There are not any big surprises this year, just a few small ones. Nine worthy pictures made it into the Best Picture category (The Kids Are All Right being the undeserving one); Javier Bardem somehow earned a Best Actor nomination for being in a terrible movie; Annette Bening earned a Best Actress nomination for a Supporting Role in a ensemble flick; Hailee Steinfeld received a supporting nomination for playing a lead; Jeremy Renner was awesomely recognized for his amazing performance in The Town – a film that deserves more Oscar love; How to Train Your Dragon made the animated short list (too bad Pixar dominates that category); Another Year, Inception and The Fighter get Original Screenplay nominations; Toy Story 3 is somehow considered an adapted screenplay (I need to look into that one); Restrepo gets documentary love; Harry Potter earns a few noms; Tron: Legacy is not in the Visual Effects category, yet Hereafter‘s ’90s video-game CG is; and terrible Salt somehow makes its way onto the nominations list.
Check the list. Make your picks. I smell a contest brewing.
BEST PICTURE
“127 Hours”
“Black Swan”
”The Fighter”
”The King’s Speech”
”The Social Network”
”Inception”
”The Kids Are All Right”
”Winter’s Bone”
”Toy Story 3″
”True Grit”
BEST ACTOR
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech”
James Franco, “127 Hours”
Javier Bardem, “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges, “True Grit”
BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman, “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams, “Blue Valentine”
DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan”
David Fincher, “The Social Network”
Tom Hooper, “The King’s Speech”
Joel and Ethan Coen, “True Grit”
David O. Russell, “The Fighter”
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, “The Fighter”
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are All Right”
Jeremy Renner, “The Town”
Geoffrey Rush, “The King’s Speech”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”
Melissa Leo, “The Fighter”
Jacki Weaver, “Animal Kingdom”
ANIMATED FILM
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
“Biutiful,” Mexico
”Dogtooth,” Greece
“Incendies,” Canada
“Outside the Law,” Algeria
”In a Better World,” Denmark
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Another Year”
“Inception”
“The Fighter”
“The Kids Are All Right”
”The King’s Speech”
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
”Toy Story 3″
”True Grit”
”Winter’s Bone”
DOCUMENTARY
“Exit Through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“Killing in the Name”
”Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”
ART DIRECTION
“Alice in Wonderland”
”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1″
“Inception”
”The King’s Speech”
”True Grit”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Black Swan”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“The Social Network”
”True Grit”
COSTUME DESIGN
“Alice in Wonderland”
“I Am Love”
“The King’s Speech”
“The Tempest”
“True Grit”
MAKE-UP
“Barney’s Version”
“The Way Back”
“The Wolfman”
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1″
“Hereafter”
”Inception”
“Iron Man 2”
FILM EDITING
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
”The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
ORIGINAL SONG
“Coming Home” (“Country Strong”)
“I See the Light” (“Tangled”)
“If I Rise” (“127 hours”)
“We Belong Together” (“Toy Story 3”)
ORIGINAL SCORE
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
“Day & Night”
“The Gruffalo”
“Let’s Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, A Journey Diary”
SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
“The Confession”
“The Crush”
“God of Love”
“Na Wewe”
“Wish 143”
SOUND EDITING
“Inception”
“Toy Story 3”
“Tron: Legacy”
“True Grit”
“Unstoppable”
SOUND MIXING
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“Salt”
”The Social Network”
”True Grit”
