sag award reaction well, one thing that i am willing to admit after last night's sag awards is that we now officially have four frontrunners in the acting races. this has been becoming more and more evident recently, but after last night i think we can finally hand over oscars to christian bale, colin firth and natalie portman. melissa leo is certainly in the lead for the best supporting actress award as well, but something tells me this one is a little less sewn up. (i can envision an alan arkin or tilda swinton type scenario here in which hailee steinfeld walks away with the best supporting actress award if the academy feels that they just have to give true grit something). that being said, this year has been a little bit exceptional in that i really support all of these four eventual award winners. natalie portman gives my favorite lead actress performance in black swan and, even though colin firth probably isn't my favorite, one certainly could never say he is undeserving. i can't stand christian bale in general, but he is almost unrecognizable as dickey eklund in the fighter. the best supporting actress category is causing me some consternation, as nothing would make me happier than seeing melissa leo walk away an oscar winner (how much do i LOVE frozen river?) but i could say the same thing about amy adams (how much do i LOVE. . . well, everything amy adams has ever been in). still, i am strangely drawn to hailee steinfeld and am almost maybe possibly hoping that she upsets. (ARGH! i can't decide).

now, one thing that i am NOT willing to admit after last night's sag awards is that the king's speech is now the front runner in the oscar race. mark my words, there is an elaborate blogger-led oscar campaign strategy underway to make the social network SOMEHOW seem like an underdog in desperate need of votes. when all is said and done, the social network IS the eventual best picture winner, and it will win in an absolute LANDSLIDE. this is unfortunate, clearly, and the king's speech is a far superior film in every possible way. but it is going to happen. and i am already getting irritated by the coming post-oscars morning headlines declaring the social network's "upset" win. blech.  ¶ 1/31/2011 08:25:00 PM