The Ten per Cent Award: Who will Go Home With Oscar

Nominees for Best Picture:


Toy Story 3
The King's Speech
True Grit
The Social Network;
Inception;
The Fighter;
Black Swan;
127 Hours;
The Kids are Alright
Winter's Bone


ten movies have been put forward - only one will walk away with the premier prize - or at least the most widely known - in film making: Best Picture.


Its a motley crew in terms of thematic line, but its also fair to conclude, as the USA Today writer does, that dialogue dominates. The closest thin to a comedy is Disney's Toy Story 'three-quel' and even that animated feature is awash in words - some of it nearly maudlin toward s the end.


Its also a field dominated by family themes, though not all the conventionally-defined family, as proved by The Kids Are Alright. There's certainly enough dysfunction to go around, whether its sibling tension, as in The Fighter, or parent-child tension, as in Black Swan and Winter's Bone. even amid all the hand-wringing over the plot lines and sequences of Inception, there is, at the movie's heart, the story of man longing to be reunited with his children.

So, which one of the ten will cap the night come Sunday? Roger Ebert  in his annual Oscar predictions, writes that “when a film becomes the chosen one, its glories trickle down,” and this year’s chosen film is The King’s Speech."


Given the film's awards run thus far and the ever-present Academy predilection for period pieces (even if the period is a mere 75 years ago), its hard to go against Ebert or the rest of the herd running with producer Weinstein's return to form. If a spoiler does emerge most likely it will be The Social Network, as the Academy generally does not recognize remakes, thus eliminating True Grit.


Toy Story also has an outside shot at becoming the first animated feature to win Best Picture (the only others even nominated were Up! and Beauty and the Beast), but the even money favourite is definitely King's Speech.


The Oscars will be announced this Sunday (February 27).