2010 Oscar Nominations

I woke up this morning, and barely poured my cup ‘o coffee before the 2010 Oscar Nominations were announced. What a way to start a day!

Mo-Nique (where’d SHE go?) and another fellow read the nominations – which by the way, took a total of 6 minutes… is it really necessary to make the actual ceremony close to 4 hours?! Just a thought…

Here is the list of nominees:

Best motion picture of the year

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight)

The Fighter (Paramount)

Inception (Warner Bros.)

The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features)

The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company)

127 Hours (Fox Searchlight)

The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing

Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney)

True Grit (Paramount)

Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions)

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions)

Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount)

Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

James Franco in “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)

John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)

Jeremy Renner in “The Town” (Warner Bros.)

Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)

Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)

Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate)

Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)

Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)

Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Amy Adams in “The Fighter” (Paramount)

Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)

Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” (Paramount)

Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best animated feature film of the year

How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

The Illusionist (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet

Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich

Achievement in directing

Black Swan (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky

The Fighter (Paramount), David O. Russell

The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper

The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher

True Grit (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Best foreign language film of the year

Biutiful Mexico

Dogtooth Greece

In a Better World Denmark

Incendies Canada

Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) Algeria

So, The Golden Globes made darlings of The Social Network… but the Oscars took a bit of a (snobby) pass. They obviously loved The Kings Speech, so look for that film to have a good night. Inception was the biggest film of the year, but only received a few nods, akin to Avatar last year… no harm done. But I certainly thought at the time, it was going to dominate a few categories this year.

Another surprise is the amount of credit True Grit and the Coen Brothers are getting at the last minute (that film is STILL in theatres!) I don’t know if that’s just genius planning (cash in this weekend!) or a last second screening by the academy.

Some Canadian-Content to cheer for in this country, a best Foreign Film nomination for Incendies, and a smackering of nominations for the  Canadian production of Barneys Version.

You also might be surprised to see The Winters Bone show up in so many categories. There’s always a sleeper… maybe this is the film you should try and see before the ceremony!

And the last notable point is the integration of Toy Story 3 into the mix of high-brow, ‘serious’ contenders. If there was ever a film that deserved to be considered one of the BEST of the year… it’s Toy Story 3. I mean, everyone gives that little smirk when that title is read, but it is taking a HUGE step for animation – and might we see a day that an animated picture lands the big prize? Maybe it’s this year….

The big night is Sunday, February 27th

…and if you’re interested, you can read the FULL list here