83rd Annual Academy Awards Nominations, Predictions, Polls, and Pre-Ceremony Analysis (UPDATED WITH RESULTS)

The 83^rd annual Academy Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 8 PM EST; James Franco and Anne Hathaway will host the presentation. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), largely comprised of filmmaking professionals and executives who vote on the Oscars, announced this year’s nominations on January 25, 2011. To view previous years’ nominees, winners, and analysis, click here.

Included below is the list of Oscar nominees. I ranked the nominees in order of how likely they are to win in their respective categories, NOT in order of my preferences. Nonetheless, I have written some thoughts, notes, and perspectives (under some categories) regarding the nominees’ chances, histories, and which are my favorites.

Also, DON’T FORGET TO VOTE! – Please vote as if you were an AMPAS member and casting your own ballot, regardless of my predictions and what you think will win. Vote for what/who you think is the best in each category.

* I shall update this post after the presentation on February 27, 2011 to highlight the winners (in red). *

Best Picture

1. The King’s Speech
2. The Social Network
3. True Grit
4. The Fighter
5. Black Swan
6. Inception
7. 127 Hours
8. Winter’s Bone
9. Toy Story 3
10. The Kids Are All Right

• This is the first year that I have seen every Best Picture nominee before the awards ceremony and even before AMPAS announced the nominations. I must admit that 2010 has been a rather good year for movies, thanks to a strong final quarter. Many people criticize the ten-nomination Best Picture category, but I like it. Certain films that may not have cracked the top five can still get recognition. Fortunately, with this year’s movies it is easy to find ten great films to nominate.

• I would like to see Black Swan or Inception honored, but they seem to be long shots at this point; they have better chances to win in other categories. This one is basically a two-horse race between The Social Network and The King’s Speech. The Social Network won Best Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes, but The King’s Speech won at the Producers’ Guild Awards, which is considered a great predictor of the Oscars. Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth reportedly saw and liked the film and Colin Firth’s performance. Critics and industry experts appear split between the two films. Of the two leading contenders, I would vote for The Social Network as the Best Picture of 2010. However, The King’s Speech is gaining a great deal of momentum and has become the leading contender; it will be very close.

• As for the rest of the lot, True Grit has been labeled as the primary Dark Horse candidate to hurdle the two Oscar favorites. After all, AMPAS admires the Coen brothers, which is evident in their nomination in the Best Director category. The Fighter is another great film, but it has an outside chance to win the big one given this year’s competition. However, it will certainly be awarded in a couple of the acting categories. I like the nominations for Winter’s Bone, Toy Story 3, and 127 Hours, but would have given The Town the final spot over the good but overrated The Kids Are All Right. For more on what made my personal top 10 favorite from 2010, click here to view my “Top 10 Films of 2010” post.

• One last interesting thing to note is a fact presented by Deadline.com – “No film has won Best Picture at the Oscars without also having received at least a Best Editing nomination since Ordinary People in 1981.” This may have to do to the fact that many of the ACE members are also members of the Academy of Motion-Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) who is responsible for the Oscars. This dynamic does not bode well for True Grit, Winter’s Bone, and other Oscar Best Picture hopefuls or dark horses since they did not garner Best Editing nominations.

 

Best Actor in a Leading Role

1. Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
2. James Franco – 127 Hours
3. Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
4. Javier Bardem – Biutiful
5. Jeff Bridges – True Grit

• Colin Firth will win this year’s Best Actor Oscar; he is “bloody brilliant” as King George VI. As I mentioned earlier, Queen Elizabeth enjoyed the film and found his portrayal of her late father as “moving.” James Franco could have won had Firth not been so perfect in The King’s Speech; he made the best out of his tough role and elevated 127 Hours to being a great film. Jesse Eisenberg pleasantly surprised me with his captivating turn as Mark Zuckerberg. I knew he could portray Zuckerberg’s nerdy side well, but I had no idea how compelling and at times chilling he could be; just watch the “Do I have your attention?” scene again. Franco, Eisenberg, and also Jeff Bridges are great in their respective films, but none of their performances have a legitimate chance at really competing against Firth’s one. I have not seen Javier Bardem in Biutiful yet, but he was a surprise nomination so he probably will not win.

