Oscar nominations mostly predictable
At exactly 5:38 a.m. Pacific Standard Time Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards.
Announced by the Academy’s President, Tom Sherak, and 2009 Oscar winner Mo’Nique, the nominations for the ten major categories did not stray far from critics’ expectations.
The films that scored the most nominations in all categories, including technical awards, were The King’s Speech (12 nominations), True Grit (10 nominations), Inception (eight nominations), The Social Network (eight nominations) and The Fighter (seven nominations). Inception, however, managed to receive only one award for a major nomination category — best motion picture.
Indie film darlings 127 Hours, Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right and Winter’s Bone garnered impressive nominations in major categories.
Most films in the best motion picture category were also nominated in this month’s Golden Globe ceremony, with the exception of True Grit. Otherwise, the rest seem like easy choices. This is the second year that the Academy has nominated 10 films in this category.
Notably, Toy Story 3 is only the fourth fully animated feature film nominated for best picture, after the formerly recognized Beauty and the Beast (1991), WALL-E (2008) and Up (2009).
A number of first-time nominees are in running for a tiny gold statuette this year.
This is especially true in the directing category, where Darren Aronofsky, David O. Russel and Tom Hooper have achieved nods for their work on Black Swan, The Fighter and The King’s Speech, respectively. First-time nominees also include supporting actors Christian Bale, John Hawkes and Mark Ruffalo for parts in The Fighter, Winter’s Bone and The Kids Are All Right, as well as lead actors Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco for The Social Network and 127 Hours.
Franco will also host the awards ceremony alongside actress Anne Hathaway, who was overlooked by the Academy for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the sex-driven Love & Other Drugs.
Jennifer Lawrence from Winter’s Bone comes in as a fresh face. In the supporting category, however, Hailee Steinfeld and Jacki Weaver in True Grit and Animal Kingdom are previously unrecognized talent.
Foreign language film nominees include Outside the Law (Algeria), Incendies (Canada), In A Better World (Denmark), Dogtooth (Greece) and Biutiful (Mexico). Biutiful’s Javier Bardem also snagged a lead actor nomination for his portrayal of Uxbal, who speaks solely Spanish throughout the film. Only five other performers have won Academy Awards for roles spoken in languages other than English.
Though many of the nominations might not seem a stretch from predictions, a few surprises remain. Michelle Williams, for example, earned a nod in the lead actress character for her role as a frustrated wife in Blue Valentine, but her fiery costar Ryan Gosling was snubbed.
Additionally, summer surprise The Town only took one nomination for Jeremy Renner’s brooding supporting role performance, with no nod to the swarthy and intense Ben Affleck. Mark Ruffalo and Annete Benning also took accolades from the Academy for their performances in the ensemble drama The Kids Are All Right, but Julianne Moore, the link between their two characters, did not earn a supporting actress nomination.
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards will take place at the Kodak Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 27 and will be broadcasted by the ABC.