Oscar nominations reaction
The 2010 Academy Awards nomination surprised and largely pleased me. I was deathly afraid that two of my favorites, "127 Hours" and "Winter's Bone," would not get love from the Academy because neither managed to light much of a fire at the box office.
I was especially pleased to see acting nominations for Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes from "Bone" -- two of the best performances I saw this year. James Franco (who's co-hosting the ceremony Feb. 27) got a nomination for his performance in "127 Hours," but he has a much higher profile than the other two.
"The King's Speech" led the field with 12 nominations, an indication of a strong swell of support from the Academy's older voters. Should it now be the favorite for Best Picture? I still think "The Social Network" is tops.
A lot of dap for "Toy Story 3," including becoming the third animated feature to get a Best Pic nod, plus a screenplay nominations. I still think "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Tangled" are better films.
Films that did better than predicted: "Rabbit Hole," "Winter's Bone," "Toy Story 3," "The Kids Are All Right," "The Fighter," "Biutiful" (a surprise -- and deserved -- nom for Javier Bardem).
Films that did worse: "Inception" (no Christopher Nolan directing nomination), "Never Let Me Go" (totally shut out), "Blue Valentine," "Tangled."
Snubs: No nod for Julianne Moore from "The Kids Are All Right"? Co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Annette Bening both got nominations, and her performance was no less compelling.
Ryan Gosling, in one of the most nuanced roles of the year in "Blue Valentine," got the shaft. Co-star Michelle Williams did get a nod, though. This is a movie built around two performances, and to recognize only one of them feels strange and bitter.
No Diane Wiest nod for "Rabbit Hole," though not surprising. It's a small but meaty role in a film few people have seen. Aaron Eckhart also got snubbed, which is strange in the same way as "Blue Valentine," in that's a movie about a relationship between two people.
A lack of a directing nod for Christopher Nolan is vexing. Here was one of the most truly original visions of the year, and to not recognize the man behind it strikes me as bizarre and cruel. Maybe voters felt a screenwriting nomination was sufficient. It wasn't.
Another acting nomination I wasn't really expecting but would have liked to see was Andrew Garfield for "The Social Network." Armie Hammer was amusing as the Winklevi, but it's just not an Oscar-caliber role or performance.
Although my prediction of a youth movement in the acting nominations proved largely true, with by my count nine of the 20 nods going to actors under the age of 40.
The Overrated: "The King's Speech" is a solid, well-made film, but about as original as an Andy Warhol soup can print. I think our Film Yapper said it best in his Facebook post: "Two great performances from actors who need neither good direction nor scripts to excel."
I liked "Toy Story 3," but c'mon. It was the third-go round with some very familiar characters and settings. You can't tell me certain parts of the plot felt like they were on auto-pilot (the escape from daycare, etc.). So a screenplay nod here seems really misplaced.
I know it's a nice-looking film, but there's just something wrong with the world when "Alice in Wonderland" earns more Academy Award nominations than "Blue Valentine," "The American," "Lebanon," "Never Let Me Go" and "Tangled" combined.
And, thank God, we avoided a Mila Kunis nomination for "Black Swan." I'm not a fan of that film, but Kunis was borderline horrible in it, and I couldn't believe she generated talk about a nod. No Milli Vanilli Moment for these Oscars.
Here's the complete list:
Best motion picture of the year
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The Kids Are All Right"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"Toy Story 3"
"Winter's Bone"
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours"
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Christian Bale in "The Fighter"
John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"
Best animated feature film of the year
"How to Train Your Dragon"
"The Illusionist"
"Toy Story 3"
Art Direction
"Alice in Wonderland" (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O'Hara (Set Decoration)
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" (Warner Bros.), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
"Inception" (Warner Bros.), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)
"The King's Speech" (The Weinstein Company), Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
"True Grit" (Paramount), Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)
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
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
Achievement in directing
"Black Swan" (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter" (Paramount), David O. Russell
"The King's Speech" (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper
"The Social Network" (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher
"True Grit" (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Best Documentary Feature
"Exit Through the Gift Shop" (Producers Distribution Agency) Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz; A Paranoid Pictures Production
"Gasland" Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic; A Gasland Production
"Inside Job" (Sony Pictures Classics) Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs; A Representational Pictures Production
"Restrepo" (National Geographic Entertainment) Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger; An Outpost Films Production
"Waste Land" Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley (Arthouse Films); An Almega Projects Production
Best documentary short subject
"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
"Strangers No More"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"
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
Best foreign language film of the year
"Biutiful" (Mexico)
"Dogtooth" (Greece)
"In a Better World" (Denmark)
"Incendies" (Canada)
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)" (Algeria)
Achievement in makeup
"Barney's Version" (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot
"The Way Back" (Newmarket Films in association with Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
"The Wolf Man" (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
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 Releasing (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
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
Adapted screenplay
"127 Hours" (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
"The Social Network" (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit" (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone" (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Original screenplay
"Another Year" (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter" (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
"Inception" (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right" (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
"The King's Speech" (The Weinstein Company), Written by David Seidler