The 83rd Academy Awards: The Nominees

As we all know, the Oscars are always right. Whatever they name Best Picture was indisputably the best film of that year. Shakespeare in Love was absolutely better than Saving Private Ryan, and screw you if you disagree. Also: Ordinary People is better than Raging Bull, and How Green Was My Valley is clearly superior to Citizen Kane.

Ah, but my sarcasm is irrelevant. I love the Oscars. You love the Oscars, or else you wouldn’t be reading this. They take something I love (movies) and combine them with something else I love (competition) and create a fun little awards show that lasts 4 hours and determines what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deemed to be the best films and performances of the previous year. Now the nominees for this year's ceremony have been announced, and looking at them, I must say this is the first time in a while I’ve been genuinely surprised by some movies and performances that were included/excluded. Below are these nominations, and my reactions to each category. Also, any notable snubs will be mentioned, and there are a few of those as well.

Before I start, you can read my picks for the best films of 2010 here.

(Again, it’s still subject to change as some of 2010’s smaller releases are just becoming available to me.)

Best Picture:

127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Reaction/Snubs:

The usual suspects are all here, with the lone mini-surprise being Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, which I did not expect to sneak in to the ten nominees. I anticipated the Academy to go in the direction of The Town or even Shutter Island as the tenth “wild card” nominee, but instead they gave it to a movie which I thought was a bit underrated. Good for them. As far as snubs go, all I can complain about are the other movies that were on my top ten that didn’t make it, but I didn’t expect Never Let Me Go or Fair Game to be recognized.

As far as who will win, from what I’ve heard it is likely a horserace between The Social Network and The King’s Speech. However, there’s a group of people (including Roger Ebert) that seems to believe that True Grit is gaining on these two films. No predictions from me quite yet, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Best Director:

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter

Reaction/Snubs:

Obviously, the big missing name here is Christopher Nolan for Inception, and this does not bode well for that film’s chances in other categories, as the direction is what set that film apart from the pack. However, it’s hard to say any of these five directors don’t belong here, as each of their films are pretty great (at the least) and they have themselves to thank for that.

Best Actor:

Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

Reaction/Snubs:

This has been a year of great performances all around, but Colin Firth seems to be the clear favorite in the Best Actor race for his performance in The King’s Speech. No real snubs here.

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

Reaction/Snubs:

Again, this is about right. I have yet to see Rabbit Hole or Blue Valentine (the latter comes to Columbus this weekend, so wait for that review), but the rest of the performances are all about equal. It’s a bit unclear as to who the winner will be, but it’s undoubtedly been a strong year for female performances.

Best Supporting Actor:

Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Reaction/Snubs:

I’m not sure anybody really expected John Hawkes to be nominated for Winter’s Bone, but there's no question that he deserves it. Unfortunately, it ends up coming at the expense of Andrew Garfield, whose supporting performance in The Social Network was one of my favorites of the year. The best performance of the year, though, is Christian Bale as Dicky Ward in The Fighter. Look for him to win in this crowded category full of talent.

Best Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Reaction/Snubs:

One of these days I need to see Animal Kingdom, the critically-acclaimed Australian crime film that came out earlier this year. I have seen the other films in this category, though, and all the nominees have absolutely earned their spot on this list. One thing needs to be explained to me: why is Hailee Steinfeld’s performance in True Grit a supporting performance? She narrates the darn thing, the movie’s about her, what does a girl have to do around here to be nominated for the lead? Anyway, the only possible “snub” I can think of is Mila Kunis for Black Swan, but I’m not too angry about it.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, True Grit
Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, Winter's Bone

Reaction/Snubs:

I don’t see a way around Sorkin winning this one, unless it’s revealed that he’s a puppy serial killer in his spare time. My one complaint about this category: how is the Toy Story 3 screenplay adapted? Is it just the whole “sequel” thing?

Best Original Screenplay:

Mike Leigh, Another Year
Keith Dorrington, Eric Johnson, Scott Silver, and Paul Tamasy, The Fighter
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler, The King's Speech

Reaction/Snubs:

This screenplay category is a little more intriguing, but ultimately I’m going to give the edge to The King’s Speech, though my personal choice would be The Fighter (unless most of that dialogue was improvised, which is possible). The one thing going against Inception is that the screenplay is likely more of a concept written on paper.