• The absence of Ryan Gosling from the list of Best Actor nominations is one of this year’s biggest Oscar snubs. He gave a heartbreakingly powerful performance in Blue Valentine. In fact, I would have ranked it as at least the third if not second best of the year. Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) and Robert Duvall (Get Low) probably were not far behind in votes from being nominated as well, but neither had a real chance to win the award anyway.

 

Best Actress in a Leading Role

1. Natalie Portman – Black Swan
2. Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
3. Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine
4. Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
5. Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole

• The Best Actress category is between Natalie Portman and Annette Bening. Portman took home the Golden Globe and Screen Actors’ Guild award for Best Actress and appears to be the favorite to win at the Oscars. However, Bening has a real shot at stealing it from Portman. This is her fourth Academy Award nomination, so AMPAS may see this as the opportunity to give Bening her long-awaited recognition. Bening’s performance as a lesbian wife and mother in The Kids Are All Right is certainly noteworthy, especially to the Academy voters who tend to favor such films. Nonetheless, it is not a career-defining performance like Portman’s one in Black Swan; Portman has my vote for Best Actress of 2010 and maybe even of the past several years.

• The other nominees give tremendous turns as well. Like her counterpart Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams displays a great amount of range and raw, commanding force in Blue Valentine; she is a very talented actress and should win at least one Oscar in her lifetime, just not this year. Relative newcomer Jennifer Lawrence may have lost the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Young Actor/Actress to Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), but she still gives an amazing breakthrough performance in Winter’s Bone. Absent from the list of nominees is Lesley Manville (Another Year) who could have competed with the Williams for the second or third best of the year. I have not seen Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole yet, but again, this category belongs to Portman or Bening.

 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

1. Christian Bale – The Fighter
2. Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech
3. John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone
4. Jeremy Renner – The Town
5. Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right

• The awards community has previously snubbed Christian Bale, a notoriously hard-wording but hard-to-work-with method actor. They ignored his brilliant performance in American Psycho (2000), for which he did not even get a nomination, and his harrowing turns in The Machinist (2004) and Rescue Dawn (2006), both of which he lost an extreme amount of weight to play his characters. This year, though, Bale’s passionate efforts and sickly weight-loss will not go unnoticed. In fact, unless AMPAS decides to go absolutely “bat-shit” (pun-intended), like in 1998, for instance, when they gave Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love over Steven Spielberg’s definitive World War II film Saving Private Ryan, Bale should win Best Supporting Actor. This category is probably the second easiest one to determine the winner (behind Best Original Screenplay as the easiest to predict).

• However, I do not want to neglect Geoffrey Rush’s heartfelt performance in The King’s Speech. On almost any other year Rush could have very well won the award, but he has already been nominated several times, won two Golden Globes and one Oscar; he probably will not win it this year. Bale’s performance as the troublesome meth-head Dicky Eklund in The Fighter is spot-on (it is not over-the-top – watch some videos of the real Dicky and you will understand). It is wholly deserving of the award regardless of Bale’s snub-filled history. One could make a strong case that this is Bale’s best performance ever.

• As for the rest of the nominees, three things are important to note. First, I love that AMPAS nominated John Hawkes for his strong performance in Winter’s Bone; it was definitely nice to see this underrated actor receive substantial screen time and garner recognition for it. Second, where is Andrew Garfield’s nomination? Many pundits and fans consider his performance in The Social Network to be even better than Jesse Eisenberg’s one. Furthermore, had he been nominated I would have at least ranked him higher than Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo and probably even higher than Hawkes. Lastly, Renner and Ruffalo perform admirably in their respective movies, but their characters are not as deep as the others on the list and at times seem one-note.

