Oscar Nominees 2011

The Oscar nominations were announced at 5:30 this morning. The King's Speech and True Grit lead the bunch with 12 nominations, including best picture, best actor, and best director for each (respectfully). Jeff Bridges received his sixth career Oscar nomination, while newcomer Hailee Steinfeld won her first nomination as Best Supporting Actress. Golden Globe-Best Picture winner The Social Network received eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg), Best Director (David Fincher), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Christopher Nolan's mind-bending thriller Inception got eight nominations as well. Nolan received two nominations in the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay categories (but not a Best Director). Pixar's mega-hit Toy Story 3 and Darren Aronovsky's dark fantasy Black Swan each received five nominations. Natalie Portman is a high contender for Best Actress for her role in the latter film. Toy Story 3 became the second film in both Pixar and the Academy's history to be nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Picture, as well as the third animated feature in history to receive the latter nomination (following 1991's Beauty and The Beast and last year's Up).

This is also the second year there are ten films nominated for Best Picture, including all seven films mentioned above. The other three nominated are David O. Russell's The Fighter (with Christian Bale as a high contender for Best Supporting Actor), the lesbian comedy-drama The Kid's Are All Right (with Annette Bening in her fourth Oscar-nominated role), and Danny Boyle's 127 Hours (with Best Actor-nominee James Franco as the real-life Aron Ralston).

I can't really comment too much on these films, since I haven't seen all of them. I've had my concerns about past Oscar shows, specifically due to the fact that many of the films that have been nominated don't come out until the end of the year. I will say, however, that last year (2009 films), as well as this year (2010) have had a lot of interesting nominees and films out - again, not that I've seen every one of them. The nominees this year, in large part, seem very unique that it must be hard for Academy voters to decide who will take home the trophy in the respective categories. I will say, also, that I do have just a couple predictions - just a couple. For one thing, I'm rooting for Christian Bale for Best Supporting Actor for his phenominal performance in The Fighter, and Colin Firth may likely get Best Actor for his role in The King's Speech (which I have yet to see and cannot wait to see). As for the Best Picture nominees - yet again, not that I've seen all of them -, I would narrow it down to The Fighter, The King's Speech, The Social Network, and Toy Story 3 as high contenders. (This is tentative, and is likely to change.)

More info and updates soon to come.

Sincerely Yours,
B.E.