Oscar nominations were announced earlier this morning, and most of it went as expected. But there are a couple of decisions that I think the Academy should not have made. But some were really good too, I suppose. So here are the important story-lines regarding the Oscars (aka no crap about animated shorts or nominations like that).
The King's Speech leads the nominations
No surprises here. The shocker was by how many it topped its competition, primarily The Social Network. The Social Network got important nominations, but it got fewer nominations in the technical categories. Though typically the movie nominated for the most accolades is not necessarily the winner of Best Picture, it does show that The King's Speech was at the front of the voters' minds. The Social Network went from nearly surefire winner to probable winner. It should win, based on what the critics have said, but if it loses to The King's Speech, don't call it an upset.
Javier Bardem for Biutiful over Robert Duvall in Get Low
The last spot of the Best Actor race was clearly up for grabs with Colin Firth, James Franco, Jesse Eisenberg, and Jeff Bridges essentially locked in. A lot of people expected Robert Duvall to sneak in with Get Low, but everyone should have been shocked when Javier Bardem heard his name called. It was a breathtaking performance by Bardem, but it also was a little-seen foreign language film. But his addition seems more of an appreciation/massive campaigning by one Julia Roberts (who actually may be the most overrated actress of all time) than anything. There seems to be no way Colin Firth (The King's Speech) gets upset for the Best Actor trophy.
Illusionist is in; Tangled, Despicable Me are out
So the Animated Feature race is always one of the least entertaining. The winner is typically Pixar's most recent film (5-2 since this award was given; winner of last 3 years), and that trend doesn't seem like it will change with Toy Story 3's Best Picture nomination. But a lot of people would have expected another kid friendly movie to join Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon, but lo and behold, the more mature Illusionist sneaks in to grab the last spot.
True Grit goes from zero to hero
True Grit goes from shut-out at the Golden Globes to second most nominations in the Oscars. Sure, I'm not typically the biggest fan of the Golden Globes, but that is a massive change. It probably won't win many of their nominations (or any at all from the looks of it), but it's still pretty amazing (kudos on Hailee Steinfeld, who at 14, is one of the youngest nominees of all time).
127 Hours and Winter's Bone in for Best Picture; no love for The Town
In what is less of a surprise, the Best Picture race is shaken up a little with the dismissal of The Town and the addition of 127 Hours. Winter's Bone and 127 Hours are probably the two weakest nominees (which means they are really strong movies in general), so it doesn't affect the race itself, but the lack of love for The Town (only one nominations for Jeremy Renner) is surprising. I think the Academy is still pretty pissed at Gigli and Daredevil.
Michelle Williams gets in with Blue Valentine
This isn't actually as big of a surprise as you would expect. The expected five were Natalie Portman, Annette Bening, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicole Kidman, and Hailee Steinfeld. So when Hailee Steinfeld was (not actually that) surprisingly put into the Supporting Actress category, it opened a spot for the next deserving nominee, which in this case was Michelle Williams. A deserving nominee for an underappreciated movie overall (with only one nomination)
The Biggest Snub of All Time (Kinda, Sorta, Not Really)
Okay, so maybe I'm a little overly dramatic on this topic, but this is the biggest snub of this year. Despite all of the love for his movie Inception, Christopher Nolan gets shut out of the Best Director category, and he is replaced by the Coen brothers (who already had 2 nominations and 1 win). This isn't the first time people have cried foul against Nolan, who was shafted for Memento and The Dark Knight (2 of his 3 Director's Guild nominations). He deserved to be nominated for one of the best movies of the year, but he wasn't. He'll be fine with his writing nomination for now, but I personally expected him to be the only person who could beat David Fincher (who probably would've won regardless). I guess I was pretty wrong with that guess.
So with those stories, here are my predictions for the Oscars.
Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler, The King's Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Documentary Feature: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Best Foreign Language Film: In A Better World (Denmark)
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Fighter
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Actress: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Picture: The Social Network
Oscars are in about a month (February 27, 2011), and from the looks of it, we won't have another Razzie and Oscar winner in the same year (congrats to Sandra Bullock for being the first!). Have fun, and see y'all later!
P.S. Good luck to Rob with his Fantasy Oscar game or what not!
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