 

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

1. Melissa Leo – The Fighter
2. Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
3. Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
4. Amy Adams – The Fighter
5. Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

• The fact that Hailee Steinfeld received an Oscar nomination in the Supporting category and not the Leading category makes this one of the more interesting and tight races. She truly carried True Grit and held her own amongst screen icons Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. Melissa Leo, however, is absolutely astonishing in The Fighter; she completely disappeared into her role as the villainous mother. She may have gone unnoticed to many viewers of the film, though, because of Bale’s Oscar-worthy performance. I want Leo to win, but I would not be too upset if AMPAS decides to reward the fourteen-year old Steinfeld. As it stands right now, Leo won at the Golden Globes, SAG, and others – she has the best chance to take home the Oscar gold.

• The other three nominees do extremely well too. Animal Kingdom is on my list of films to see; audiences and critics have highly praised Jacki Weaver in it. Typically “good-girl” Amy Adams does very well as the rough-around-the-edges Charlene in The Fighter. Finally, Helena Bonham Carter plays her part beautifully; she is very much part of the reason why The King’s Speech has won several Best Ensemble Cast awards. I am pretty satisfied with this list of nominees. Although, I would not have minded seeing Barbara Hershey and Mila Kunis (Black Swan) or Marion Cotillard (Inception) here as well.

 

Best Director

1. David Fincher – The Social Network
2. Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
3. Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
4. David O. Russell – The Fighter
5. Joel and Ethan Coen – True Grit

• The most glaring Oscar snub of the year goes to Christopher Nolan for not garnering a Best Director nomination for Inception. Before 2010, Nolan only received one Golden Globe and one Oscar nomination: Best Screenplay for Memento (2001). Many fans and viewers criticized voters for not even recognizing The Dark Knight (2008) in any of the major categories, except giving the late Heath Ledger just about every Best Supporting Actor award. On the bright side, film industry experts widely believe AMPAS opened the Best Picture category up to ten nominations because of the uproar over The Dark Knight’s snubs – that is a true achievement. He spent a decade crafting Inception and directed it into an amazing blockbuster that is both highly entertaining and clever. What does Nolan have to do to get full recognition at the Oscars? He has yet to make a poor film; why the Academy chose to neglect him is as mind-boggling as his film. At least AMPAS finally nominated Darren Aronofsky after snubbing him several times as well.

• Nonetheless, Nolan is becoming the Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick of our generation – they never won Best Director Oscars despite making numerous masterpieces. Perhaps he will go the route of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg and have to wait twenty-to-thirty years to get his Oscar gold; still, Nolan has become well overdue to at least receive a Best Director nomination. At least Nolan does not appear to be too upset – he stated in an interview that he appreciates his three Director’s Guild Awards nominations (for Memento, The Dark Knight, and Inception) and that he is “used to it” (the Oscar snubs). Even James Cameron, whose fan-boy base is virtually always at odds with Nolan’s, considered the snub to be an injustice; although, that might just be a bitter Cameron after Avatar’s losses at the Oscars last year. This is just another classic case of Oscar snubs and proves why many audiences dislike the Academy Awards. Nolan, though, will win a Best Director award in his lifetime; it just will not be for Inception thanks to politics/marketing and a couple superior directing achievements.

• As for those who have been nominated, I would like to see Aronofsky rewarded for his work on Black Swan. He turned a concept and story that essentially no studio wanted to produce into a critically acclaimed and box office hit (given its meager budget). However, critical consensus appears to predict David Fincher as the winner. Fincher definitely deserves the award; his career is full of great iconic films, and he was a big part of why The Social Network turned out to be a huge success. However, Aronofsky has been inappropriately shut out in previous years in just about everything he has done, despite his grand visions and talents in writing and directing. Aronofsky had never obtained a Golden Globe or Oscar nomination before Black Swan; not even his cult classic Requiem for a Dream (2000) or deeply moving The Wrestler (2008) were given Best Picture, Director, or Screenplay nominations. Because of the awards community’s history of snubbing Aronofsky, voters may just reward him this year. On the other hand, Fincher has also yet to win the award and it is likely his time now; he is almost a lock to win the Best Director award. Then again, Tom Hooper has gained momentum for his work on The King’s Speech and could take home the award. David O. Russell and the Coen brothers have directed great films in The Fighter and True Grit, but this is Fincher’s race to lose. Still, the Best Director race will be very interesting.

