“The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech” will ultimately duke out for the year’s top prize, but there are other nominations and categories to consider.

Here are my predictions, as well as a few long-shot picks that deserve more respect. Official predictions are in bold.

Best Picture
If there were only five nominees, it’d be easy: “The Social Network,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Fighter,” “Inception” and “Black Swan.” They’ve all appeared in pretty much every Oscar precursor (Guild nominations, critics’ lists, etc.). The other good bets: “Toy Story 3,” “True Grit,” and “The Kids Are All Right.” The final two slots will go to one of these three: “Winter’s Bone,” “127 Hours,” and “The Town.” Gut feeling: Ben Affleck’s excellent heist film just misses the cut.

Needs More Respect: Edgar Wright’s brilliant video game epic “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” (more…)

The concept of Seth Rogen as a superhero in “The Green Hornet” isn’t so far fetched once you realize he wrote the script for himself.

Together with his “Superbad” writing partner Evan Goldberg, Rogen drafts “The Green Hornet” much like his previous star-vehicles — the lead character is a pop-culture nerd/drunken man-child who rambles on about every topic and situation. Most of the actual hero stuff is handled by sidekick extraordinaire Kato (Jay Chou).

Your tolerance of the Seth Rogen archetype will probably determine your overall feelings for “The Green Hornet,” a middle-of-the-road superhero movie with lots of good ideas but little execution. The movie has a unique visual appeal thanks to “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Michel Gondry, but the script leaves its interesting array of characters dangling. (more…)

Big Stars. Huge Budgets. Disastrous Results.

In a tough economic climate, Hollywood still managed to waste colossal amounts of time and money in the hopes of suckering the American public. Save yourself the headache and avoid these 10 awful titles released in the last 12 months.

The Bounty Hunter

Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler star as bickering exes in the most broadly-drawn and unwatchable “romantic romp” to come along since, well, whatever movie Jennifer Aniston or Gerard Butler made last.

Jonah Hex

Clocking in at a trim 70 minutes, this DC Comics Western makes no sense whatsoever. Josh Brolin emerges from this mess relatively unscathed, but Megan Fox’s hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold has likely sent the actress careening into a Lindsay Lohan career trajectory.

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Big acting talent, unfortunately, doesn’t always transfer into quality entertainment. “Little Fockers,” the third installment in the popular comedy franchise, takes a once-fresh idea and smothers it to death.

After eight years, Robert De Niro still questions Ben Stiller’s position in the Byrnes Family Circle of Trust. He spends most of the film “watching” poor Gaylord Focker as he deals with a new house, a feisty work associate (Jessica Alba) and getting his kids into a posh private school.

The plot strands in “Little Fockers” are more frail than ever, with the titular kids only making token appearances. The remaining cast, including Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Barbara Streisand and an overreaching Owen Wilson, can’t do much with their reduced roles. Worst of all, Dustin Hoffman, the saving grace of “Meet the Fockers,” only appears in 10 minutes of this outing.

There are occasional funny bits, most in which Stiller and De Niro manage to break through the lazy plot contrivances. The rest, however, is a deflated rehash of franchise greatest hits.

Known for quirky comedies (“The Big Lebowski”), dark dramas (“No Country for Old Men”), and sometimes both combined (“Fargo”), the Coen Brothers have crafted “True Grit” as their most straightforward and mainstream film to date. It’s an entertaining yarn that executes all the classic Western elements and adds distinct Coen dialogue alongside a trio of great performances.

Based more on the Charles Portis novel than the 1969 film adaptation starring John Wayne, “True Grit” follows 14-year-old Mattie Ross as she hunts down the man who killed her father in cold blood. The tough-talking Mattie is played by newcomer Hailee Steinfeld in a firecracker of a performance. She’s the highlight in a movie populated by Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and a one-eyed Jeff Bridges.

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Following in the footsteps of last year’s holiday feast, “Avatar,” Disney’s reboot of “Tron” tries for the same overstuffed helping of bright, shiny eye-candy. One thing is certain: The neon-infused action sequences must be seen on the big screen.

Also like “Avatar,” the storytelling is decidedly less successful.

“Tron Legacy” provides enough recap of the original film to bring newbies into the world. Years ago, computer programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) created a virtual world that a person could physically enter and compete against the master program in gladiator style games.

