2010 Oscar Nominees

Pretty solid list.

I thought The King's Speech was amazing (I predicted this dominance in my review), so I'm not surprised to see it lead the pack with 12. "True Grit" ran second with 10 nominations.

Show is on Feb. 27.

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 Director

• Darren Aronofsky, 'Black Swan'
• David O. Russell, 'The Fighter'
• Tom Hooper, 'The King's Speech'
• David Fincher, 'The Social Network'
• Joel and Ethan Coen, 'True Grit'

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 Animated Feature Film

• 'How to Train Your Dragon'
• 'Illusionist'
• 'Toy Story 3'

Best Foreign Film

• Mexico - 'Biutiful'
• Greece - 'Dogtooth'
• Denmark - 'In a Better World'
• Canada - 'Incendies'
• Algeria - 'Outside the law'

Best Original Screenplay

• 'Another Year'
• 'The Fighter'
• 'Inception'
• 'The Kids Are All Right'
• 'The King's Speech'

Best Adapted Screenplay

• '127 Hours'
• 'The Social Network'
• 'Toy Story 3'
• 'True Grit'
• 'Winter's Bone'

Best Art Direction

• 'Alice in Wonderland'
• 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I'
• 'Inception'
• 'The King's Speech'
• 'True Grit'

Best Costume Design

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

Best Original Song

• 'Coming Home' - 'Country Strong'
• 'I See the Light' - 'Tangled'
• 'If I Rise' - '127 Hours'
• 'We Belong Together' - 'Toy Story 3'

Best 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

Best Documentary

• 'Exit Through the Gift Shop'
• 'Gasland'
• 'Inside Job'
• 'Restrepo'
• 'Waste Land'

Best Film Editing

• 'Black Swan'
• 'The Fighter'
• 'The Kings Speech'
• '127 Hours'
• 'The Social Network'

Best Makeup

• 'Barney's Version'
• 'The Way Back'
• 'The Wolfman'

Best Sound Editing

• 'Inception'
• 'Toy Story 3'
• 'TRON: Legacy'
• 'True Grit'
• 'Unstoppable'

Best Sound Mixing

• 'Inception'
• 'The King's Speech'
• 'Salt'
• 'The Social Network'
• 'True Grit'

Best Visual Effects

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

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I didn't include the short subjects

I don't know about any of these movies... But I thought that Dakota Fanning's performance in "Runaways" was worthy of supporting actresss.


But I guess that that wasn't the right type of movie.

Let's talk early "favorites" (i.e. who seems to have momentum to win according to the press):

Best Picture:
The King's Speech vs. The Social Network
-- both great films, and highly enjoyable to most audiences, IMO. Social Network had the buzz back in the summer, but The King's Speech might gain momentum as a more classic film appealing to the older voters of the Academy.

Best Director:
While this often becomes an echo of who win's Best Picture (with notable exceptions), it appears David Fincher has this sewn up for The Social Network.

Best Actor:
Open fight between Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network) and Colin Firth with serious spoiler potential by Jeff Bridges (True Grit). Also, the momentum for the one man show by James Franco in "127 Hours" could also be a factor. Poor Bardem was performing entirely in Mexi--err, Spanish so he may not be as strong a contender this time around.

Best Actress:
Annette Bening ("The Kids Are All Right") vs Natalie Portman ("Black Swan")
-- I haven't seen Bening, so I reserve my opinion. I need to see that and The Fighter.

Best Supporting Actor:
This appears to be Christian Bale's to lose.

Best Supporting Actress:
Open fight between True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld possibly taking down the two nominees from The Fighter. Strangely, she wasn't nominated for a Golden Globe --which, as anyone who saw True Grit will tell you, was bullshit.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Aaron Sorkin for Social Network, it seems almost certain.

Best Animated Movie:
Pixar! --err, I meant Toy Story 3. Sure, it may not win Best Picture in that line-up, but it can take the consolation of being the top-grossing film of 2010.

