- No Directing nomination for Christopher Nolan for Inception?! Come on! His mind-bending, gravity-defying directing deserves a nod way more than Darren Aronofsky's horror/thriller/psycho-sexual ballet movie (hey, let's watch Natalie Portman peel the skin off of her cuticles!) or the Coen brothers' prequel to No Country for Old Men (just kidding, I'm only saying that because they're both basically Westerns and I'm bitter). Is it mandatory to give the Coen brothers a nomination for Directing every year they release a film?
- With ten Best Picture nominees (again), it really seems like a Best Picture nod means so much less. Best Picture nominations are like iPhones: If we give them to everyone, how are the people who have them supposed to feel superior to everyone else?
- I understand why they would campaign True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld for Supporting Actress, despite the fact that she is clearly the lead in the film. (I mean, she narrates the whole thing, for God's sake.) The Best Actress race is competitive, and there was a better chance Steinfeld could have been overlooked in the Lead category, I suppose. (Although young newcomer Jennifer Lawrence managed to get a Best Actress nomination for Winter's Bone.) But nominating Steinfeld's costar Jeff Bridges in the Lead Actor category and her in Supporting just seems to belittle her role. Someone who hadn't seen the film would think it was Bridges' movie, and, while the pair share the screen for most of the film, Steinfeld was without a doubt the lead.
- I'm really happy to see that Jeremy Renner got nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his fantastic performance in The Town, even though he'll probably lose to Christian Bale. As a big Renner fan (since his days on the late, great cop drama The Unusuals), it's great to see him get two consecutive acting nods (after last year's nomination for his role in the Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker). Maybe next year he'll get the win.
- In the "People Who Will Likely Lose to Colin Firth" category (a.k.a. Best Actor), we have two (semi-)surprising entries: Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) and Javier Bardem (Biutiful). I guess all of Julia Roberts' campaigning for her Eat Pray Love costar Bardem paid off. Two of the other nominees look like a repeat of last year's Best Actor race: Colin Firth and Jeff Bridges. Here's hoping this year Firth emerges victorious over The Dude in the Firth vs. Bridges battle for the gold, part II.
- Speaking of Best Actor, where the hell is my future husband Mark Wahlberg on the list of nominees? Marky Mark trained for four years to play boxer Micky Ward in The Fighter and he got snubbed? Natalie Portman trained for one year to play a psycho ballerina in Black Swan and everyone thinks she's so fabulous and wonderful for it (and because she's pregnant). She'll probably win Best Actress (okay, she does deserve it), and Mark Wahlberg doesn't even get nominated? Unbelievable.
- Well, my bias is starting to show, so I guess it's time to wrap up my Oscar ramblings (for now). We'll see how many of its twelve nominations (the most of any film) The King's Speech will cash in on come February 27th.