No huge surprises from where I'm sitting. Although obviously these would not be my top ten, I didn't exactly expect Scott Pilgrim, Single Man, or Buried to get best picture nominations so I'm not exactly outraged. This isn't like the year that "Gran Torino" got inexplicably snubbed.
The Best Picture Nominees are:
I've seen 7/10.
The Social Network is the likely winner given its present status as consensus pick. The oddball in the bunch here is "Winter's Bone." It was a good movie but it's this year's "An Education" or "A Serious Man" insofar as it's a prestige pick adored by a number of fawning critics that very few people actually saw in theaters.
The Director noms probably are indicators of the "real" best picture candidates:
Personally I would choose to split the Best Picture and Best Directing awards given that I believe that Sorkin is the real "star" of the Social Network. Having not seen the Fighter (simply because I feel like I've seen that boxing movie a thousand times) or The King's Speech (which seems like anglophiliac Oscar-baiting) I would default the award to Aronofsky.
I'm sure the Inception fanboys are up in arms that Nolan wasn't nominated. IIRC, he was similarly spurned for "The Dark Knight."
In the acting categories the only thing really jumped at me was the inclusion of Hailee Steinfeld in the Best Supporting Actress category. She played the 14 year-old-girl in True Grit. I saw that movie, and I'm almost positive she was the lead. I have no idea why she's relegated to a supporting nomination while Bridges gets a best leading actor nomination. Apparently I watched a different movie than the committee.
In any event, this is hardly a loaded field.
Thoughts? Opinions?
The Best Picture Nominees are:
I've seen 7/10.
The Social Network is the likely winner given its present status as consensus pick. The oddball in the bunch here is "Winter's Bone." It was a good movie but it's this year's "An Education" or "A Serious Man" insofar as it's a prestige pick adored by a number of fawning critics that very few people actually saw in theaters.
The Director noms probably are indicators of the "real" best picture candidates:
Personally I would choose to split the Best Picture and Best Directing awards given that I believe that Sorkin is the real "star" of the Social Network. Having not seen the Fighter (simply because I feel like I've seen that boxing movie a thousand times) or The King's Speech (which seems like anglophiliac Oscar-baiting) I would default the award to Aronofsky.
I'm sure the Inception fanboys are up in arms that Nolan wasn't nominated. IIRC, he was similarly spurned for "The Dark Knight."
In the acting categories the only thing really jumped at me was the inclusion of Hailee Steinfeld in the Best Supporting Actress category. She played the 14 year-old-girl in True Grit. I saw that movie, and I'm almost positive she was the lead. I have no idea why she's relegated to a supporting nomination while Bridges gets a best leading actor nomination. Apparently I watched a different movie than the committee.
In any event, this is hardly a loaded field.
Thoughts? Opinions?