Is there any reason why Legend of the Guardians and Tangled weren't included in best animated feature film?

What a slap in the face to Dreamworks and Disney.

All these splits between The Social Network and The King's Speech could also open things up for a surprise win here or there --like then Brokeback Mountain lost to the improbable Crash. Of course, that was a rare year where four of the nominees were strong enough to cause a serious vote-split.

even though Toy Story 3 will take it i just wanted to pop in and say How to Train Your Dragon was a surprisingly excellent animated film

also, once again even though i watch a ton of films every year i'm totally out of the loop with the Oscar-nominated ones

only really saw Black Swan

LoneSage said:

Is there any reason why Legend of the Guardians and Tangled weren't included in best animated feature film?

What a slap in the face to Dreamworks and Disney.

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Because Toy Story 3 is going to dominate each category it was nominated for.

Well, except for adapted screenplay (yes, it's my pick for best picture).

LoneSage said:

Is there any reason why Legend of the Guardians and Tangled weren't included in best animated feature film?

What a slap in the face to Dreamworks and Disney.

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For some reason they only nominate 3 animated films, they've never nominated more than that in the however many years they've been doing it.

Regardless, this wasn't a good year to have any hope of beating TS3. I've been disappointed before when Little Nemo beat the Triplets of Belleville, bittersweet when the good Ratatouille beat the equally good Persepolis, and I though it was weird that the Secret of Kells got nominated before it was released in the US (and lost to Up) --but this year it was a slam dunk.

It reminds me of Jack Black's famous quote:

Each year I do one DreamWorks project, then I take all the money to the Oscars and bet it on Pixar.

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I'm thinking Firth may have an edge on Eisenberg because of his recent excellent movies. Last year he was excellent (and nominated) in A Single Man, and he won the Golden Globe for The King's Speech.

Both were excellent, but I see vote politics favoring Firth.


I'm just happy to see my favorite movies of the year* were all nominated:
The Social Network, The King's Speech, True Grit, Toy Story 3, Exit Through the Gift Shop.

I really hope Banksy wins for Best Documentary --who wouldn't want to see how they handle that?

Bobak said:

I'm thinking Firth may have an edge on Eisenberg because of his recent excellent movies. Last year he was excellent (and nominated) in A Single Man, and he won the Golden Globe for The King's Speech.

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I just watched Dorian Grey last night. An average vision of the classic tale, but Firth's talent keeps it from being a trainwreck.

Bobak said:

I'm thinking Firth may have an edge on Eisenberg because of his recent excellent movies. Last year he was excellent (and nominated) in A Single Man, and he won the Golden Globe for The King's Speech.

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no qualms about your comments regarding the other films, but i strongly doubt eisenberg even being a serious contender for best leading actor. while it's 99% sure colin firth picks up the statue, his competition isn't eisenberg - it's james franco.

jesse eisenberg was good in the social network, but he doesn't carry it. the film's strong points lies in the direction and the storytelling. eisenberg's role also similar to his own persona/previous roles: a typecast intelligent young man, a nerd, a serious michael cera if you will.

hollywood is buzzing about james franco for a good reason - in 127 hrs he carries a very demanding, emotional role all by himself. it's a breakthrough role for franco and definitely a stronger contender imo than eisenberg.

..alas, none of it matters as colin firth will win out the rest anyway. for fairly obvious reasons too.

soundnvision said:

no qualms about your comments regarding the other films, but i strongly doubt eisenberg even being a serious contender for best leading actor. while it's 99% sure colin firth picks up the statue, his competition isn't eisenberg - it's james franco.

jesse eisenberg was good in the social network, but he doesn't carry it. the film's strong points lies in the direction and the storytelling. eisenberg's role also similar to his own persona/previous roles: a typecast intelligent young man, a nerd, a serious michael cera if you will.

hollywood is buzzing about james franco for a good reason - in 127 hrs he carries a very demanding, emotional role all by himself. it's a breakthrough role for franco and definitely a stronger contender imo than eisenberg.

