Oscar Nominations 2K11: To Rage Or Not to Rage

You know how Chinese New Year is in February? And how the Jewish New Year is Rosh Hashanah? Well, MY New Year is on Oscar Night. I live for the awards season, and specifically the Academy Awards. A year doesn't really start until you know what the best movie of the previous one was, and so my 2011 doesn't start until February 27th.

Yesterday the Oscar nominations were announced. Yesterday was like my Christmas. I basically have two Christmases, okay? Or three, because of Chanukah. Heck yeah, mixed-religious parenting! Usually award nominations make me pretty upset, but this list seems pretty fair. Let's get on with it, shall we? We shall:

BEST PICTURE

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

There are ten nominees again, obviously. Yay? Not really. The reasoning behind the expansion of this most important category was that, hey! Now we can arbitrarily nominate stupid movies that stupid people liked so that we can actually get some people to watch for once! Like The Stinking Blind Side AKA Proving to Us White Folks Once Again That Black People Are Good For Nothing Except Sports! Starring Sandra Bullock's Wig! (Seriously, that was a wig, right? Just awful.) However, how many of these movies did normal people actually see? Toy Story 3, Inception, and I guess The Social Network? So, congratulations on really capturing that teen girl audience, Oscars. At least you can always count on me watching!

That aside, no real surprises here except for Winter's Bone. I had heard it was really good, and that Jennifer Lawrence's performance in particular was award-worthy, but I didn't expect to see it nominated for Best Picture, of all things. I was also mildly taken aback by 127 Hours, if only because the press machine died kind of early on for that one. I really want to see that movie. Man. Anyway, yes, sound list, sound list. I'm especially pleased that Toy Story 3 made it up there. I love. that. movie. so. much.

BEST ACTOR

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

Boring except for the inclusion of Julia Roberts-sanctioned Javier Bardem. That guy rules, so I'm okay with it. When was the last time one of our best acting nominees was nominated for their part in a foreign film? I think Marion Cotillard back with La Vie en Rose, and she won for that. Cool. I know that Colin Firth has this one in the bag but I'm happy that Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco, who is also hosting and is really, really weird, just saying (this is not to say I don't like him because I do, because who doesn't?), got nom'd, although I'm not surprised. Sort of sorry to see Ryan Gosling left out but his voice bugs me. I still need to see Blue Valentine and pretty much every other movie nominated in some way.

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

This list is extremely boring. I have literally nothing to say about it. I think I'm doing a predication post tomorrow or Friday and that's where this category will get semi-interesting. But for now, yawn.

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

John Hawkes came out of nowhere to steal a place from one of the deserving Social Network guys, i.e. Andrew Garfield (or Armie Hammer, who kind of looks like the notoriously pandering "critic" Ben Lyons, doesn't he?). Other than that, I'm pretty neutral here. I didn't see The Town so I guess I don't have any right to criticize it, but it really looked a lot like junk. Marketing campaigns are generally terrible if your movie isn't called The Blair Witch Project or The Dark Knight or something, but if that movie was really one of the best of the year then they totally failed to convey that in the trailers. I think it really just had the Star Trek syndrome, as I call it: its consensus was extremely, maybe absurdly, high because no one found it particularly offensive in anyway. Good but not nearly as outstanding as its Tomato-meter would make it out to be. Regardless, I'm sure previous Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner is deserving.

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

I am seriously nodding off. Nothing shocking here. Yay, Hailee Steinfeld. You're already more accomplished than me and the majority of people, and you were born in 1996. (Also apparently you are a quarter African-American, awesome!)

BEST DIRECTOR

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

OUCH. No Christopher Nolan, man. For some reason I had forgotten that Inception was considered a contender, but as I watched the nominations live I realized, "Crud. They didn't call Christopher Nolan. This...will not go over well." And it hasn't. I read somewhere that Christopher Nolan could direct The King's Speech, but Tom Hooper couldn't direct Inception. I didn't see Speech, and I want to, but I can't see how that's anything but true. Inception worked because Christopher Nolan had a vision, and he was able to convey that vision quite well. The movie wasn't perfect but it was darn good, all because of Nolan. At least he got a screenplay nod.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone

Toy Story 3, man. If that was in Original I think it would actually stand a chance. Even so, I like these picks. I can't explain it, I just do. Although Winter's Bone, I still don't quite get. I guess I have to see it. Was it based on a book, or?

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Another Year
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech

Seemed like a lot of people were banking on Another Year to get at least one more nod, like Best Actress. I believe that this is the only category it got. Whatever. I don't know what will win in this category. I guess we'll discuss that tomorrow, or Friday.

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE

• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist
• Toy Story 3

I think this category is perfect. Last year was pretty great for animation, and I wish that there had been enough eligible films for 5 nominations. I would have added Summer Wars and let Tangled sneak in or something. I love HTTYD and TS3, and I still need to see The Illusionist, but 2 out of 3 is pretty great.

So overall this year's nominations are pretty generic and inoffensive. Check back later this week for my predictions, where the real fun begins, hopefully.