Up The Academy

The Oscar nominations are out.  A few snubs, but nothing shocking.  The King's Speech has 12 nominations to The Social Network's 8, so we've got a race. (True Grit has 10.)

Best actor favorite has to be Colin Firth.  His only real competition seems to be James Franco, but I'm guessing a lot of Academy members didn't even want to watch him cut his arm off.  Jeff Bridges already won the award last year for a role with a beard.  I think people believe Jesse Eisenberg was playing himself.  Javier Bardem was the surprise nominee, even though he's an Academy favorite--he blocked someone like Mark Wahlberg, Ryan Gosling or Robert Duvall (but not Leo DiCaprio).

Best Actress looks to be a battle between favorite Natalie Portman and Annette Bening.  Julianne Moore was not nominated, which was no surprise and probably helps Bening.  The other nominations weren't entirely unexpected, but none were locks.  No Lesley Manville, who won critics awards around the world for Another Year, was one of the biggest snubs.

Best Supporting Actor is one of the best categories, as it often is.  The least interesting performance, Christian Bale's, seems like to win, though Geoffrey Rush might give him a run for his money.  Note the total lack of Social Network names.  So Network gets Best Actor and nothing else, while The Fighter gets supporting nods but nothing at the top.

Best Supporting Actress features two not that impressive performances from The Fighter, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo.  I don't think they'll cancel each other out since, even though Adams is an Academy favorite, Leo had the showier role.  Meanwhile, the other three nominees did wonderful work (and are arguably all lead roles).  Some people were w bit surprised that Mila Kunis isn't here, but not me.

The worst snub to me is no Tangled for best animated feature.  Toy Story 3 seems a lock, but no room for the girl with the hair?  Actually, most snub-sniffers are more surprised at The Illusionist or Despicable Me.

Best director, no Danny Boyle, no Chrisopher Nolan, no Ben Affleck.  This category might be fun, since Fincher did such a critically acclaimed film in a relatively self-effacing manner, as did Tom Hooper and, for that matter, David O. Russell.  Meanwhile, Darren Aronofsky was up to his old tricks reminding you over and over what you're watching isn't true.

Best Screenplay splits the two favorites so should be an easy win for Aaron Sorkin and David Seidler.

Haven't seen most of the foreign language films, but Dogtooth sure would be an interesting winner.

Good to see Exit Through The Gift Shop get nominated for best doc.  Would Banksy show up if he wins?  Unfortunately, the simplistic Inside Job is nominated.  The last thing we need is a childish harangue.  Big snub here was Waiting For Superman.  Did the teacher's union get to the Academy?

Pretty weak gang for Original Song.  Only the Tangled number seems worth much.  Please oh please don't let Randy Newman win an Oscar for another crappy song.

I don't know about the other animated shorts, but I think everyone saw Day & Night and it was pretty good.


BEST PICTURE

127 HOURS
BLACK SWAN
INCEPTION
THE FIGHTER
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
THE KING'S SPEECH
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
TOY STORY 3
TRUE GRIT
WINTER'S BONE

BEST ACTOR
JEFF BRIDGES - TRUE GRIT
JAVIER BARDEM - BIUTIFUL
JESSE EISENBERG - THE SOCIAL NETWORK
COLIN FIRTH - THE KING’S SPEECH
JAMES FRANCO - 127 HOURS

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

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
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

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
AMY ADAMS - THE FIGHTER
HELENA BONHAM CARTER - THE KING’S SPEECH
MELISSA LEO - THE FIGHTER
HAILEE STEINFELD - TRUE GRIT
JACKI WEAVER - ANIMAL KINGDOM

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
TOY STORY 3
THE ILLUSIONIST

BEST 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

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ANOTHER YEAR, Mike Leigh
THE FIGHTER, Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy  Eric Johnson
INCEPTION, Christopher Nolan
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
THE KING'S SPEECH, David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 HOURS, Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
TOY STORY 3, Michael Arndt, Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich
THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Aaron Sorkin
WINTER'S BONE, Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
TRUE GRIT, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Algeria, Hors la Loi (Outside the Law)
Canada, Incendies
Denmark, In a Better World
Greece, Dogtooth
Mexico, Biutiful

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) - Matthew Libatique
Inception (Warner Bros.) - Wally Pfister
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Danny Cohen
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) - Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (Paramount) - Roger Deakins

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Exit Through The Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency) A Paranoid Pictures Production Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
Gasland - A Gasland Production Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
Inside Job (Sony Pictures Classics) - A Representational Pictures Production Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment) - An Outpost Films Production Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Waste Land (Arthouse Films) - An Almega Projects Production Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Killing In The Name - A Moxie Firecracker Films Production Nominees to be determined
Poster Girl - A Portrayal Films Production Nominees to be determined
Strangers No More - A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
Sun Come Up - A Sun Come Up Production Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
The Warriors Of Qiugang - A Thomas Lennon Films Production Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter (Paramount) Pamela Martin
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) - Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (Warner Bros) - Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception (Warner Bros) - Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) - Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) - Production Design: Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) - Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Inception (Warner Bros) - Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas, Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Production Design: Eve Stewart, Set Decoration: Judy Farr
True Grit (Paramount) - Production Design: Jess Gonchor, Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) - Colleen Atwood
I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) - Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (Miramax) - Sandy Powell
True Grit (Paramount) - Mary Zophres

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Barney's Version (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot
The Way Back (Newmarket Films/Wrekin Hill Entertainment/Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) - John Powell
Inception (Warner Bros.) - Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) - A.R. Rahman
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Coming Home” from Country Strong (Sony Pictures/Screen Gems) - Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from Tangled (Walt Disney) - Music by Alan Menken, Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) - Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Day & Night (Walt Disney) - A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo - A Magic Light Pictures Production Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let's Pollute - A Geefwee Boedoe Production Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment) - A Passion Pictures Australia Production Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) - A Sacrebleu Production Bastien Dubois

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
The Confession (National Film and Television School) - A National Film and Television School Production - Tanel Toom
The Crush (Network Ireland Television) - A Purdy Pictures Production - Michael Creagh
God Of Love - A Luke Matheny Production - Luke Matheny
Na Wewe (Premium Films) - A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 - A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Inception (Warner Bros) - Richard King
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) - Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney) - Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit (Paramount) - Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) - Mark P. Stoeckinger

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
Inception (Warner Bros) - Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King's Speech (The Weinstein Company) - Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt (Sony Pictures Releasing) - Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) - Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit (Paramount) - Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland