      Winter's Bone
Michelle Williams       Blue Valentine

First of all, it almost doesn't feel like a best Actress race without Meryl Streep. Okay, in the mode of gymnastics or figure skating judges, we'll throw out the "lows" - Winter's Bone is deserving of the acclaim, but it doesn't have the critical mass of buzz to give Jennifer Lawrence the boost she needs. Ditto for Michelle Williams.

Nicole Kidman is a potential spoiler, but this race really comes down to Portman vs Benning. The awards season momentum is with the very pregnant Portman for her turn as a tortured ballerina in Black Swan, but I have a nagging suspicion that Bening will sneak up in the estimation of the Academy and snatch it from her