What the Folk!

Well, the nominations are out, so if you want to discuss the movies, which one will win, how about those actors, who got snubbed, etc, this is the place.
I know a lot of folks may not have seen all of the films, so if you want to discuss a pivotal plotline, or a film's ending, please use spoilers.

Here's a list of all the categories:

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

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

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

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

Best Animated Feature Film
How to Train Your Dragon
Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Film
Mexico – Biutiful
Greece – Dogtooth
Denmark – In a Better World
Canada – Incendies
Algeria – Outside the law

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

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

Best Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Best Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

Best Original Song
‘Coming Home’ – Country Strong
‘I See the Light’ – Tangled
‘If I Rise’ – 127 Hours
‘We Belong Together’ – Toy Story 3

Best Original 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 Documentary
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland’
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Best Film Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The Kings Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Best Makeup
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Best Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Best Sound Mixing
Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Best Documentary (Short Subject)
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Visual Short Film (Animated)
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

I've only seen The Social Network and Winter's Bone - both excellent, and unless something else really blows me away, I'll be rooting for any nominees from Winter's Bone. I hope to see a bunch of the rest on a movie day this week.

It seems that the omission of Chris Nolan as Best Director for Inception has sparked quite a controversy. I only saw The Kids Are Alright, Black Swan, and The King's Speech, and I was amazed at the direction of both King's Speech and Black Swan. But I just kept hearing about how Inception was so unique and well-directed, so I can understand the frustration. (I wasn't bowled over by The Kids Are Alright - although Annette Bening's moment of discovery was wonderful, unnecessary explicit sex scenes bother me, and I'm not a Mark Ruffalo fan. Eh. )

And Ryan Gosling being left off the Best Actor category is just unacceptable, on principle - the guy never misses, and if Michelle Williams got a nod, naturally he should have had one. So who to leave off? As much as I love him, probably Jeff Bridges. His movie has a lot of momentum, which is probably why he got the nomination instead of Ryan. Critics said Bridges has done this type of character before, and well as he presents Rooster, he won last year - give somebody else a chance! (Love ya, Jeff )

Hey Bibli! RI isn't even showing Winter's Bone, up-to-date state that it is.
Definitely see King's Speech - you won't be sorry. I loved Black Swan. I adore Natalie Portman anyway, so to have her and a story with ballet as the setting was great. But I loved the path the director led us down - haunting! It's one I want to see again, to catch all the things I missed the first time. So if you like ballet or Hitchcock, you'll like Black Swan.

I was bummed Despicable Me was not nominated. It had cute songs and was a nice animated feature.

My favorite movie last year was Machete, so I'm not too invested in the Oscars this year.

Nancy, Winter's Bone isn't that recent. I don't recall it ever showing in theaters here. I saw it via Netflix a few months back and was quite underwhelmed. The lead actress was very good though so I can understand giving her the nod. The only other film I saw in the list is Black Swan. It's a good film but not oscar worthy in any category I can think of. I hope to see The Social Network soon, I remember wanting to see it when DFS was in theaters but never got around to it. I watched Inception last night and was underwhelmed by that as well. I guess I was expecting more of a mind f**k and less of a by the numbers blockbuster/action picture.

ETA: Wow the Best Actress category doesn't really have a clear winner does it? And most of those films were kind of small-ish. Hmmm....I will see Blue Valentine but it's one I must be in the mood for so it may have to wait, I'm sure Michelle is great in it. Natalie Portman may win since that seems to be the most talked about performance of the bunch but jeesh, imagining a year where that was the best performance seems pretty sad to me.

Nancy, I'm so thrilled that you started this thread.

I'm always excited about the Oscars. This year is special to me because I have seen nearly all of the films nominated. I'd have to agree that the Ryan Gosling snub is a huge dissapointment. He was excellent in Blue Valentine. I am really chuffed that Jesse Eisenberg was nominated he so deserved that nod from the academy.

I haven't seen Biutiful, I look forward to it. Javier Bardem is amazing in everything. I also want to see Another Year, I really thought it would get a nomination. It got rave reviews.

Kings Speech is the best film of the year, I hope that everyone gets out to see it.

I too was really bummed that Ryan wasn't nominated. Really that and the Nolan directing snub were the only big surprises to me.

And, Nancy, I believe Winter's Bone was released in early 2010 because I saw it on DVD a few months ago. You should definitely rent it. I was blown away by Jennifer Lawrence. She deserved her nomination and I believe that was one of her first acting gigs. You really don't feel like you're watching her act out this tragic life. It's like you're watching her live it.

The only best picture nominees I haven't seen yet are The King's Speech and The Fighter. They're both on my to see very soon list. I'm glad I don't have to vote for best picture because I really really enjoyed all the nominees and don't think I could pick.

Best Supporting, this is the toughest category for me. Every performance was stellar. Christian Bale was amazing in The Fighter, as always he completely transformed his appearance, speech, personality. Jeremy Renner was so great in The Town. My favorite & prob my 1st pick is Geoffrey Rush in The Kings Speech. Every actor in this category is so deserving.

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

I've seen most of those films but I still have a handful of the nominated films that I'd still like to see. I'd still like to see True Grit. I acquired tickets to the premiere of The Fighter at AFI Fest but I skipped it. It didn't appeal to me at the time but I'm taking 4ever's word and seeing it sometime this week. And I've been meaning to see 127 Hours for awhile but I sort of avoided it because I'm not sure I could sit through the amputation scene. But it can't be that bad can it? Biutiful looks amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing it the most.

I agree with Nancy-The Kids Are All Right didn't blow me away. I think it could have been eliminated off the Best Picture list. Of the films I've seen from the category, the pick for the win goes to The King's Speech. Even though Despicable Me wasn't nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, I'm really glad The Illusionist did. The Social Network was one of my favorite movies from last year so I hope that Aaron Sorkin will get the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

MM, love your take on it all.

I'm also surprised they didn't nominate Despicable Me. Now that is a movie that played in RI, and is still in some theatres.
Winter's Bone never made it even to an art film house here. Who distributed it?

While I was watching Black Swan, I thought to myself, Oscar, Natalie. Same for King's Speech - Colin Firth should dust off his shelf now. Annette Bening was strong in Kids, but there was only one scene where I thought she was really an
"Outstanding Actress".

I was a little surprised Mila Kunis or Barbara Hershey didn't get nominated - I really liked seeing Barbara Hershey as a demented Mom.
But the girls from The Fighter took up 2 spots, and I hear deservedly so. Did anyone see Animal Kingdom?

More movies to see, that's for sure.

Yes. Yes it can. That scene was graphic and intense but it's worth suffering through for such a great movie.

That's the main reason I haven't seen 127 Hours. I don't think I could make it through that scene.

Haha. I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to that stuff.

I think that knowing what's going to happen is almost more scary.

It seems like a film that would be good to see with someone else to grab onto for the icky part. Although I really want to see it, I can't think of any friend who'd like to be the grabee.

I think the only reason I'd want to watch 127 Hours is for the amputation scene so I figured I'd rent it and fast forward to that bit. I bet Laura's salivating just thinking about it.

I've had Animal Kingdom in my library queue for yonks. Who knew so many suburban folk were interested in obscure Australian films?