AP PHOTO Colin Firth and Geoffery Rush received Oscar nominations for their portrayals of King George VI and Lionel Logue in “The King’s Speech.” (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Oscar race has officially begun. Yesterday morning, clad in a silver, sparkly dress, last year’s Best Supporting Actress winner, Monique, announced the nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards. While most of the nominations came as expected, the Oscars still delivered their fair share of snubs.
Monique, along with Academy’s President Tom Sherak, took to the early hours of the morning to reveal who would be in the running for the industry’s most coveted prize. Leading the pack with 12 nominations, the British drama “The King’s Speech,” was the morning’s most mentioned name.
In the newly expanded category of Best Picture, the 10 nominees were nothing to buzz about. Of course, this year’s three films that are squaring for Best Picture, “The King’s Speech,” “The Fighter,” and “The Social Network,” all slated their bids for one of the tightest Best Picture races in recent history.
It seems as if Julia Roberts got her way as Javier Bardem earned a nomination for his role in the Spanish language film “Biutiful” in the Best Actor category. Joining him is Golden Globe winner Collin Firth, and perhaps the most under-appreciated performer of the year, “127 Hours” James Franco.
One of the morning’s biggest snubs came when the nominations for Best Actress were announced. As expected, Annette Bening and Natalie Portman, the category’s frontrunners, each received a nomination. However, Bening’s co-star in “The Kids Are All Right,” Julliane Moore, was left out. Moore’s performance in the summer film was humorous and sincere, and it’s a shame to see that the Academy did not recognize her for that.
Another snub came in the Supporting Actor role. Even though Christian Bale is almost 100 percent certain to win the award come late Feburary, “The Social Network’s” Andrew Garfield, once considered formidable competition in the category, was snubbed. Garfield’s performance as Mark Zuckerburg’s right hand man was sublime. Already classic one liners like “lawyer up, asshole,” made Garfield’s performance one of the best of 2010. Besides, Garfield could have easily taken Mark Ruffalo’s spot in the category. His performance in, “The Kids Are All Right,” is anything but Oscar worthy.
The Supporting Actress category honored both Amy Adams and Mellisa Leo for their roles in the “The Fighter,” but did not include Mila Kunis or Barbara Hershey in “Black Swan.” Both actresses vaulted the movie to new heights. Right now, it looks as if this category is up in the air as both Helena Bonham Carter (“The King’s Speech) and Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”) have an equal chance of snagging an Oscar.
Perhaps the Oscar’s biggest snub, at least in this writer’s opinion, took place in the Best Documentary category. Popular docs like “Exit through the Gift Shop,” and “Inside Job,” grabbed nominations, however, one of this year’s best documen-taries “Waiting for Superman,” was surprisingly snubbed. “Superman,” encompassed everything a good documentary should have. It highlighted a hot button issue and presented facts and stories from a wide array of sources.
While the Golden Globes seemingly gave a nomination to
just about anyone (Yes, I’m talking about “Burlesque”), the Oscars were far stingier. In just 32 days, the much anticipated awards show will roll out it’s famous red carpet and finally put a cap on an already stellar awards season.
