2011 Academy Award Nominations

Ok. This is a couple of hours late, but whatever. The Academy has announced the nominees for the upcoming Oscar ceremony, which will be televised on February 27, 2010.

Well, I'm mostly happy with all of them - especially with Michelle Williams getting some love - but there were certainly a couple of good and bad surprises here and there.

Javier Bardem's nod for Best Actor came out of nowhere. Sure, he had a slight Oscar buzz but so was Robert Duvall. Jennifer Lawrence was a pleasant surprise and so was Winter's Bone for Best Picture.

Christopher Nolan, I think, deserves to be nominated as Best Director for his work on Inception though. This is actually the third time Nolan has been nominated by the Directors Guild of America but passed over by the Oscars for Best Director. The Academy snubbed him for Memento, The Dark Knight and now with Inception. What's interesting with Inception though is that he had been nominated for the Directors Guild of America, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA. How significant is that?

Other snubs were Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine), Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Mila Kunis (Black Swan). I also expected The Town to get a Best Picture nod but it didn't and also Tangled for Best Animated Film.

Oh, and isn't it funny how Toy Story 3 is the only one out of the 3 animated films nominated for Best Picture. They might as well post “spoiler alert” because I can’t imagine it not winning the Best Animated Film now. Ha!

Nominees after the jump!!

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 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 Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit

David Fincher, The Social Network

Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

David O. Russell, The Fighter

Best Original Screenplay

Another Year

The Fighter

Inception

The King’s Speech

The Kids Are All Right

Best Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

Best Foreign Film

Biutiful (Mexico)

Dogtooth (Greece)

Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) (Algeria)

Incendies (Canada)

In a Better World (Denmark)

Best Animated Film

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Toy Story 3

Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

Cinematography
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 in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King's Speech
The Tempest
True Grit 

Film Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Original Score
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

Original Song
Coming Home, Country Song
I See the Light, Tangled
If I Rise, 127 Hours
We Belong Together, Toy Story 3

Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
True Grit

Unstoppable

Sound Mixing
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2