I do love movies, really. But I have to admit this year may have been my worst year in keeping up with Oscar contenders. I’d heard about a lot of the big movies, and made note of some I wanted to see, like “Black Swan” and “True Grit.” I actually only saw three Best Picture Oscar contenders this year: “The Social Network,” “Inception,” and “Toy Story 3.”

Generally, what my wife will watch usually determines what I will and won’t see.

Overall, I thought the pacing of the show was a bit uneven. Not sure James Franco and Anne Hathaway brought the spark intended. Anne was cute and quirky but Franco seemed uncomfortable. I did like the opening “Inception” piece and the cameos by Anne’s mom, and Franco’s grandmother.

Loved Kirk Douglas as a presenter. He brought some much-needed comic relief early on. Not sure how Melissa Leo didn’t know she was on TV and dropped the naughtiest word. My favorite winner and perhaps favorite speech was from Luke Matheny, winner for Live Action Short Film. He was the humble overwhelmed guy with the big hair.

As for the winners, I was rooting heavily for “Social Network.” I thought it was a brilliant film. I was well written, acted, filmed and scored. Plus it was pretty much my favorite of the films I’d seen. Love that it won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Score. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails got an Oscar!

“The King’s Speech” doing so well was no surprise. It seems like a very Oscar-y film. It won Best Picture, Colin Firth also won Best Actor, and Tom Hooper won Best Director. I’d like to see it, but my wife doesn’t like period pieces.

From there, the Academy spread things out a bit. “The Fighter” got supporting love with supporting actor and actress wins. I might get to see it as it’s not a period piece.

The wonderful Natalie Portman won Best Actress for “Black Swan.” She’s forgiven for the “Star Wars” travesties she was in, and that recent romantic comedy with Ashton Kutcher. My wife does want to see “Black Swan” so I’m safe here.

As far as some of the other big contenders…I think we’re safe with “Kids Are All Right,” “127 Hours,” and “Winter’s Bone.” Unfortunately, “King’s Speech” and “True Grit” are period pieces so I probably won’t get to see them…at least until they show up on the Netflix instant queue and I can sneak them in late at night.