 

Best Original Screenplay

1. The King’s Speech – David Seidler
2. Inception – Christopher Nolan
3. The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
4. The Fighter – Screenplay by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
5. Another Year – Mike Leigh

• I really want Nolan to win Best Original Screenplay. He spent over a decade writing Inception and waited until the right time to produce it with the necessary technology and cast. However, David Seidler appears to be the front-runner for his screenplay of The King’s Speech. Some analysts even put Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg’s screenplay for the quirky The Kids Are All Right above Nolan’s one. I truly hope that AMPAS will reward Nolan’s ambitious efforts, but they will probably go with the traditional period-piece screenplay by Seidler, which, to be fair, The King’s Speech is excellently written. Perhaps AMPAS will make up for snubbing Nolan’s previous efforts and his snub from the Best Director category this year by awarding him with the Best Original Screenplay; after all, it is the most original and creative one of the bunch. In spite of everything, it will be hard for Nolan to overtake the Best Picture favorite The King’s Speech in this category as well.

• The screenplays for The Fighter and Another Year are high quality. Mike Leigh has written nuanced characters that audiences may relate to and feel for. The writing team behind The Fighter has brought the true-life story to screen with vigor, but given the competition and the politics neither has a good chance to make a surprise here come Oscar night.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
2. True Grit – Joel & Ethan Coen
3. 127 Hours – Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
4. Toy Story 3 – Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
5. Winter’s Bone – Screenplay by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini; Novel by Daniel Woodrell.

• This is by far the biggest Oscar lock this year – Aaron Sorkin WILL win Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network. Almost no industry expert will tell you otherwise. Adapted from Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book about the founding of Facebook, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, Sorkin crafted a masterpiece screenplay which intercuts between past and present: from the founding of Facebook and all of Mark Zuckerberg’s betrayals to legal depositions regarding the founding. Discovering the story and characters via countless number of flashbacks told through the two depositions is a brilliant move. The Social Network’s premise raised many eyebrows, but Sorkin’s writing is at the heart of its success; without a powerfully creative and deep piece of writing, the film could have easily fallen flat. Of course the direction, acting, and musical score vastly helped make it a compelling film, but there is no doubt that Sorkin will win Best Adapted Screenplay for 2010.

• The other adaptations are great accomplishments as well. The Coen brothers gave audiences a fresher and stricter take on the Charles Portis novel True Grit than the John Wayne 1969 classic. Working with true survivor Aron Ralston, Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy brought his autobiography to life with vivid energy; this is another film that necessitated good writing to succeed given the plot of 127 Hours. Toy Story 3 is considered an adaptation because it is a sequel – apparently any sequel’s screenplay is an adapted one from the original’s story and characters. Lastly, I am glad to see the indie Winter’s Bone recognized once again; you can feel the gritty, brutal nature of the Ozarks and its inhabitants thanks to strong writing.

 

Best Film Editing

1. The Social Network – Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter
2. Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum
3. 127 Hours – Jon Harris
4. The Fighter – Pamela Martin
5. The King’s Speech – Tariq Anwar

• Quite possibly the biggest Oscar snub of the year, but not the most glaring (Best Director is a bit more publicized), goes to the fact that Lee Smith did not get a nomination for his work on Inception. Many analysts and audiences predicted Inception would win the award even over The Social Network, but to not even garner a nomination is incredible. The editing for the dream within a dream within a dream sequence should have been more than enough to give Inception a nomination. Check it out in real-time below:

