The Geek or the King for the Best Picture Oscar?

It's usually quite predictable as to what feature will be awarded with the Best Picture accolade at the annual Academy Awards. Most are runaway winners and instant classics, though ultimate decisions are not without their challengers. Now, to win any Oscar in any category should be considered an honour and a testament to one's talents in the filmmaking industry. But for films in general, the Best Picture section is the one to aim for, and it's no easy target to hit.

The Academy is now in its 83rd year, and just like yesteryear there are ten nominated in the Best Picture category. In alphabetical order, they are "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "Inception," "The Kids Are All Right," "The King's Speech," "127 Hours," "The Social Network," "Toy Story 3," "True Grit" and "Winter's Bone." All great movies, all deserving of their inclusion. However, there are two that stand out the most: David Fincher's "The Social Network" and Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech."

It's widely accepted by the general consensus that one of this filmic duo will be handed the golden gong, but much debate has centred on which will actually come out on top -- the stuttering king or the asocial computer nerd? All signs point to the former's star, Colin Firth, winning Best Actor, but its success in the Best Picture hole seems fuzzy, as does that of "The Social Network."

Just last Sunday (February 13th, to be exact), "The King's Speech" was the recipient of Best Film at the BAFTA awards, nudging in front of its geeky competitor. Essentially the Academy Awards' posh little chum, the BAFTAs are a very British foundation, practically making period drama "The King's Speech" an inevitable winner at the annual ceremony.

Four weeks earlier, "The Social Network" was announced as the owner of the Best Motion Picture - Drama trophy in the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards. The winner for the Comedy/Musical category was "The Kids Are All Right," but, well, that's not very important right now.

It should be noted that the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Academy Awards don't always see eye to eye -- only five of the ten Best Picture Oscar winners since "American Beauty" in 2000 were victorious in either of the two Best Motion Picture sections of the Golden Globes. The figure for films since then that are both Oscar victors and BAFTA victors is only four.

"The Social Network" and "The King's Speech" have also won a plethora of other Best overall Film/Picture/Motion Picture awards such as in film critics associations -- a quick search tells me "The Social Network" has won thirteen accolades of this sort, while "The King's Speech" has only won three. This doesn't seem rather high for the latter, but one of them was still a friggin' BAFTA.

Roger Ebert, considered by most to be a god amongst film critics, has expressed his support for "The Social Network," naming it his favourite film of 2010, putting "The King's Speech" just behind it in second place. He also posted this on his Twitter account on February 1st:

"Social Network" is relevant, challenging and cutting edge, and "King's Speech" is a moving Brit costume drama. How O how will Oscar decide?

Personally, I agree with what Ebert is alluding to here -- "The Social Network" should be the winner. I love both it and "The King's Speech" almost equally; they are both cinematic triumphs and wonderful pieces of art and entertainment. However, part of me also wants "The King's Speech" to bag the award because of its country of origin -- mine.

It's undoubtedly a tough call, much more difficult to predict than the Oscar champions of most previous years. They are both very strong contenders in a reasonable year for cinema, and if either won, then not many should be overly upset. Of course, the Academy could throw us all a curveball and award one of the other eight nominees -- their presence is certainly justified. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

The 83rd Academy Awards will be broadcast live on February 27th at 8:00 p.m. EST/February 28th at 1:00 a.m. GMT.