2011 Oscar Nominations: King's Speech, True Grit, Social Network

This morning, the 2011 Oscar nominations were announced.  "The King's Speech" leads with 12 nominations, while the Coen Brothers, our local heroes, surged into second place with "True Grit" and 10 nominations.  "The Social Network," the early runaway favorite, sits at third place with eight nods.  "The Boxer" and "Inception" also received eight picks, including Best Picture.  This could be an interesting battle for the top awards.

Christopher Nolan was ignored for a Best Director nomination, and this seems to be causing grief on Twitter.  If the Motion Picture Academy were wiser, Inception would be a stronger contender for the top awards.  They lament falling ratings for the Oscars, and yet they studiously avoid any movie that was a hit at the box office.  It would also help if they opened up Best Picture and Best Director to, say, comedies, documentaries, or animation.  Instead, it's the same dramas released late in the year.

Animation fans will be happy to see "Toy Story 3" nominated for Best Picture, but this is a ceremonial pick.  Academy voters are still struggling to fill ten Best Picture slots, and the second half, like last year, are throwaways.  Pixar will still be happy to have another feather in their cap.

I am surprised and happy to see Sylvain Chomet's "The Illusionist" nominated for Best Animated Feature.  Once again, spaces are reserved for Pixar Movie and Dreamworks Movie, and this remains a category that nobody in particular really cares about.  Pixar will walk away with the Oscar yet again, because it requires the least amount of time to think about.

Here are the complete 2011 Oscar Nominations:

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 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’ Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
‘Gasland’ Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
‘Inside Job’ Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
‘Restrepo’ Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
‘Waste Land’ Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

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’