A priest's Oscar picks

A priest/movie critic provides his picks for the Oscars, with links to his reviews.

Guest blog post by Father Dennis Kriz, O.S.M.

I’ve been asked by a number of people to give my Oscar picks. Here I confess my still "amateur" striving for "semi-pro" status.

However, for the “big” categories these are my picks of those who I think will win, those who IMHO should win, and those who least should have been nominated/considered:

BEST ACTOR [1] – Colin Firth (The King’s Speech). [2]Who I’d like to win is Jeff Bridges (True Grit). [3] Who should have at least been nominated is George Clooney (The American) [4].

BEST ACTRESS [5] – Natalie Portman (Black Swan). [6]Who should have at least been nominated Hillary Swank (Conviction) [7].

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR [8] – Christian Bale (The Fighter). [9]Who I’d kinda like to win is unnominated Matt Damon (True Grit) [3].

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS [10] – Melissa Leo (The Fighter). [9]But this was a surprisingly tough category this year. Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech) [2] was excellent as was teenager Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), [3]though the latter could be a flash in the pan. Who both surprised and I wish was at least nominated was Leighton Meester (Country Strong) [11].

BEST DIRECTOR [12] – Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) [6] or the Coen Brothers (True Grit). [3]Who deserved to at least be nominated was Sofia Copolla (Somewhere). [13]

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY [14]– David Seidler (The King’s Speech), [2]though both Christopher Nolan (Inception) [15] and Scott Silver, et al (The Fighter) [9] were excellent as well.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY [16] – Coen Brothers (True Grit) [3]. However, this was a great year for writing. The other four nominees – 127 Hours [17], The Social Network [18], Toy Story 3 [19] and Winter’s Bone [20] all deserved their nominations. Others that deserved consideration were Conviction [7] and The American [4].

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY [21] – Inception [22] or Black Swean [6] though Somewhere [13] ought to have been at least nominated.

BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY [23] - Inside Job [24]

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM [25] – Toy Story 3 [19], though I preferred How to Tame Your Dragon [26]. The movie I thought deserved at least a nomination in this category was Dispicable Me [27].

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM [28] – I only saw this one of the nominees, but it was excellent: Bieutiful [29].

BEST PICTURE [30]– The King's Speech [2], though I much preferred True Grit [3].

Guest blogger Father Dennis Kriz, O.S.M. serves at Annunciata Parish in Chicago and blogs at Father Dennis at the Movies [31].

Guest blog posts express the views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of U.S. Catholic, its editors, or the Claretians.