Oscar's snubs and surprises: Nolan left out again

NEW YORK – In handing out 120 nominations, the Oscars inevitably spurn others. "Snub" is the word of choice for these oversights, and Christopher Nolan is well acquainted with its meaning.
Two years after seeing his "The Dark Knight" earn neither a best picture nomination nor a directing nod, Nolan was passed over for directing "Inception," another film both acclaimed and popular at the box office.
Composer Hans Zimmer, nominated for his original score for "Inception," said Nolan was robbed of the honor.
"I think he was held up at gunpoint," Zimmer said. "My instinct tells me that because it was a commercial success, suddenly they took the idea of artfulness away from him.
"I think if the Academy wants to stay current ... they need to go and look at these things very carefully. I've worked with a lot of directors. There are few directors that are in the class of a Chris Nolan. ... It's not right."
This time, at least, "Inception" was included among the best picture nominees, which now number 10, a change made last year partly because of the outcry over the rebuff of "The Dark Knight." And "Inception" still counted eight nominations, including a best original screenplay mention for Nolan, yet nothing for Lee Smith's bravo editing.
Though many of the nominations announced Tuesday by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences were as expected, the most glaring omission was that of "Waiting for `Superman'" in the best documentary category.
One of the most talked about documentaries of the year and a widely expected Oscar favorite, the education system examination was left out, perhaps because some experts deemed it an inaccurate exaggeration of charter schools.
Other surprises from this year's batch of Oscar nominees:
• BARDEM DISPLACES DUVALL: Earning an acting nomination for a performance in another language is never easy, but Javier Bardem managed to get into the best actor field with a nomination for the Spanish-language "Biutiful." Bardem's third nomination (he won for "No Country For Old Men" in 2008) likely took the spot pegged for Robert Duvall's bearded hermit in "Get Low."
• A KING'S DOZEN: "The King's Speech" was a heavy favorite going into Tuesday's announcement, but its leading 12 nominations is still a surprisingly high total. Though a performance-based film, it still earned nods for cinematography and sound editing. (With 10 nominations, "True Grit" also proved especially strong, further highlighting the Golden Globes' questionable judgment in snubbing it altogether.)
• THIS YEAR'S INDIE DARLING: The Ozark Mountains drama "Winter's Bone" had long been a cause celebre for those who root for the smaller movies. Rather than sneak into the awards, it garnered a commanding four nominations, including best picture and best supporting actor for John Hawkes. Its star, the 20-year-old Jennifer Lawrence, is the fifth youngest best actress nominee.
• GOSLING, MANVILLE MISSING: Many would say the two best performances of 2010 were Ryan Gosling in "Blue Valentine" and Lesley Manville in "Another Year." Both were left out, though Gosling's co-star, Michelle Williams, was nominated for best actress. Some questioned why Manville wasn't pushed in the perhaps more fitting supporting actress category.
• OTHER SNUBS: Expected by some prognosticators to be nominated were Andrew Garfield in "The Social Network," Julianne Moore in "The Kids Are All Right" and Mila Kunis in "Black Swan." Ben Affleck's "The Town" didn't squeak into the best picture category, and Disney's "Tangled" was booted from the best animated film category by "The Illusionist."
• NEVER IN THE CONVERSATION: The Oscar race often arrives at favorites in a curious, buzz-reliant way. There were many who never caught on with the Academy, but nevertheless are among the snubbed: Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," Tilda Swinton in "I Am Love," Pierce Brosnan in "The Ghost Writer," Greta Gerwig in "Greenberg," Rebecca Hall in "Please Give" and surely many others.