Best Foreign Language Film:

Biutiful (Mexico)
Dogtooth (Greece)
In A Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Hors La Loi (Outside The Law) (Algeria)

Reaction/Snubs:

I need to check these out. Particularly Dogtooth, which I hear is incredible.

Best Documentary Feature:

Exit Through The Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Reaction/Snubs:

I’m rooting for Exit Through the Gift Shop, the fascinating documentary from street artist Banksy that may very well be completely fake. However, that makes it even more fascinating. The only other nominee I have seen is Inside Job, which underwhelmed me, despite the fact that it’s gotten some of the best reviews of any movie this year.

Best Animated Feature:

How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Reaction/Snubs:

I might be able to see a scenario where How to Train Your Dragon overtakes Toy Story 3… Ah, who am I kidding? This race was over before it began.

Best Cinematography:

Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Wally Pfister, Inception
Danny Cohen, The King's Speech
Jeff Cronenweth, The Social Network
Roger Deakins, True Grit

Reaction/Snubs:

I know one thing: Roger Deakins should win this award every year. Ever.

Best Editing:

Jon Harris, 127 Hours
Andrew Weisblum, Black Swan
Pamela Martin, The Fighter
Tariq Anwar, The King's Speech
Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, The Social Network

Reaction/Snubs:

It’s hard to tell with a category like this. I’d give the edge to The Social Network or Black Swan, with 127 Hours next in line.

Best Original Score:

A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours
John Powell, How To Train Your Dragon
Hans Zimmer, Inception
Alexandre Desplat, The King's Speech
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Reaction/Snubs:

I think I’ve made it clear that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score for The Social Network is one of the things that put that movie over the top.  I hope they win, but I’m not entirely possible they will. The Golden Globe win is encouraging, but there is almost never a correlation between those and the Oscars. If they don’t win, I’d say Hans Zimmer may get the gold.

Best Visual Effects:

Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas, and Sean Phillips, Alice In Wonderland
Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz, and Nicolas Aithadi, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephen Trojanski, and Joe Farrell, Hereafter
Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb, Inception
Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Jed Wright, and Daniel Sudick, Iron Man 2

Reaction/Snubs:

Inception would be my preference in this category, if only because it’s likely to get shut out everywhere else.

The rest of the categories are listed below. I have no comments on them because I can’t really pretend to know or have opinions about them.

Best Art Direction:

Robert Stromberg and Karen O'Hara, Alice In Wonderland
Stuart Craig and Stephenie McMillan, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, and Doug Mowat, Inception
Eve Stewart and Judy Farr, The King's Speech
Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh, True Grit

Best Costume Design:

Colleen Atwood, Alice In Wonderland
Antonella Cannarozzi, I Am Love
Jenny Beavan, The King's Speech
Sandy Powell, The Tempest
Mary Zophres, True Grit

Best Makeup:

Adrien Morot, Barney's Version
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, and Yolanda Toussieng, The Way Back
Rick Baker and Dave Elsey, The Wolfman

Best Original Song:

"If I Rise" from 127 Hours, by A.R. Rahman, Dido, and Rollo Armstrong
"Coming Home" from Country Strong, by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges, and Hillary Lindsey
"I See The Light" from Tangled, by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater
"We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3, by Randy Newman

Best Sound Design:

Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick, Inception
Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley, The King's Speech
Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan, and William Sarokin, Salt
Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, and Mark Weingarten, The Social Network
Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland, True Grit

Best Sound Editing:

Richard King, Inception
Tom Myers and Michael Silvers, Toy Story 3
Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague, Tron Legacy
Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey, True Grit
Mark P. Stoeckinger, Unstoppable

Best Animated Short:

Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, Carnet De Voyage (Madagascar, A Journey Diary)

Best Live Action Short:

The Confession
The Crush
God Of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Best Documentary Short:

Killing In The Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors Of Qiugang

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The King’s Speech leads all films with 12 nominations, though the sheer amount of nominations does not a successful Oscar night make. If a film gets more nominations than the others, all that means is that it’s not only good in the general sense, but it also got some costume and makeup nominations as well. Just a couple years ago The Curious Case of Benjamin Button led all other films with 13 nominations, of which it only won three, for Art Direction, Makeup and Visual Effects.

I’m not saying The King’s Speech won’t win Best Picture. Nay, it’s one of the frontrunners. I’m just saying not to look too much in to any of this. Either way, we’ve got more than a month (sheesh) until the results are announced. Until then, let the speculation begin!

I will be writing a predictions post the week of the ceremony.