• Since Inception is not on the list of nominees for Best Film Editing, I want The Social Network to win, but Black Swan is a close second for me. Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter are virtually flawless in their edits between depositions and flashbacks and even within each scene. The musical score is perfectly in sync with what is happening on screen, which helps to maximize the visceral reaction from the viewer. Even the small cuts and little details of editing are well polished. The Social Network is definitely an achievement on many levels – film editing is one of the best parts of the film even if it goes unnoticed to many viewers. Andrew Weisblum’s work on Black Swan is stunning with the frantic scenes of ballet and insanity. He allows intense moments to linger on the screen or cuts to some of the most disturbing and gut-wrenching images to really affect the viewer. Many filmmakers note that editors make the actor’s performances, so Natalie Portman should appreciate Weisblum’s efforts. AMPAS, though, will probably favor The Social Network, but Black Swan or the Oscar darling The King’s Speech could overtake it. The editing in 127 Hours is classic Danny Boyle with all of its frantic cuts; it keeps the film alive even when the actor cannot move, but at the same time it may distract many viewers from becoming immersed into the situation. The Fighter seems to be outmatched again in this category.

 

Best Original Musical Score

1. The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
2. Inception – Hans Zimmer
3. The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
4. How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
5. 127 Hours – A.R. Rahman

• Much of my commentary on this category is similar to or the same as my pre-analysis of the Golden Globes. I stand by my personal pick for Hans Zimmer’s score for Inception, but placed Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for The Social Network at the top of the nominees as most likely to win the award; the latter won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score and several experts have picked it to win the Oscar as well. The two Nine Inch Nails artists crafted a riveting (and at times chilling) soundtrack that perfectly fits in and propels The Social Network. I loved several of the songs from it, such as “Hand Covers Bruise, In Motion, [and] In the Hall of the Mountain King.” However, I love nearly every song from Zimmer’s brilliant and exhilarating score; I am uncertain as to which is my favorite one: “Dream is Collapsing, 528491, Mombasa, Waiting for a Train, [or] Time.” (Honorable mention: Zack Hemsey’s original song “Mind Heist,” which he made for the second official theatrical trailer of Inception, is even remarkable – it helped to make the preview my favorite one in 2010; to see my article “Top 10 Trailers of 2010,” click here).

• Best of all, though, is what Zimmer did to make the Inception score. Zimmer dissected, slowed down and then integrated a small part of Édith Piaf’s song “Non, Je ne Regriette Rien” into almost every piece of music in the film. He and Nolan used Piaf’s song itself as a musical cue for the “kick” in the film; what’s more, Marion Cotillard, Mal in Inception, played Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007) and won an Oscar for that performance. You can basically taste the delicious irony served by Zimmer and Nolan. But their decision to do this (and cast Cotillard) is beyond ironic; it is genius. The concept of dream-sharing in the film includes the fact that “In a dream your mind functions more quickly. Therefore, time seems to feel more slow.” And as the team of extractors/inceptors go deeper into Robert Fischer’s mind (dreams within a dream), time becomes exponentially slower (hence, ten hours in the real world means about a week in the first dream layer, about six months in layer two, and almost ten years in the third layer). At any rate, Zimmer and Nolan chose to slow down and use Piaf’s song to represent the extrapolation about time slowing down in dreams. Listen closely again to the songs on the soundtrack, such as “Half Remembered Dream, Dream is Collapsing, Dream Within a Dream [and] Waiting for a Train,” the last of which clearly sounds off the actual Piaf song and then it dissolves into the score (to skip to the part of the song where this begins to occur, click HERE) ; it is absolutely awesome. To hear and understand how her song is remixed into Zimmer’s score, watch/listen the following short clip:

• Also, Zimmer and Nolan answered a few questions regarding the score and its inspiration in an interview/article, which can be found HERE; it is quite an interesting (and brief) read. Some things to note include that Nolan encouraged Zimmer to use the Piaf song and that the application of it was not meant to be a surprise to audiences.

• On the negative side: Daft Punk has been disregarded by the awards community once again; first at the Golden Globes and now by the Academy. Their electrifyingly epic music in Tron: Legacy is one of the film’s two saving graces and excellent in its own right. The songs “The Son of Flynn, Outlands (pt. 1 & pt. 2), C.L.U., and Derezzed.” are just a few highlights from it. I really want to know why their score has been ignored yet again.