Source:Yahoo News

`The King's Speech' usurps throne as Oscar leader

BEVERLY HILLS, California – Queen Elizabeth II's dad, Albert — the gentle, stammering Duke of York — never was meant to be king. And from Hollywood's early honors this season, a drama based on his life never seemed destined as heir-apparent at the Academy Awards.
Yet "The King's Speech" took a step closer to the best-picture crown Tuesday, leading the Oscars with 12 nominations and gaining momentum against the online chronicle "The Social Network," which had previously ruled the awards season.
Hollywood's top prize on Feb. 27 now seems like a two-picture duel between stories about a monarch who lives in terror of a 1930s tool of mass communication — the radio microphone — and a college kid who helped define the Internet era by inventing Facebook.
Also nominated for best picture are the Western "True Grit," second with 10 total nominations; the psychosexual thriller "Black Swan"; the boxing drama "The Fighter"; the science-fiction blockbuster "Inception"; the lesbian-family tale "The Kids Are All Right"; the survival story "127 Hours"; the animated smash "Toy Story 3"; and the Ozarks crime thriller "Winter's Bone."
"The King's Speech" is a pageant in the truest Oscar sense, with pomp, ceremony and history like past best-picture winners "The Last Emperor," "Lawrence of Arabia," "A Man for All Seasons" and "Shakespeare in Love."
It's also an intimate, personal tale of love and kinship as royal Albert (best-actor front-runner Colin Firth) is buoyed by the devotion of his wife (supporting-actress nominee Helena Bonham Carter) and makes an unlikely friend out of a commoner, his wily speech therapist (supporting-actor contender Geoffrey Rush).
"It's a very, very human story. After all, how many of us are so blessed that we go through life without having to overcome some kind of personal obstacle?" said "The King's Speech" writer David Seidler, who grew up with a stammer himself and earned a nomination for original screenplay.
Seidler said young people who were reluctant to see a historical film "end up absolutely loving it and wanting to see it again, because they understand the emotions of being teased, being bullied, being marginalized, and they really understand the power of a supportive friendship."
Meantime, "The Social Network" seems like a film completely in the here and now as Harvard computer genius Mark Zuckerberg (best-actor nominee Jesse Eisenberg) reinvents the art of keeping in touch with the viral growth of Facebook, whose half a billion users stay connected with friends online.
But the motivations at the core of the film are ancient as Zuckerberg battles old friends and associates over the Web site's riches.
"It is a timeless story, one with themes as old as storytelling itself: of friendship and loyalty, of betrayal, power, class, jealousy," said Aaron Sorkin, a nominee for adapted screenplay for "The Social Network." "These are things that Aeschylus would have written about or Shakespeare would have written about. And it's just lucky for me that neither of those guys were available, so I got to write about it."
Along with Firth, other acting favorites claimed Oscar slots, including supporting actor nominee Christian Bale as a former boxer whose career unravels amid drugs and crime in "The Fighter."
The best-actress field shapes up as a two-woman race between Natalie Portman as a ballerina losing her grip on reality in "Black Swan" and Annette Bening as a lesbian mom in "The Kids Are All Right."
Firth, Bale, Portman and Bening all won Golden Globes for their performances.
The supporting-actress Oscar could prove the most competitive among acting prizes. Melissa Leo won the Globe for "The Fighter" as the domineering matriarch of a boxing family. But she faces strong challenges from that film's co-star Amy Adams as a boxer's tough girlfriend and 14-year-old newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as a girl who rides along with a U.S. marshal to track her father's killer in "True Grit."
"The Social Network" won best drama at the Globes and was named best film by key critics groups, positioning it as the early Oscar favorite. "The King's Speech" pulled an upset last weekend by beating "The Social Network" for top honors at the Producers Guild of America Awards, whose winner often goes on to claim the best-picture Oscar.
Firth's Albert, known as Bertie to his family, inherited the British throne in 1936 after his older brother abdicated. The reluctant new monarch took the name of his father and reigned as King George VI, continuing his struggle to overcome his speech impediment at a crucial time, as his subjects looked to their ruler for inspiration amid the stirrings of World War II.
The film offers up history as rip-roaring entertainment, with surprising laughs and an uplifting message.
"It's incredibly positive, and I think that is why people are responding," said Bonham Carter. "It's also just helpful to see how somebody can be fundamentally helped by another human being. He's pulled out of this deep, dark hole, and how we can all, if we surrender ourselves, can be helped by somebody else.
The best-picture field is a mix of solid commercial successes such as "The King's Speech," "The Social Network" and "Black Swan," huge blockbusters such as "Toy Story 3" and "Inception," and modest earners such as "127 Hours" and "Winter's Bone."
The box-office results range from $400 million domestically for "Toy Story 3," which also is the favorite to win the animated-feature award, to just $6 million for "Winter's Bone," a tiny-budgeted film that won the top prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival and now has earned four Oscar nominations, including acting honors for Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes.
"This feels crazy. I don't mean to sound like disavowing the film in any way, but it's like, are they sure?" said "Winter's Bone" director and co-writer Debra Granik, who earned an adapted-screenplay nomination. "There are still statistically very rare instances of a very small film being able to have a life that could be communal, that could be part of a national discussion."
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AP reporters Sandy Cohen, Christy Lemire and John Rogers contributed to this report.
Source:Yahoo News