Well, folks, the Academy just chimed in with their best of 2010 in cinema. It’s an exciting day for all who love to celebrate the craft that captivates countless people worldwide.
I’ll delve into my opinion after the cut, but before I go any further, let me post the nominees!
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
Best Director
- Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan“
- Joel & Ethan Coen, “True Grit“
- David Fincher, “The Social Network“
- Tom Hooper, “The King’s Speech“
- David O. Russell, “The Fighter“
Best Actor
- Javier Bardem, “Biutiful“
- Jeff Bridges, “True Grit“
- Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network“
- Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech“
- James Franco, “127 Hours“
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“
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“
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“
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Read on for more.
Winners
“True Grit,” in my mind, made an astounding showing with 10 nominations. The director nomination was a surprise, and I’m wondering if it’s in the Academy top 5 instead of “Black Swan” or “Inception.” It appears that it really caught on and that Coen Brothers love is in full swing.
Leading the day, though, was “The King’s Speech” as most expected. With 12 nominations, six of which coming in the major categories, it has put itself in a good position to take it all from “The Social Network.” It’s known that the movie with the most nominations stands the best chance to cash in on them, and I think even if it loses Best Picture, we could see an Oscar night situation like 2004 – “Million Dollar Baby” takes the important prizes but “The Aviator” wins the most statues.
Losers
“Black Swan” with only 5 nominations surprisingly underwhelmed. Despite being nominated by EVERY guild, it only scored two technical nominations, Cinematography and Editing. I’m thrilled that it scored a Best Director nomination, but it’s clear to me that this movie just didn’t connect with a lot of Academy voters in the way we thought it would. No Best Original Screenplay was a bit of a shock. The Mila Kunis snub hurt, too.
And so much for “The Town.” Despite BFCA/PGA nominations for Best Picture, the critically acclaimed movie only scored one nomination for supporting man Jeremy Renner. Too bad, I really liked it. Nothing monumental, but just a good movie.
Surprises
I could be happier to say that “127 Hours” was a big hit with Academy folk with 6 nominations, including a Best Picture nomination that many people assumed would elude its grasp. While I’m a little upset it wasn’t nominated for Best Cinematography, the movie made a surprisingly strong showing, trumping fellow Fox Searchlight picture “Black Swan” in nominations.
The love for “Winter’s Bone,” which garnered 4 nominations, also came as a bit of a shock to me. I was expecting a Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress nomination, but I honestly didn’t think it would pop up in Best Picture or Best Supporting Actor. In a way, it makes sense as it is the most independent-feeling of the indie movies, and the movie represents a style of moviemaking that isn’t particularly well-represented this year. Or ever, for that matter.
Javier Bardem’s nomination for “Biutiful” was a nice surprise, but not a huge shocker. I should have seen it coming with the BAFTA nod and his prior win. Alas, a nice gasp this morning was welcome – and it didn’t come at the expense of anyone I loved.
I was really hoping to see Michelle Williams’ fantastic performance in “Blue Valentine” get recognize by the Academy, but I didn’t think it would happen without a Ryan Gosling nomination. The movie was also pretty underseen, but apparently that didn’t deter the voters from giving her what she deserved.
Disappointments
Dear Academy Director’s Branch, you will forever be hated until you accept Christopher Nolan. Until then, you will forever be out of touch.
I’m ecstatic to see Hailee Steinfeld get a much deserved nomination for her work in “True Grit.” However, I’m a little peeved that category fraud wasn’t corrected and she scored her nomination in Best Supporting Actress rather than where she should have been placed, Best Actress. Sure, she’ll have a better shot at the win there, but will it mean as much?
Snubs
I’m more than a little upset that Andrew Garfield didn’t get a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He was a very central figure to “The Social Network,” and I thought he gave one of the best performances of the year. But the Academy preferred John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” – big mistake. Huge.
And while I wasn’t fawning over Mila Kunis’ performance in “Black Swan,” I sure thought she was more deserving of a nomination than Melissa Leo, Jacki Weaver, and ESPECIALLY Helena Bonham Carter. Oh well, you can’t win ’em all.
Summary
The showdown we’ve been predicting since September has come to fruition. It’s timely vs. timeless, brain vs. heart, and genius vs. charm. In these next 33 days, we will debate endlessly over which will prevail, but one thing is for certain. This will be a watershed year for the Academy as they will be faced with a choice between two very different movies that represent two very different styles of filmmaking.
Marshall and the Movies 
I’d like to see Black Swan and The King’s Speech do well.
Seriously. Where is Christopher Nolan? I don’t get it.
The directors branch HATES Nolan. After getting DGA nominations for “Memento” and “The Dark Knight,” he was snubbed. This year is no different despite him having a Best Picture nominated film. They are INSANE!
But whhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyy????
He doesn’t make Oscar movies, and the Academy is too stubborn to bow down to the first director every American knows since Spielberg and Lucas because he doesn’t make “their type” of movies.
I agree. I think Nolan should’ve been nominated instead of David O. Russell. I liked “The Fighter” but didn’t think it was that great. Plus, Russell didn’t really do much with the film in terms of directing.
I’m also surprised for the snubs for Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, and Andrew Garfield in their respective categories.