• Also upsetting: it is a shame that both Clint Mansell and Carter Burwell’s scores for Black Swan and True Grit (respectively) were ineligible to win the award. AMPAS can disqualify musical scores from awards’ considerations because of an “abundance of unoriginal music.” A couple of notable disqualified scores from recent years include Jonny Greenwood’s haunting There Will Be Blood (2007) score and Zimmer’s The Dark Knight one. This year AMPAS disqualified Black Swan, True Grit, The Fighter, and The Kids Are All Right. Similar to Alexandre Desplat’s The King’s Speech soundtrack, Burwell’s hymn-like music in True Grit is cordial and inspiring. On the other hand, Mansell’s half-original and basically half-Tchaikovsky based soundtrack to Black Swan is dark and powerfully unforgettable. As for the original music, the songs “Lose Yourself, Power Seduction and Lies, and Opposites Attract” are some of Mansell’s best works, though nothing can quite compare to his piece “Lux Aeterna” from Requiem for a Dream. As for Black Swan’s Tchaikovsky-influenced songs, “It’s My Time, A Swan is Born, [and] Perfection” really shine. Even though it was heavily influenced by Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” music, Mansell’s operatic score is still one of the year’s best (top three IMO). He has yet to receive an Oscar nomination – he has one Golden Globe nomination for The Fountain, which boasts excellent pieces of music.  More explanation regarding this year’s disqualifications can be found HERE. Too bad AMPAS and awards community could not name an honorable mention or two in this category to at least give these kinds of scores proper recognition, or maybe even create a separate “Best Adapted Score”…unlikely, but oh well.

• The King’s Speech, How to Train Your Dragon, and 127 Hours have very good musical scores, but barring an Oscar shock they are not poised to win in this category. Alexandre Desplat’s music in The King’s Speech is elegant and touching. Unlike the boisterous scores from Inception, 127 Hours, and Black Swan, his one does not overwhelm the viewer; rather, it mixes delightfully into the story. Yet, it does not reach the same level(s) that Zimmer and Reznor/Ross’s scores do. As for A.R. Rahman’s soundtrack, I am a bit surprised that it was not disqualified as well. Although some of the unoriginal songs found in 127 Hours are lively, entertaining, and interestingly suit their respective moments in the movie, I am not sure the original music is great enough or that there is a sufficient amount of it to garner a nomination. Besides, my favorite songs from the film are mostly the unoriginal ones, such as Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” and Sigur Ros’ “Festival,” but the original songs “Liberation” and “If I Rise” are very good too. The music for the film does get the viewer’s pulse up a bit and stirs emotions in the end, but it is a bit below the top nominees.

• Evidently I am pretty passionate about music in film. If one thinks about it, soundtracks/scores can really make or break movies. Cinema is a visceral medium that not only demands visual artistry but also requires audial artistry. The music is one of a movie’s most apparent features and must fit in it; sometimes, as these nominees have shown, the music elevates the film beyond entertainment and can be life-changing. You can enjoy it anywhere. So here’s to another year of fine film music.

 

Best Song

1. “We Belong Together” – Toy Story 3
2. “If I Rise” – 127 Hours
3. “Coming Home” – Country Strong
4. “I See the Light” – Tangled

• Several pundits and fans have predicted “We Belong Together” will win Best Song, while others, myself included, believe and hope “If I Rise” wins. I have not seen Country Strong or Tangled, but the former two seem to have the best chance to win here.

 

Best Cinematography

1. True Grit – Roger Deakins
2. Inception – Wally Pfister
3. Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
4. The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
5. The King’s Speech – Danny Cohen

• Here is another category where I am uncertain as to which is my favorite. I very much enjoyed each of the nominated films and have praised their achievements in cinematography. Wally Pfister’s work on Inception is exhilarating; just watch the hotel hallway fight scenes again. Matthew Libatique did a phenomenal job on Black Swan; his efforts help to make the film a great operatic ballet-horror film. The use of steadi-cam while moving throughout the dance scenes may be a bit jarring at first, but upon multiple viewings it has grown on me; it is beautifully immersive and, alongside the score, allows the viewer to feel the rhythm of the ballet. Jeff Cronenweth helped to make The Social Network the Best Picture front-runner with his superb efforts as well.

