The voting is over and the 83^rd Annual Academy Award Nomination is in. 2010 was a great year for movies. There were some movies with low expectations that got great results (The Social Network & Toy Story 3) and some movies with high expectation that ended up being just awful. (Tron: Legacy I’m looking at you.)  For the some that may not have seen some of the movies, AMC will have their “Best Picture Showcase” (Link site: http://www.amctheatres.com/bps/) at most AMC theaters. Here is the list of some of the Nominations. In bold are my pick. You can get the whole list…here. (Link site: http://oscar.go.com/)

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

DIRECTING:
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

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network  (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler

The biggest nomination snub was, Christopher Nolan for Best Directing. Although Inception story was good the directing was fantastic!  I was really pulling for Nolan on this one. “The Kids Are Alright” really shouldn’t even be in the Best Picture category. The only thing that saved the move was Annette Bening, and as much as I dig Mark Ruffalo (Best Supporting Actor Nomination) his acting felt really half ass. I couldn’t buy into his character. Next week I will be going to a WGA/WGF panel with all the nominated writers. I am looking forward to get more information from the writers on their stories. I will have a follow up on that after the panel. So, what are your picks?

• Paul Movie Review - March 18th, 2011
• Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts - February 21st, 2011
• Casting For Uncharted - October 25th, 2010
• It's Kind of a Funny Story - October 18th, 2010
• The Thrilling Adventure Hour - August 18th, 2010