And the nominees are...

Hi Terry, Athena, Joe, Darrell, and Will,

The Oscar nominees were announced today, and I thought I'd give my two cents. If there's *, then I haven't seen it yet.

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter - It was a pretty good sports movie, but best picture? Come on, man.
Inception - This is making up for snubbing The Dark Knight.
The Kids Are All Right - When did they start nominating Lifetime movies? That's all this movie really is, a Lifetime movie with A-List stars.
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3 - Not even the best animated movie this year.
True Grit - Far superior to No Country For Old Men in my opinion.
Winter's Bone - You gotta have that small independent movie that nobody knows about.

My pick: Black Swan

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky "Black Swan" - Fantastic movie, and he got a great performance out of Natalie Portman.
David O. Russell "The Fighter" - Always thought his movies were overrated(Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees).
Tom Hooper "The King's Speech" - This is an Awards movie that will be forgotten in a year, but it is good though. It just doesn't deserve all the accolades it's getting.
David Fincher "The Social Network"
Joel and Ethan Coen "True Grit"

My pick: Darren Aronofsky

Best Actor in a Leading Role
*Javier Bardem "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges "True Grit" - I had my doubts about him in a Western, but he was great.
Jesse Eisenberg "The Social Network" - Probably my favorite up and coming actor.
Colin Firth "The King's Speech"
James Franco "127 Hours"

My pick: Jesse Eisenberg

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening "The Kids Are All Right" - Just wasn't that good.
*Nicole Kidman "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence "Winter's Bone" - My runner up.  Not a great movie, but she and John Hawkes were excellent in this.
Natalie Portman "Black Swan" - Might be the best performance in a decade.
*Michelle Williams "Blue Valentine"

My pick: Natalie Portman

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams "The Fighter" - Just because you do a Boston accent shouldn't mean you get nominated.
Melissa Leo "The Fighter" - See above
Helena Bonham Carter "The King's Speech"
Hailee Steinfeld "True Grit" - It helps when you have the Coen brothers directing you.
*Jacki Weaver "Animal Kingdom"

My pick: Hailee Steinfeld

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale "The Fighter" - Didn't care for the movie all that much, but he was good.
John Hawkes "Winter's Bone" - Nice to see a character actor get a nomination.
Jeremy Renner "The Town" - Hollywood needs to stop making Boston movies. Getting a little old.
Mark Ruffalo "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush "The King's Speech" - I think they've blown enough smoke up this movie's ass. I liked it, but this is getting ridiculous.

My pick: John Hawkes

Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon - Very surprised at how good this was.
Toy Story 3
*The Illusionist

My pick: How to Train Your Dragon

Original Score
John Powell "How to Train Your Dragon"
Hans Zimmer "Inception" - Apart from the effects, probably the best part of the movie.
Alexandre Desplat "The King's Speech"
AR Rahman "127 Hours" - Danny Boyle movies always have good soundtracks.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross "The Social Network" - Fit the movie perfectly, and didn't stand out in a good way.

My pick: The Social Network

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - Ever since Prisoner of Azkaban, the Harry Potter series has had fantastic special effects.
*Hereafter
Inception - The first trailer with the city folding over on itself got my money right away.
Iron Man 2 - Sequels usually don't win.

My pick - Inception


Those categories are the only ones that I feel like I have a good opinion on. I don't get to read the screenplays, so I don't really know how good they are, or if a director or actor made it better. Cinematography, Art Direction, and Makeup I don't know enough about to give a knowledgeable opinion. I'd just be picking my favorite move out of the nominees. And what is the difference between sound editing and sound mixing?

I saw all best picture nominees, and feel that it's a three horse race between Black Swan, True Grit, and The Social Network. I liked The King's Speech, but 12 nominations is a bit much.

I still need to see a couple movies before I do my Top Ten, so that will be up in a couple weeks.

May the Force be with you,
CHUD