We will so be liveblogging the Oscars, and we will be drunk when we do it. Mark your calendars, it will be more fun than a barrel full of ladybloggers. In the meantime, the nominees for the major categories are after the cut.
I’ve marked my favorites with an ! and who I actually think will win with an *
Best Actor
Javier Bardem – Biutiful !
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech *
James Franco – 127 Hours
Bridges won last year, and I don’t think the Academy is ready to Hanks him yet. Eisenberg and Franco are both probably too young, and without a big enough body of work for the Academy to take either one of them seriously. This leaves Bardem and Firth. I haven’t seen either of their films, but my money’s on Firth.
Best Actress
Natalie Portman – The Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine (I wasn’t expecting this, but I am pleased. Yet I don’t think she has a shot at winning.)
Annette Benning – The Kids are Alright *
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone !
Lawrence was breathtaking in Winter’s Bone, but since not many people had heard of her before the film, I don’t think they’ll give her the golden dude. Benning and Kidman have both won before, but the Academy tends to recognize older women for the BA category and saves the BSA for the under 30 set. (With the notable exception of Mo’nique)
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone *!
Jeremy Renner – The Town
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids are Alright
Geoffrey Rush – The Kings Speech
If the academy acknowledges Winter’s Bone at all, I bet it’s here. Second guess would be Rush or Bale.
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter -The Kings Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter !
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit *
Jacki Weaver – The Animal Kingdom
I know nothing about The Animal Kingdom or Jacki Weaver, so I’m not as sure about this one. I can see the Academy rewarding Steinfeld, but I love the crap out of Leo.
Best Director – And now we get to the Old White Guy Categories.
Darren Aronofsky – The Black Swan !
David O. Russell – The Fighter
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
David Fincher – The Social Network *
Joel and Ethan Coen – True Grit
Best Adapted Screenplay
Danny Boyle and Damon Beaufoy – 127 Hours
Aaron Sorkin – The Social Network *
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich – Toy Story 3 (Wait, what? I didn’t see this, was it that good? Not just Pixar good, real movie storytelling good?)
Joel and Ethan Coen – True Grit
Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini (holy shit, that’s TWO women! Be still my ovaries.) – Winter’s Bone !
Best Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh – Another Year
Scott Sliver, Paul Tamasky, Eric Johnson and Keith Dorington – The Fighter
Christopher Nolan – Inception
Lisa Cholodenko (Ladywriter alert!) and Stuart Blumberg – The Kids Are Alright
David Seidler – The King’s Speech
I’ve only seen one of these movies, I’m at a loss. If I had to guess, I’d pick Nolan. Inception didn’t get any other love, I could see this being the Academy toss off.
Best Foreign Language Film
Biutiful – Mexico
Dogtooth – Greece
In a Better World – Denmark
Incendie – Canada
Outside the Law – Algeria
I haven’t seen any of these, either. (Let me just tell you how often we get foreign language films in my town. Never. We’ve had a few arty independent movie theaters through the years and they all go under. Pleh.)
Best Animated Film
How to Train Your Dragon
Toy Story 3
The Illusionist
Best Picture
Toy Story 3
The Social Network *
The King’s Speech
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are Alright !
127 Hours
Winter’s Bone
True Grit
I think TSN has it in the bag, but I’d love to see The Kids are Alright win because it’s: 1. a comedy, 2. about women and c. the first mainstream film I’ve ever seen where lesbian characters weren’t there to entertain the men or be the shifty murderer. I’m surprised TKaA got as much attention as it has during this awards season, but I don’t think it will get any awards other than for Benning’s performance.
What do you think, readers? Any surprises here? Anyone you expected to see that you don’t?
3 replies on “2011 Oscar Nominations”
I’m with @paperispatient… Christopher Nolan not getting a nom for Inception is a joke. Did that movie just direct itself, then?
Oh, and Selena – definitely give Toy Story 3 a watch. It has every right to be in the Best Picture category.
I’m sorely lacking on movie Oscar viewing, but I’ll definitely have to make time to see The King’s Speech and Black Swan before the awards.
Oooh goody, I will be here with bells on, or possibly slippers. Drunk with Colin Firth, sounds like my kinda night.
I love the Oscars. I’m not entirely sure why, but I just really enjoy the entire thing – the nominations, all the fancy dresses, the awards and movie clips…
I’m disappointed Christopher Nolan wasn’t nominated for best director but I’m glad he got a nomination for original screenplay. And I really like both Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher, so I’m happy (and not surprised) they were nominated for director.