And the Nominees Actually Are...

BEST PICTURE
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 

9/10

Toy Story 3 did make it, The Town got left off, making True Grit the only Best Picture nominee that did not make my Top 25 list.  Cool beans!

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
The Coen Bros, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
David O. Russell, The Fighter

4/5

I KNEW NOLAN WAS THE VULNERABLE ONE! I don't remember if I wrote it here, but I know I did on other blogs.  I mean, I still predicted him, but I knew if anyone was going to get left off, it would be him and not David O. Russell. Everyone underestimated that man. Not this guy.

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

3/5

Does this mean Biutiful will finally come out here? Wish Duvall was in there...and Wahlberg. I should have gone with Bridges, at least. That was a lock, but I did not belieeeeve!

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle William, Blue Valentine

4/5

Um, I can live with Steinfeld being bumped to supporting if it gets Michelle Williams her much-deserved nomination. Strong roster this year!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

4/5

My hunch for John Hawkes paid off, BUT I thought it would be at the cost of Jeremy Renner. Alas, my own nominee Andrew Garfield misses out. You'll live to die another day, Andy.

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

3/5

Kunis and Spacek (wild guess) left out for category fraud Steinfeld and Weaver. I know everyone in the blogosphere is having kittens for that Weaver pick.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech

4/5

Mike Leigh got in over the writers for Black Swan. Again: does this mean the film gets a release here? Please?

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

5/5

Count it!

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan - Matthew Libatique
Inception - Wally Pfister
The King's Speech - Danny Cohen
The Social Network - Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit - Roger Deakins

 4/5

The King's Speech triumphed over 127 Hours' double dose of DPs. Another strong group.

BEST SCORE
127 Hours - A.R. Rahman
How to Train Your Dragon - John Powell
Inception - Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat
The Social Network - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
4/5
Alas, Never Let Me Go is left out in the cold this year. 127 Hours got in, though I for one really liked that score, too. I will never get over Powell's How to Train Your Dragon score getting a nom, though, because that movie is AMAZING.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
127 Hours - If I Rise
Country Strong - Coming Home
Tangled - I See the Light
Toy Story 3 - We Belong Together

3/4, predicted 5

No Burlesque? You lose, Academy!

BEST EDITING
127 Hours - Jon Harris
Black Swan - Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter - Pamela Martin
The King's Speech - Tariq Anwar
The Social Network - Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter

4/5

Wow. Ok, color me surprised that it's Inception, of all things, that is left off in favor of 127 Hours.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland
I Am LoveThe King's Speech 
The Tempest
True Grit

3/5

No Black Swan? No Burlesque? WHO CARES I AM LOVE GOT A NOMINATION! WHOOOOO!!!!


BEST MAKEUP
Barney's VersionThe Way Back
The Wolfman 

1/3

Thank Oscar the abysmal Alice in Wonderland is left out in the cold on this one. Didn't see Barney's Version coming, though I just left off The Wolfman.

BEST ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

3/5

Why did the abysmal Alice in Wonderland get in on this one?

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
Hereafter
Inception 
Iron Man 2

3/5

Clint Eastwood flicks have to end up somewhere, I guess. I'm disappointed not to see Scott Pilgrim or TRON: Legacy here. The latter is the most surprising, for me.

BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception 
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy 
True Grit 
Unstoppable

2/5

Ah, how could I have forgotten the mainstream blockbuster slot for Unstoppable (TRON: Legacy, I don't think, really applies to that)! How could I have missed the TRON film, though? I knew the sound was incredible, what was I thinking?


BEST SOUND MIXING
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network 
True Grit 

3/5

And again, Salt! How could I have forgotten? True Grit's really doing well in these tech categories, isn't it?

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3
3/3

But of course.

Unpredicted nominees in Foreign Language, Shorts and Docs after the jump....





FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Biutiful - Mexico
Dogtooth - Greece
In a Better World - Denmark
Incendies - Canada
Outside the Law - Algeria

DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
And Waiting for Superman gets NOTHING. Didn't see that one coming.

SHORT DOC
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

ANIMATED SHORT
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, a Journey Diary

LIVE ACTION SHORT
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143