Academy Awards Expecting Tight Race for Best Picture

The 83^rd Annual Academy Awards are set for Feb. 27 and will see what is expected to be one of the closest races for Best Picture in recent years.

            This year’s Best Picture nominees see ten possible award winners. The movies nominated are “Black Swan,” “The Fighter,” “Inception,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The King’s Speech.” “127 Hours,” “The Social Network,” “Toy Story 3,” “True Grit,” and “Winter’s Bone.”

            Cinematic analysts and critics are frantically trying to decide who the most likely winner of the award will be this year and most polls show the David Fencher-directed film “The Social Network” will be the favorite.

Tanna Orgeron, University of the Cumberlands professor of communication arts and member of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies, had a lot to say about the film’s chances. “The award has to be in the bag for The Social Network. It’s a movie that has garnered so much mass appeal. The closest competition for it up to this point has been ‘The King’s Speech’ but you’ll expect that from a traditional Weinstein-directed film,” said Orgeron.

            “The King’s Speech” is a British historical drama directed by Tom Hooper that has made a recent push in the cinematic community to certainly earn a reputable nomination in the Best Picture category. The movie also has actor Colin Firth as the early favorite for Best Actor and several other early awards that have certainly made it into a dethroning factor for “The Social Network.”

            Dr. Keith Semmel, chair of communication arts at UC also believes that the award will go to “The Social Network." Semmel said, “I really like to think that at this point it’s a deadlock between ‘The Social Network’ and ‘The King’s Speech,’ but I’ve got to hand it to David Fencher on this one. ‘The Social Network’ just feels like a generational movie, a movie of the decade. It has a resonating artistic value that says so much about audiences today.” Semmel went on to even compare David Fencher with other famous directors like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

            We can only wait and see what the results will be during the awards ceremony but it’s starting to seem like a runaway for “The Social Network.” “You’ve just got to feel like it’s David’s time at this point,” said Semmel.