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Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” mixes the classic beauty of ballet with the disturbing imagery of a sudden and debilitating mental illness.

Natalie Portman agonized through months of rigorous training to play Nina, a veteran dancer who unravels emotionally after she earns the coveted lead in “Swan Lake.” She’s got the innocence of the Swan Queen, but her director (Vincent Cassel) doesn’t believe the dancer can handle the seductive danger of The Black Queen.

Enter rival Mila Kunis and the forceful hand of an overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey), and Nina starts tripping out, first noticing some especially scary stuff in the mirror.

Nina’s mental breakdown stretches the plotting of “Black Swan” into repetitive oblivion, but through those occasional plot missteps shines Portman’s unforgettable performance. The physicality of the role is a marvel, and her descent into insanity remains believable even as she literally begins transforming into a giant bird.

It might be best to carve her name on the Oscar statue right now.

Grade: A-

In an effort to reach my goal of seeing at least 100 movies released in 2010 before Dec. 31, I’ve had to clog my Netflix queue with some real stinkers. These films just aren’t worth full-fledged reviews, so here’s a brief overview of the bile you should most definitely avoid:

The Last Airbender

Once the most promising director of his generation, M. Night Shyamalan is fast becoming a modern-day Ed Wood. His recent movies, especially “The Happening,” are so laughably bad, you have to wonder where he’s getting the financing.

“The Last Airbender,” based on the popular cartoon series, isn’t quite as terrible as that Mark Wahlberg-talks-to-plants disaster. Nevertheless, it’s still pretty dull and clunky. The child actors should go back to grade school, and considering Shyamalan’s recent screenwriting techniques, maybe he should join them. Grade: C

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The only thing missing from “Unstoppable” is an Ozzy Osbourne-fueled credit sequence.

The crazy train in director Tony Scott’s thriller is a half-mile-long freight locomotive carrying explosive toxic chemicals. After a dimwitted employee leaves the train on auto-pilot, a slew of railroad executives, operators and local law enforcement try to stop the thing from derailing in a highly-populated area.

“Unstoppable” is kinda inspired by a true story, but in this case, the embellishments are the film’s strong points. Scott has crafted a trim, old-school entertainment that builds to an exciting confrontation between man and machine. Even through its silliest moments, “Unstoppable” establishes enough plausibility to make each turn of the track an edge-of-your-seat moment.

It helps to have two charismatic actors as the Everyman Heroes — Denzel Washington and “Star Trek” breakout Chris Pine play railroad employees in pursuit of the 70 mph beast. Washington’s Frank is on the verge of early retirement, while Pine’s Will is the confident newbie with marital woes on his mind. The characters may be stock, but Washington and Pine share enough natural chemistry to bring energy to the establishing scenes.

Of course everything that could go wrong with an out-of-control train goes wrong. Greedy railroad execs fail miserably with risky, cost-saving solutions, and the stalwart yard master (Rosario Dawson) scolds them appropriately. There are near misses involving children and horses, and both Washington and Pine have a couple close calls with really-fast moving pavement.

Scott, the guy who brought us “Man on Fire” and a few other Washington-led action vehicles, utilizes his typical hyper-kinetic camera style, cutting ferociously between every twist and turn. The antics work for “Unstoppable,” especially since most of the action is stunt-oriented and less reliant on computer-generated tricks.

And right on through the B-movie-inspired climax, Washington and Pine bring their A-game. You care about these guys enough to cringe whenever they attempt a death-defying leap, even when you know they’re going to survive it.

“Unstoppable” doesn’t try any high-brow subtext either. It’s just a good runaway train movie. Popcorn optional but encouraged.

Grade: B+

In his follow-up to the mega-hit (and slightly overrated) “The Hangover,” director Todd Phillips pairs that film’s breakout star, Zach Galifianakis, with Robert Downey Jr. in a “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” redux about two strangers forced to travel across the country together.

The comparisons to that previous road movie are inescapable. What matters here is Galifianakis and Downey’s solid comic timing, especially through the film’s more implausible moments. It’s more of the same weirdo antics from Galifianakis (a good or bad thing depending on the outlook), and Downey basically plays a meaner but still charismatic version of his “Iron Man” persona.

The movie gets predictably sappy in the final act, but not enough to completely dismiss the R-rated crass that comes before it. “Due Date” isn’t a great comedy, but it contains enough of what counts: Laughs.

Grade: B