Oscar Nominations Are In

In case you haven't seen it all over the free world, the nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards are in. I'll cover these movies a little more as we get closer to the actual show but here's a brief look at the nods and some of the more notable snubs.

Best Picture

"127 Hours"
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The Kids Are Alright"
"The King's Speech"
"The Social Network"
"Toy Story 3"
"True Grit"
"Winter's Bone"

Biggest Snub: "The Town" - I think the final two spots came down to "127 Hours", "Winter's Bone", "Blue Valentine", and "The Town." I haven't seen "127 Hours" so I can't honestly say whether or not "The Town" is any better. If I had a vote between "Town" and "Winter's Bone" I would have gone with "Town" and I would also put it in over "The Fighter" which just isn't as good as the rest of these films.

Best Actor

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

Biggest Snub: Leonardo DiCaprio, "Inception" - One of many snubs for "Inception," this one I at least expected. I'm not sure what more DiCaprio could have done to pick up a nomination here. Not sure exactly who he'd replace here, however, so maybe that's the real issue.

Best Actress

Annette Bening - "The Kids Are Alright"
Nicole Kidman - "Rabbit Hole"
Jennfer Lawrence - "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman - "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams - "Blue Valentine"

Biggest Snub: ??? Quality leading female roles are tough to come by these days and I'm not sure I saw any performances that warranted mentioning here.

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale - "The Fighter"
John Hawkes - "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner - "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo - "The Kids Are Alright"
Geoffrey Rush - "The King's Speech"

Biggest Snub: Matt Damon, "True Grit" - This category always seems the most difficult to figure out. I think you could probably pick 10 guys every year that legitimately deserve to be nominated. That said, Damon was near perfect as Texas Ranger LaBeouf and his exclusion is pretty rough for my money. Ruffalo has been a shoe-in for this nod for months and I really don't get it. He plays the exact same character in EVERY SINGLE MOVIE and his performance in "The Kids Are Alright" is no different. Can't see a one-note actor gets so much love over a multi-faceted guy like Damon.

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"

Biggest Snub: Marion Cotillard, "Inception" - Her limited screen time may have hurt her cause but Cotillard's work in "Inception" was mesmerizing and haunting. I personally would have given her the edge over Leo, though I thought Leo's performance was also excellent.

Best Original Screeplay

"Another Year"
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The Kids Are Alright"
"The King's Speech"

Biggest Snub: ??? I got nothing. Pretty much all of the great screenplays from 2010 were adapted.

Best Adapted Screenplay

"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"Toy Story 3"
"True Grit"
"Winter's Bone"

Biggest Snub: "The Town" - An excellent script drawn from an excellent source material. This is another case, however, of, what do you take off this list to put "The Town" in there? Not sure.

Best Director

Darren Arnofsky - "Black Swan"
Joel and Ethan Coen - "True Grit"
David Fincher - "The Social Network"
Tom Hooper - "The King's Speech"
David O. Russell - "The Fighter"

Biggest Snub: CHRISTOPHER FREAKING NOLAN, "Inception" - This is the only real "snub" of the bunch, the only screw up worth getting worked up about. Really, Academy members? Really?! The most inventive, engrossing, amazing movie going experience of the year with so many moving parts that comes together seamlessly. That doesn't warrant a nomination for Best Director? This, dear readers, is a stinking joke. Fincher, Hooper, and the Coens all deserve their attention and I'll give the benefit of the doubt to Arnofsky having not seen "Black Swan." But the difference in directorial achievement for "Inception" and that of "The Fighter" is TREMENDOUS. David O. Russell did a solid job, even a good job, with his work on "Fighter" but not great or incredible or amazing or any of the other adjectives you can think of to describe what Nolan did with "Inception." After being snubbed for "Memento" and "Dark Knight", I think Nolan has legitimate cause to question what the heck the Academy has against him. Ridiculous.