• Then there is Roger Deakins’ masterful cinematography in True Grit, which is the clear front-runner to win the award. The vast landscapes are captured beautifully in the film. On top of the gorgeous cinematography, Deakins is well overdue for this award. He has been nominated eight times before True Grit, including The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, among others. Although many experts have predicted Deakins will win, stranger things have happened in Oscar history; time will tell whether he is upset by Pfister, Libatique, Cronenweth, or Cohen; though, it would not be the worst thing to happen – the other nominees’ accomplishments are award-worthy too.

 

Best Visual Effects

1. Inception
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1
3. Alice in Wonderland
4. Iron Man 2
5. Hereafter

• Proof of why Inception is my pick for winning this award and being my favorite? – Four words: Hotel hallway fight scenes. Here is another look at the innovative and exhilarating scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlVNfRRYT8w. In addition, here is the link to the zero-gravity hallway fight scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sUukK9irww. This is part of the reason why Christopher Nolan has become a fan-favorite and one of the most respected directors in Hollywood; his decision to build the contraption and steer away from CGI here is awesome. Here the filmmakers explain how they did it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB0PyyLNIV4.

 

Best Art Direction

1. Alice in Wonderland
2. Inception
3. The King’s Speech
4. True Grit
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1

 

Best Costume Design

1. Alice in Wonderland
2. True Grit
3. The King’s Speech
4. Inception
5. The Social Network

 

Best Makeup

1. The Wolfman*
2. Barney’s Version
3. The Way Back

Best Sound Editing

1. Inception
2. Tron: Legacy
3. True Grit
4. Unstoppable
5. Toy Story 3

 

Best Sound Mixing

1. Inception
2. The Social Network
3. The King’s Speech
4. True Grit
5. Salt

• BRRRRRRRMMMMMMM.

 

Best Animated Feature Film

1. Toy Story 3
2. How to Train Your Dragon
3. The Illusionist

• How to Train Your Dragon is highly entertaining, surprisingly deep, and a big step in the right direction for DreamWorks Animation, but Pixar’s conclusion to their beloved Toy Story trilogy is wonderful; there is a reason why Toy Story 3 has a nomination for Best Picture and How to Train Your Dragon does not – given this fact, the former will probably win Best Animated Feature Film.

 

Best Animated Short Film

• “Day & Night”
• “The Gruffalo”
• “Let’s Pollute”
• “The Lost Thing”
• “Madagascar, A Journey Diary”

 

Best Live Action Short Film

• “Wish 143”
• “Na Wewe”
• “The Confession”
• “God of Love”
• “The Crush”

 

Best Documentary (Feature)

1. Inside Job*
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop
3. Restrepo
4. Waste Land
5. Gasland

Best Documentary (Short)

• “Strangers No More”
• “The Warriors of Qiugang”
• “Killing, the Name”
• “Poster Girl”
• “Sun Come Up”

Best Foreign Language Film

1. Biutiful – Mexico
2. In a Better World – Denmark
3. Incendies – Canada
4. Dogtooth – Greece
5. Outside the Law – Algeria

• I have not seen any of these foreign films and will not before the ceremony on February 1, 2011, so the presentation will be an intriguing one to discover what made these films good enough to garner nominations. Hopefully they are as powerful or exciting as last year’s top nominees: Argentina’s The Secret in Their Eyes and France’s A Prophet.

 

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The following table shows the leading contenders, or those with five or more nominations. I shall update the table to include the results after the awards ceremony is finished.

Film	Number of nominations	Number of wins	Categories won
The King’s Speech	12	4	Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay
True Grit	10	0
The Social Network	8	3	Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing
Inception	8	4	Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing
The Fighter	7	2	Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress
127 Hours	6	0
Black Swan	5	1	Best Actress
Winter’s Bone	5	0
Toy Story 3	5	2	Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Song