I was also a bit upset though not surprised that “Somewhere” didn’t get nominations because I was hoping for a Best Cinematography nod for Harris Savides for that film while I had a fool’s hope for Elle Fanning to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
I’d say Nolan over Hooper rather than Russell. Obviously there’s no way they wouldn’t nominate the director of a movie they loved so much, but I just didn’t really feel the mark of a director on that movie. Russell is good for his subtle and fun twists on typical Hollywood movies. “Inception” is such an intricate and elaborate movie, and without a steady hand like Nolan behind the camera, it would have been a disaster!
Oh well. Nolan will probably soon bear the title “Greatest Non-Oscar Nominated Director” because if they can’t recognize his brilliance on a movie like this, I doubt they ever will.
I’m not all that disappointed with the Oscars this year, except no love for Christopher Nolan, or The Town for that matter. However, it doesn’t matter all that much really since The Social Network is practically going to win everything it’s nominated for. Which kind of blows, but hey it really was an amazing piece of work. Can’t wait for the show!
I’d give this year an 8. Playing it conservative, which worked out well for the most part.
I don’t know about “The Social Network” winning every category. I can for sure see Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Score, and Editing, which would make 5. Best Actor, in a stunning upset, is still a possibility for Eisenberg.
It’s actually a little frightening. You correctly predicted 9 of the 10 nominees for Best Picture – and even then there was some suspicion over “Winter’s Bone” taking the final slot from “The Town.”
And yes – I can totally see Best Score for “The Social Network.” How can anyone not be impressed with an arrangement like this?
Anyone could have predicted 9 out of 10 if they paid a wink of attention to the race. And good call on the Reznor/Ross arrangement; in my mind, I can’t think of another movie score that adds so much personality to a film. The only score I would be OK with winning is “Inception” because it is so intelligent.
This track is pretty awesome too:
Maybe I’m just a bit confused about what the category entails, but how the hell did Inception not get nominated for film editing?
I didn’t talk much about the technical categories, but that snub really did shock me. It was recognized by the ACE (American Cinema Editors Guild) but got replaced by “127 Hours,” which was a very deserving nominee. But it deserved the slot belonging to “The Fighter” or “The King’s Speech,” neither of which were particularly well edited. “Inception” managed to puzzle together four simultaneous storylines that were all running parallel to each other – that’s a feat I don’t think has ever been accomplished.
And for good measure, according to IMDb, film editing is simply defined as “reconstructing the sequence of events in a movie.”
This video is probably the best indication of how superior the movie’s editing was to probably anything I saw this year:
Wow. That video is amazing.
I could have directed The King’s Speech. Why Hooper was nominated over Nolan or even Boyle is beyond me. All the man had to do was point the camera at Firth/Rush and say, “Go.”
Yes, I’ll agree with you that “The King’s Speech” is an actors movie, certainly not a director’s movie. “Inception” is the most director-centric movie of the year – and they still snubbed it. Fincher has to win to redeem the branch, although I’d certainly love to see Aronofsky win. It’s doubtful though since edgy Nolan was left on the outside looking in.
I’m surprised, pleasantly, to see Winter’s Bone snag so many nominations, particularly John Hawkes. Congratulations, John, you’re probably going to be working for the rest of your life now even if you don’t win– which you probably won’t, so be prepared for disappointment. Still, even a mere nom is going to be a big deal for him. Great pick by the Academy. Also– Jackie Weaver getting nominated for her work in Animal Kingdom! Didn’t see that coming, and she totally deserves it, though I would also have liked to have seen Kunis get nominated.
Nolan got screwed, period, and I don’t think there’s anyway around it– not just for director, either, but also for editing. The Academy doesn’t like him, but they’re wrong. Stuff like this is why I take the whole thing with a grain of salt. So.
Exit Through the Gift Shop being nominated seems weird to me; apart from the fact that it probably won’t win because a) its veracity could be a problem for the Academy, and b) Restrepo seems more the Academy’s speed, who the hell would accept that award if it did win? Banksy? No. Guetta? Maybe. Spike Jonez? Hilarious idea but probably not. The idea of Banksy being anywhere near the Academy Awards is brilliant, and hope someone does something with it, even if the film doesn’t win. (It really won’t, despite being the best out of the category.)
Portman takes Best Actress, Firth Best Actor. I’d like to see Rush win Best Supporting but it ain’t gonna happen unless The King’s Speech sweeps. Which it might. Also: TSN for Best Picture, since that’s basically “the film” of 2010.
I think “Inside Job” will take the Oscar – Charles Ferguson has won before, and it feels pretty topical. But I don’t really follow that category very closely.
Not a big fan of “Winter’s Bone” or “Animal Kingdom,” but I can live with their nominations. Better them than Sandra Bullock and “The Blind Side” trashing Oscar’s party with their hardcore mediocrity.
Both of those movies really sang to me, the former for all of its noir roots and the latter because, frankly, I’m a huge Michael Mann whore and I get a restrained Mann vibe from it. (Feel free to snicker at my hilarious plays on his last name.)
Good point on Inside Job, and you’re probably right, though I won’t totally discount Restrepo assuming the Academy still has the taste of The Hurt Locker in their collective mouths. I’d love to see Exit win, though– I absolutely am dying to know what Banksy would do in that situation.
I’d LOVE to see how that would work out. He’d never come to the ceremony … would he?
My wager? No way. Someone might come on stage pretending to be him; Guetta might come out; Spike Jonez might even come out, if you give any credence to the rumors that he actually shot the damn thing.
Missed opportunity, there’s no way he’s winning. That said there could well be someone attending to represent the film, so I’m curious to see how that works out.