Oscar Nominations: 2011

This years oscar nominations were announced earlier on today. Not many surprises are in store for those expecting any left field choices. It's nice seeing "Toy Story 3" getting recognised among its live action peers, along with some respect thrown "Inception"s way, even if its chances of actually winning much are pretty low. Another thing that stands out, is how strong the competition is this year. Most of these films are all very worthy choices and the academy actually show signs of range this year in their selections, which is a nice change. However one shock is Ryan Goslings snub for "Blue Valentine". For such a stunning turn to go ignored is odd, considering Michelle Williams was deservedly nominated for the same film. "The King's Speech" is leading with the most nominations at 12, but hot on it's heels is "True Grit" and "The Social Network". Here's the nominees in full with my predictions for the winner in italics:

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

Best Director
David O. Russell - The Fighter
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
David Fincher – The Social Network
Joel And Ethan Coen – True Grit
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

Best Actress
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Annette Benning - The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone
Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine
Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole

Best Actor
Javier Bardem - Biutiful
Jeff Bridges - True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
Colin Firth - The King's Speech
James Franco - 127 Hours

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
John Hawkes – Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner – The Town
Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right

Best Original Screenplay
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
Another Year

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Best Animated Film
Toy Story 3
The Illusionist
How To Train Your Dragon

Best Foreign Film
Biutiful
Dog Tooth
In A Better World
Incendies
Outside the Law

Best Score
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
Inception – Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Best Song
Coming Home from Country Strong – Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled – Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours – Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 – Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Cinematography
Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Inception – Wally Pfister
The King's Speech – Danny Cohen
The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit – Roger Deakins