You cannot know for sure whether a movie will get an Oscar before it happens, but you can make an educated guess by looking at the year’s top movie lists from influential film critics’ associations. And this year, most of them point to director David Fincher’s The Social Network, which depicts the early days of Facebook, as the top candidate.
The Boston Society of Film Critics was also on board, giving Fincher’s movie awards for best film, direction, screenplay, score, and actor (Jesse Eisenberg). And finally, the American Film Institute placed it among the top 10 movies of the year.