The Oscar race is over



Here's your Oscar winner this year for best picture

Around this time last year, I thought the Oscar was still a two-picture race between The King's Speech and The Social Network. The year before that I thought it was a tight race between The Hurt Locker and Avatar. There's no contest this year, however. What with the Screen Actors Guild nominations announced two days ago and the Golden Globes this morning, it's all over. The Artist is going to win best picture, director and probably a couple of technical awards. Although Hugo is making a big late push -- enough to land a best picture nomination as well as a director's nomination for Martin Scorsese (replacing Steven Daldrey), it simply doesn't have the support of the Academy's largest branch, the actors, to snag the big award away from The Artist. The only other films with a lot of acting support are The Help, but it is not a strong enough entry to win best picture -- it's this year's Blind Side -- and The Descendants, but that film has as many fervent detractors as it does supporters.

I do think it's some kind of poeticic justice that in this era of supercharged special effects and 3-D gagetry, this year's winner for best picture will be a black and white silent film.