..alas, none of it matters as colin firth will win out the rest anyway. for fairly obvious reasons too.

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Interestingly, James Franco is also scheduled as the co-host of the Oscars, so this will be a little awkward.

I don't understand why Tron 2.0 isn't nominated for best original score. Did the movie come out too late in the season? Or was the movie itself so disliked by critics for the academy to pay attention to it? I was also disappointed it wasn't nominated for a Golden Globe. I'm a big nine inch nails fan, so I'm happy about Social Network winning the GG for best score. But I'd argue that Daft Punk's score should have at least been nominated.

Well, reserved my ticket to The Fighter this afternoon (I love theaters that have reserved seating). Need to add The Kids are All Right to my queue or Redbox it.

Tung Fu ru said:

I don't understand why Tron 2.0 isn't nominated for best original score. Did the movie come out too late in the season? Or was the movie itself so disliked by critics for the academy to pay attention to it? I was also disappointed it wasn't nominated for a Golden Globe. I'm a big nine inch nails fan, so I'm happy about Social Network winning the GG for best score. But I'd argue that Daft Punk's score should have at least been nominated.

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That was one that I found a bit disappointing as well --it's possible that the score may not have appealed to the voters: all these technical awards are voted on by people within that field, so their approach may not have gotten enough interest from those already in the field.

Bobak said:

Interestingly, James Franco is also scheduled as the co-host of the Oscars, so this will be a little awkward.

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i think they'll play it up for laughs - i'd be surprised if he wouldn't crack a joke about it..

can't remember if any other previous host has been nominated at the same year though. hmmm.

at least franco doesn't have to present the award to himself. THAT would be awkward.

LoneSage said:

Is there any reason why Legend of the Guardians and Tangled weren't included in best animated feature film?

What a slap in the face to Dreamworks and Disney.

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I'm shocked that there is only 3, but i'm happy to see the Illusionist on the list cause that film is breath taking, but Toy story 3 is gonna get it cause they might aswell just call the best animated film the pixar awards

Black Swan.

Wow, Jesse Eisenberg gets nominated for best actor? Good for him.

Jesse held his own next to Woody Harrelson in Zombieland, and that film seemed tailor made as a vehicle for Harrelson's strengths as an actor. Between Eisenberg and Emma Stone, we've had the great fortune to see two awesome emerging young talents in the last year. I hope they both contniue to give great performances rather than flame out.

Of the movies I saw this year, I thought The Social Network was, far and away, the best release of 2010. Did not see Black Sawn, True Grit or The King's Speech. I wanted to see them all before the Oscar nods.

Oscars are the biggest bullshit awards besides Rawlings golden glove.

Black Swan.

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'

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I haven't seen The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, and Toy Story 3.
From the movies that I have seen, I thought The King's Speech was the best and deserves to win for Best Movie.

As far as individual awards, the only clear winner in my book is Natalie Portman for The Swan.

norton9478 said:

I don't know about any of these movies... But I thought that Dakota Fanning's performance in "Runaways" was worthy of supporting actresss.


But I guess that that wasn't the right type of movie.

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That movie was a ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-Cherry Bomb!

Gasland is the only movie on the list worth a fuck. The Director/Producer/Writer is a big hero around these parts. He does a lot of local appearances.

RevQuixo said:

That movie was a ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-Cherry Bomb!

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Yeah,,,, I took it as a serious movie... Since I know the background of the Runaways and all.. And it was independent arthouse and all.

I think it got pigeonholed in the teenmovie-twilight-Kristan Stewart vehicle paradigm.

Anyways, I'd compare Fanning's character and performance to that of the daughter in Last Year's Precious (who I also thought should have won).

Just like 20 plus years ago Tron gets snubbed for the best Visual Effects nod. What's with all this Alice In Wonderland bullshit? It sucks they only got nominated for Sound Editing, I would have liked to have seen Daft Punk up for an award with their music.