The Malibu Times Oscar Guru

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The mighty Oscar was on display at an Oscar viewing party this past weekend at the Malibu Jewish Center. Devon Meyers / TMT

Matt Dawson of Woodland Hills has won The Malibu Times 2011 Academy Awards Ballot contest and is given the title of Oscar Guru.

Dawson got 16 out of the 18 categories listed correct.

Dawson guessed correctly in all categories except the cinematography and directing slots. He chose David Fincher for his work on “The Social Network” instead of Tom Hooper, who won the Oscar for best directing on “The King’s Speech.” Dawson chose “True Grit” for its cinematography, while “Inception” took the award for that category.

Dawson said he chose Fincher for best directing because he simply likes the director.

“He’s a weird eclectic guy,” Dawson said, noting that he’s followed Fincher’s career, having seen “Alien” and mentioning the Madonna music videos Fincher directed prior to his film career. “I was hoping he would win.”

“The Social Network” did pick up Oscars for Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay and Original Score, for which Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails along with Atticus Ross was responsible.

Dawson said he is a movie aficionado, seeing at least two movies per month with his wife.

Although he correctly picked “The King’s Speech” for Best Picture, Dawson said his other favorite film of 2010 was “Inception,” “based on the script.”

Dawson said the concept of the movie, using technology to invade the mind through dream states, was unique. The fact that the filmmakers made it believable, Dawson said, “did not make it seem like science fiction.”

“It was believable,” he said.

Even his dad, Dawson said, liked the movie, saying that technology these days could make such scenarios possible. Dawson said perhaps the movie did not win Best Picture as many older people could not grasp the concept of it.

Dawson said he enjoyed Best Actress Oscar winner Natalie Portman’s turn in “Black Swan,” mentioning that his wife’s younger sister is a dance instructor and “grew up in that whole world,” albeit, the movie’s take was “weird and spooky,” he said.

“It was kind of weird to see those two actresses [Portman and Mila Kunis] in those roles,” he said. “They stepped out of their usual box; she’s [Portman] never come off that dark in a movie.”

For the other contestants, five correctly chose 15 out of the 18 categories; one person made 14 correct choices; 18 people got between 10 and 13 correct; seven people cast between seven and nine correct picks; and the worst scorers were two people who picked three correct categories and two who chose four.

Dawson, who said he was excited about winning the contest having entered many times before, will receive 10 free passes to the Malibu Cinema Hollywood Theater.