Silver Chameleon: Tis the Season: The Academy Award Nominations

(Scroll over any film title for the full Black Sheep review.)

I know it's late but I just got in not too long ago from that meeting. I have now seen the nominations for the 83rd edition of the Academy Awards, which I recorded so I could pretend like I saw them live. This actually worked. I was tense as Mo'Nique called out the nominations and thrilled to hear that many of my secret hopefuls made the final cut. Shall we break it down then?

THE KING'S SPEECH leads the Oscar tally with 12 nominations, including nods for Best Picture and Best Direction of course, as well as one for each of the principal cast members. TRUE GRIT follows closely in second place with 10 nominations, thanks to an unexpected direction nod for Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. THE SOCIAL NETWORK and INCEPTION, then come in third place with 8 nominations between them. I was expecting a stronger showing for these two films and slightly less for the Coen Brothers picture to be honest, but in general, I am very happy with the direction the Academy went in this year with their nominees. There were a number of surprises and snubs, which is inevitable, but for the most part, I think Oscar got it right. Shall we break it down even further then?

Most of the Best Picture nominees were considered locks this year. Really, it seemed as though three films were fighting for the ninth and tenth slot when it came down to it. Those three films would be 127 HOURS, WINTER'S BONE and THE TOWN. Ultimately, it was THE TOWN, Ben Affleck's critically acclaimed dramatic thriller, that missed out. It actually only garnered one nomination, in the Supporting Actor category for Jeremy Renner, when it was considered a strong contender in the Best Picture race, as well as the Adapted Screenplay category. Both 127 HOURS and WINTER'S BONE fared much better than expected and will certainly benefit from these nominations. 127 HOURS, which scored nods for its screenplay as well as the lead performance by Oscar host, James Franco, rolls into 600 theatres this weekend and could use the boost at the box office. WINTER'S BONE meanwhile, is already available to rent or own. This fantastic indie picked up well deserved nominations for it's star, Jennifer Lawrence, and supporting actor, John Hawkes, as well as a nod for its screenplay.

The lead acting categories played out exactly as I wanted them to. The most triumphant success amongst them may be Javier Bardem's seemingly miraculous nomination for his incredible performance in BIUTIFUL, a Mexican film that has not been seen by many at this point. The Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu directed picture, also nabbed a Best Foreign Language spot. Michelle Williams scored her second career nod for her performance in BLUE VALENTINE. This was also not a lock so I am thrilled to see her get this well deserved accolade, as it will also drive more people to see this bleak film. Her co-star, Ryan Gosling, did not make the cut finally.

The supporting acting categories provided some of this morning's biggest surprises. The biggest of those would certainly have to be Jacki Weaver, nominated for her performance in the little seen, ANIMAL KINGDOM. She was always a contender but there was a great deal of confusion in this category this year. Ultimately, Hailee Steinfeld, scored her nomination for TRUE GRIT in the supporting category, when there was much debate over whether she would end up in the lead actress race. Lesley Manville, in ANOTHER YEAR, had a similar confusion and ended up not being recognized in either category, not that she was a shoe-in for either really. A notable absence here would have to be Mila Kunis, in BLACK SWAN. I never saw her performance as award worthy but it was certainly being talked up quite a bit in recent weeks and I thought she would end up on the list. On the men's side, it was the aforementioned nod for Hawkes in WINTER'S BONE that blocked out another young hopeful, Andrew Garfield, in THE SOCIAL NETWORK.

Perhaps the biggest snub amidst this morning's nominations is Christopher Nolan being locked out of the Best Director race once again. He did earn his second nomination for writing INCEPTION today but he was considered a sure thing is the directing category. He has been nominated three times by the Director's Guild of America, including this year, but is consistently shut out here. Instead, the fifth slot went to the Coen Brothers, as mentioned before. Aside from THE SOCIAL NETWORK director, David Fincherm and the Coens, the remaining three nominees are all here for the first time. They are Darren Aronofsky for BLACK SWAN, Tom Hooper for THE KING'S SPEECH and David O. Russell for THE FIGHTER.

The rest of my shocks and disappointments are as follows. While I am thrilled to see Mike Leigh score a nomination for the beautiful original screenplay, ANOTHER YEAR, I am surprised not to see BLACK SWAN there. In fact, I am a little surprised that BLACK SWAN only managed 5 nominations in total the way that film's momentum has been building. I didn't truly expect Daft Punk to score a Best Original Score nomination for TRON: LEGACY but it would have been a hoot if they did. I was very happy to see the progressive Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score for THE SOCIAL NETWORK make the list though. Oh, and I know BURLESQUE was bad but you could have found at least one song from that the film to round up the Original Song nominees to five. There was another glaring INCEPTION snub in the editing category. I thought for sure that was a lock. I'm very pleased to see great films like Banksy documentary, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and Pixar animated short, DAY & NIGHT, earn their spots in their respective categories. Speaking of Pixar, TOY STORY 3, picked up five nominations of its own, including Best Picture and Original Screenplay. And finally, represent Canada! Denis Villeneuve's INCENDIES scored Canada a nomination in the Best Foreign Language race.

I've done the math and I was 87% accurate in my predictions. I got all the lead acting nods right (even Bardem!) and suffered one wrong answer in each of the other categories I made predictions for. Look for reviews of many of the nominated films to come in the weeks ahead on Black Sheep Reviews and I invite you to share your opinions on the Oscar nominations below.

The 83rd annual Academy Awards will be presented on February 27, and hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway. This is the full list of nominations:

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