Best of 2010, part last: My Dream Oscar Ballot

Welcome back again. We're here to wrap the best of 2010 in a nice little bow and send it to someone who will love it. Today, I'm going to offer you guys a cheat-sheet for what I think is the best this year (in case 40 pages of lists feels too daunting to read); I'm giving you my Oscar Ballot. No commentary, no rankings, just five nominees, with the winner in bold. Just for funsies, I'll also denote actual Oscar nominees with asterisks, so y'all can see the surprising amount of overlap this year between my taste and the Academy's. So:

Best Picture
127 Hours*
Animal Kingdom
Black Swan*
Blue Valentine
Dogtooth
How to Train Your Dragon
The Kids Are All Right*
Restrepo
The Social Network*
Toy Story 3*

Director
Darren Aronofsky-Black Swan*
Danny Boyle-127 Hours
David Fincher-The Social Network*
Yorgos Lanthimos-Dogtooth
Roman Polanski-The Ghost Writer

Actor
Jeff Bridges-True Grit*
Jesse Eisenberg-The Social Network*
Colin Firth-The King's Speech*
James Franco-127 Hours*
Ryan Gosling-Blue Valentine

Actress
Annette Bening-The Kids Are All Right*
Julianne Moore-The Kids Are All Right
Natalie Portman-Black Swan*
Emma Stone-Easy A
Michelle Williams-Blue Valentine*

Supporting Actor
Christian Bale-The Fighter*
Andrew Garfield-The Social Network
Josh Hutcherson-The Kids Are All Right
Ben Mendelsohn-Animal Kingdom
Jeremy Renner-The Town*

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams-The Fighter*
Mila Kunis-Black Swan
Melissa Leo-The Fighter*
Lesley Manville-Another Year
Jacki Weaver-Animal Kingdom

Original Screenplay
Animal Kingdom
Black Swan
Easy A
The Kids Are All Right*
The King's Speech*

Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours*
The Ghost Writer
How to Train Your Dragon
The Social Network*
Toy Story 3*

Art Direction
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1*
Inception*
The King's Speech*
Shutter Island
TRON Legacy

Costume Design
Burlesque
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
I Am Love*
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
TRON Legacy

Visual Effects
Clash of the Titans
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1*
Inception*
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
TRON Legacy

Makeup
Black Swan
Clash of the Titans
Splice

Film Editing
127 Hours*
Black Swan*
Inception
Restrepo
The Social Network*

Cinematography
Black Swan*
Dogtooth
Inception*
Shutter Island
True Grit*

Original Score
How to Train Your Dragon*
Red Hill
The Social Network*
Toy Story 3
TRON Legacy

Sound Mixing
127 Hours
Black Swan
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception*
TRON Legacy

Sound Effects Editing
127 Hours
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
How to Train Your Dragon
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
TRON Legacy*

Original Song
"Express"-Burlesque
"Sticks and Stones"-How to Train Your Dragon
"Black Sheep"-Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
"Mother Knows Best"-Tangled
"We Belong Together"-Toy Story 3*


Well, there we have it. Another year of movies done with. I'll probably return next week for a bit, just to discuss Oscar predictions/wins, but, until then, thanks much for reading!