Friday Flick Picks plus Bonus Oscar Picks

This weekend one of my favorite times of year is upon us, the Oscar Awards! Ever since I was a teenager I can remember staying up late Sunday nights to predict the winners, hear the speeches, and ooh and ahhh over all the beautiful gowns. Many viewings later my tradition is still the same. Print the ballot, make a whole bunch of snacks, and see what surprises the Academy has inside those little envelopes. I plan to tweet the red carpet and periodically throughout the show so follow me if you're interested in reading the silly things I get excited about, namely montages and my favorite category: animated short films.

But let's get to the movies I saw this week first. Another slow movie week in this apple's life but I still have some flicks to report.

February 19th-25th

My bf and I had a redbox marathon with The American and Toy Story 3 earlier this week and Thursday I caught all the Oscar nominated animated shorts at an indie movie theatre here in town. I have to say even though I loved all the shorts (check out my winner below), Toy Story 3 is my favorite from the week. I saw it in the theatres over the summer and after constant persistence I finally got my boyfriend to watch it with me again. And I still cried at the end! In my eyes if a movie I already know the ending to can still bring me to tears then I know it's good. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely check it out. And if you're thinking about seeing The American; skip it! It's totally a snooze fest.

Now onto my Oscar picks. I thought about giving you guys my picks for all 24 categories, but does anyone care whom I pick to win best sound mixing? So we'll just skip ahead to what you really want to know; the top 6 categories, plus a bonus pick of my favorite category:

Best Actor
Winner: Colin Firth
Possible Upset: Jesse Eisenberg

Best Actress
Winner: Natalie Portman
I don't think anyone can upset her and if they do I'll be so mad!

Best Supporting Actor:
Winner: Christian Bale
Someone I'd love to see win though: John Hawkes

Best Supporting Actress:
Winner: Jacki Weaver (I'm picking a long shot here)
Perhaps the smarter pick: Melissa Leo

Best Director
Winner: David Fincher

Best Picture:
Winner: The King's Speech
An upset I'd LOVE to see because this was the best movie I saw all year: Inception

Bonus Pick: Best Animated Short
Winner: Day and Night


So get your movie-themed snacks and ballots ready for the movie geek's most anticipated night of the year!

Ballots are HERE if you need them and remember you can FOLLOW me on Twitter to see how my picks go on Oscar night, February 28th!