By Colin Walsh

These are a dime a dozen, but who doesn’t like a good Oscar prediction? For those of you heading to Vegas (yes, they take bets on this), I’m not entirely sure you should trust me. After all, “Saving Private Ryan” lost Best Picture in ’98, a fact that continues to upset people to this day. But for the sake of lists, predictions and how much people like them, here I go.

Best Picture: “The Social Network” — This complicated puzzle was put together perfectly. Everything about the way this movie was made is tremendous, and it wasn’t an easy story to tell.

Best Director: David Fincher — He is a meticulous director, casting the same actors in nearly all of his films. But “The Social Network,” despite using two Fincher-familiar faces, is all new, from its Facebook subject matter, to its cultural references and even its quality. But the reason we loved this movie so much has nothing to do with the familiar; it’s the exciting way it was put together.

Best Actor: Colin Firth — I would love it if James Franco (“127 Hours”) won the statue for this, but the academy loves “movie-movies” and it doesn’t get much more “movie” than “The King’s Speech.” Congrats, C. Firth.

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence — Who is Jennifer Lawrence? I’d be asking the same question if she hadn’t stolen the show in 2010’s breakout, critically — acclaimed small-time hit, “Winter’s Bone.” If you haven’t seen it, do so now.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale — at the end of “The Fighter,” before the credits, the real life, jumpy and animated character who Bale had been playing the entire film was shown onscreen. This had to have been done out of respect for Bale, and the second you see that man, you know that Bale is getting this award. This one’s a slam dunk.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Helena Bonham Carter — “The King’s Speech” will undoubtedly rake in a few awards, and I’m pretty sure this will be one of them. Carter really upped the ante on her stock after this fine performance. Good for her.

Best Animated Feature Film: “Toy Story 3” — Another fantastic installment. It can’t lose in this category created to praise Disney.

Best Cinematography: “Inception” — This is a mammoth movie that will always deserve a big screen for its viewing; it’s hard to ignore how much fine work went into getting it on that screen.

Best Visual Effects: “Inception” — This is a guess. Some of the categories (which I will not attempt to predict) are out of my zone, and if I had to get into the realm of sound mixing, I would be completely lost. But I do know that “Inception” had visuals that I still think about from time to time — the city folding in on itself was an incredible sight.