Cheer up, Mr. Nolan! You may have been royally snubbed by le Academie (yet again!) and robbed of a Best Director nomination…but they did nominate your film and your screenplay…and we’d like to offer you a consolation prize:
A box of kittens!
Alas, perhaps you would’ve been happy with a pin wheel.
The 83rd Annual Academy Award Nominations were announced this morning, and there were zero surprises when it came to the 10 Best Picture nominees.
In the world of snubs, there was no love for Christopher Nolan – The Director (though they love what he produces and writes), Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Naomi Watts, Julianne Moore and early favorites Shutter Island and The Ghost Writer were totally shut out, though (aghast!) Alice and Wonderland and The Wolfman even managed to secure technical nods.
Though clearly this is a two-horse race between The King’s Speech and The Social Network, here are your 10 Best Picture Nominees:
- 127 Hours
- Black Swan
- The Fighter
- Inception
- The Kids Are All Right
- The King’s Speech
- The Social Network
- Toy Story 3
- True Grit
- Winter’s Bone
Check out the full list of nominees at the IMDB.
Written by David H. Schleicher
The Schleicher Spin 
Hi! D.H.Sch~lei~cher…
Nice post…and the box Of kittens are very…cute too…I’am quite sure that [Christopher]Nolan will appreciate your very kind…gesture.
D.H.S. said,”favorites Shutter Island and The Ghost Writer were totally shut out, though (aghast!) Alice and Wonderland and The Wolfman even managed to secure technical nods.”
I agree with your opinion, wholeheartedly, when it comes to the former films and the latter films.
However, my opinion about (some Of) actor Johnny Depp’s films remain the same in a…positive.
Best Picture Nominees:
127 Hours…Unfortunately, I’am not familiar with this film.
Black Swan…Hmmm…This film maybe deserved a nod…
[See: My explanation for the film 127…I must admit that I have to watch the following films before commenting.]
The Fighter Hours
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone.
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee 😉
Hi D.H.:
I agree that there were no real best picture surprises. Leaving Nolan out of the mix just seems silly. Whether you love his film or not, it was quite a directing feat. The bizarre timeline and immense number of effects made keeping everything straight a job, and he did everything else right as well.
The biggest surprise for me, though, was the exclusion of “Waiting for Superman” fromt the documentary feature category. The movie was probably the most talked about doc of the entire year, and it didn’t even get a nod. Interesting.
Forrest – you’re right! That is a big snub in the documentary category! –DHS
I doubt Inception will win, I assume the Social Network will win before Inception, but I really hope Inception gets semr trophies for the other categories.. especially cinematography!
Inception should clean up with the technical awards, but I don’t think it has a snow ball’s chance in hell of winning the big prize. –DHS
Poor Christopher Nolan. I hope he likes the kittens 😛
Katie, it’s the least we could do for the poor guy. –DHS
haha, I love the box of kittens!! I was surprised to see Nolan’s lack of nomination myself. But we will see what the end results will be in a month!
The King’s Speech all the way!
I wouldn’t be surprised if The King’s Speech takes the cake and eats it, too. –DHS
I think it’s safe to say that any film without a director nomination is an outside shot at best. Driving Miss Daisy was, I believe, the last to win without a nod for directing.
I was favouring The Social Network, but I think The King’s Speech has the edge. Still think Fincher might take Best Director, though.
Darren, I’ll be putting my money on the split: The King’s Speech best pic but Fincher best director. –DHS
Darren’s right that a film almost never win’s best picture if it doesn’t also get a directing nod. It’s interesting that the Academy decided to move to 10 best picture nominees to keep people more invested in the awards, but continues to nominate only five directors. By doing that, the organization essentially tips its hand, letting everyone know which four or five films actually stand a chance.
Of course, you might not realize that if you don’t follow the Oscar’s closely. Also, I suppose there’s always the possibility that the flooded field could do some strange things with the vote tallies. It will probably be even easier to predict winners once we have a few 10-film races behind us.
Forrest, it’s still the same old predictable Oscars. However, I do like how the 10-spots open things up to films like Winter’s Bone, which wouldn’t have placed with only 5 spots and can now find a new life and audience on DVD. –DHS
Hi, David,
For the first time in years, I’ve seen only one of the best picture nominees: “Inception.” I watched the Golden Globes (sheesh, that guy who hosted, who IS he? hahaha) and was surprised by the HFPA’s choices in some categories, in others it was, “ho, hum.” I don’t know if I’ll even watch the Oscar telecast this year. I can’t say I’m excited about any of the nominees except Javier Bardem, and I haven’t yet seen the movie he was nominated for. Such conflicted feelings about movies and Hollywood this year!
Cinda
Cinda, all of these awards shows are a joke – but fun – fun to predict and joke about and bet on. And sometimes they do nominate (some of) the right films or provide a spotlight for films that normally wouldn’t get one (i.e. something like Winter’s Bone) so that is a good thing. You just have to learn to take the good with the bad and have fun with it. –DHS
Come now…I believe the proper French would be to say l’Academie. 😉
Yes, Wolfman and Alice get nods, but a Visual FX one for TRON? Nay. Didn’t expect Daft Punk to get a score nod (though it would have been nice), but that FX one is just bizarre, especially when you consider that Hereafter got one. Don’t get me wrong, it had some cool stuff (re-creating a tsunami and all), but still…
Love the post title. I’m not worried too much about Nolie. He’ll get his due eventually.
Fletch – good catch on the French. Nolan will get his do, I suppose, when he does a Holocaust or War film. –DHS
I was pretty surprised once I saw The Ghost Writer that there wasn’t so much more love for it. Terrific movie all around. Perhaps the stain of Roman Polanski’s criminal issues actually affected its reception.
Jess, I think it had more to do with the fact that it was released in February and academy voters have a short attention span. –DHS