Reel Oscar Picks, Part 2

Rounding out Oscar week with this Blogger's picks for the larger categories:

VISUAL EFFECTS
Is there any competition here? INCEPTION, while it did re-hash some concepts from works 50 or 60 years before, it deserves the crown mostly on it's committment to practical effects in a nearly-all digital age.

LIVE-ACTION SHORT
GOD OF LOVE is the most complete out of the group, and has the chops to easily be made into a feature. NA WEWE, with it's social-commentary, may be the typical Oscar winner, but the lack of a story handicaps it badly.

BEST DIRECTOR
Tough call here. Both David Fincher (THE SOCIAL NETWORK) and Tom Hooper (THE KING'S SPEECH) have cleaned house in the awards season. Hooper directed the better acting (four of his actors have nominations), but Fincher directed a film with people sitting around talking seem interesting. Overall it's hard to imagine THE SOCIAL NETWORK waking up on Monday without a major award to speak of. The movie is just too good. David Fincher gets Best Director.

BEST FILM
Another tough call, but THE KING'S SPEECH has the lion's share of nominations, which shows how strong and well-rounded it is. The Academy tends to pick heart over head, and THE SOCIAL NETWORK just doesn't have a main character to root for. THE KING'S SPEECH will wear the crown on Sunday.

What say you?