OSCAR NOMINATIONS (83rd Academy Awards)

(This list was compiled and commented upon the day the nominations were released, 25 January 2011, and added to on 8 February 2011, and is therefore subject to change up until the day before the actual ceremony. Or even the day of, really.)

 

Actor in a Leading Role

(I've only seen "True Grit" and "The King's Speech." Not a huge Jeff Bridges fan, plus he won last year. Colin was AWESOME, very believable, and not just with the stuttering. My choice. :)

• 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”

Actor in a Supporting Role

(I love Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner....but I haven't seen theirs. Geoffrey Rush was good, but maybe not wonderful. John Hawkes was Soda Pop, right?)

• 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”

Actress in a Leading Role

(Natalie Portman was AWESOME. So was Jennifer Lawrence. Very impressed. Nat will probably get it, but I'm so glad JLaw at least gets recognition.)

• 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”

Actress in a Supporting Role

(I'm an Amy Adams fan, but I haven't seen it. HBC was great, but the role wasn't super unique. Hailee Steinfeld was truly marvelous, but I think the Academy will say she's too young to actually win the Oscar.)

• 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”

Animated Feature Film

(Haven't seen "The Illusionist," but TS3 and HtTYD were equally wonderful, so I'm not deciding. Although, to be fair, Toy Story has had/will have its share of other accolades. Including the Best Picture nom.)

• “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
• “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction

(Saw and loved all of these. I'd give it to Inception, but they all deserve it.)

• “Alice in Wonderland”
  Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
  Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Inception”
  Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
• “The King's Speech”
  Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
• “True Grit”
  Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

(Seen BS, I, TG, TKS. I'd give it to any of them. TKS was really unique. They did a lot of "weird" shots, placing the action or main focus off in a corner and leaving a huge open space. I didn't think it was going to work at first, but it totally did. I loved what they did with the microphone over his mouth, too. Very impressed. If I had to pick one....)

• “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
• “Inception” Wally Pfister
• “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
• “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
• “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

("Alice" was good. "True Grit" was better. "The King's Speech" will probably get it: I didn't even notice costumes in it, so yeah.)

• “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
• “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
• “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
• “The Tempest” Sandy Powell
• “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing

(Damn you, Academy! WHERE IS CHRIS NOLAN????? Bah. I liked BS and TG and TKS...others would be good, too. I'd give it to "True Grit," probably.)

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

Documentary (Feature)

(I actually saw a documentary this year! Only the one, because a friend recommended it, but "Exit Through the Gift Shop" was really great, and way better than I expected. Kinda crazy, not too rough. Without comparing to the others, I'd say yes.)

• “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
• “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
• “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
• “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
• “Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
• “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
• “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
• “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

("Black Swan" and "The King's Speech" are the only ones I've seen as of now. Both had pretty great editing (and I'm not just saying that), but I'd lean toward TKS, if only because it was good without being "necessary.")

• “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
• “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
• “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
• “127 Hours” Jon Harris
• “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

(Seen none. But "Biutiful" is supposed to be good...? *Note (2/8): I finally saw the trailer for "Biutiful"...and it scared me.)

• “Biutiful” Mexico
• “Dogtooth” Greece
• “In a Better World” Denmark
• “Incendies” Canada
• “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

(Omg. "The Wolfman"? Srsly? Well, whatever.)

• “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
• “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)

(O, I really liked HtTYD's score, and TKS was impressive, and AR Rahman is awesome, but...but...Hans Zimmer. Hands down. Epic.)

• “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
• “Inception” Hans Zimmer
• “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
• “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
• “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

(I actually really loved the songs in "Tangled." I went to the bathroom and missed the first part of "I See the Light," but the end was good. Then I watched it again. Beautiful. So cute. <3 Alan Menken. TS3, obviously, will win, because it's Randy.)

• “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
• “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
• “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
• “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture

(How can I pick just one?? Saw and liked: BS, I, TS3, TG, TKS, WB. Heard great things about: TF, TSN, 127H. Don't know much about TKAAR. Wouldn't cry tears of upseted-ness if "The King's Speech" won. It was awesome. I'd say "True Grit" or "Inception." "Inception." Because Chris got screwed in Best Director! ...And it was awesome. You liked "Inception"? Watch "Memento.")

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

• “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
• “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
• “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
• “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
• “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

• “The Confession” Tanel Toom
• “The Crush” Michael Creagh
• “God of Love” Luke Matheny
• “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
• “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

(Still not great at ID'ing what makes this good. Or different from Sound Mixing. But I liked I, TS3, and TG, TKS.....Maybe "Tron" will get it.)

• “Inception” Richard King
• “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
• “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
• “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

• “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
• “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
• “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
• “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

(Hey, "Harry Potter"! Did have good effects. So did "Alice." And "Iron Man 2." And probably "Hereafter," I wouldn't know. But c'mon. "Inception.")

• “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
• “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
• “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
• “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

(While I haven't actually read "True Grit," from what I know and comparing it to the Wayne, they did a great job. And just generally, great. TS3 was nice, great story, WB was good, but not spectacular. And like I've said, the others were probably good too. Or they wouldn't have been nominated?)

• “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
• “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
• “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

("Inception"!!!! Or, you know, another one. "The King's Speech" was really great. Engrossing, even though the premise is definitely yawn-worthy and wouldn't seem able to hold anyone's attention for 2 hours.)

• “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
• “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
  Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
• “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
• “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
• “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler