The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the most prestigious group from which to receive meaningless awards for what are highly subjective cinematic efforts — has formally announced its 83rd annual Academy Award nominations. I say "formally" because everyone already pretty much knew what to expect.
If you've been paying any attention at all this awards season, you already know that the most beloved films this year are The King's Speech and The Social Network. And it's now confirmed that the people who comprise the AMPAS know this too. With 12 nominations, The King's Speech leads this year's pack. Inception and The Social Network each have eight nods. But both of them were beaten by True Grit, which received 10 nominations (in your face, Hollywood Foreign Press Association).
The acting noms also fell where we thought, though there were a couple of wild cards just to keep it interesting. Young Hailee Steinfeld earned a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress nom for True Grit. Jennifer Lawrence rightfully snagged a seat at the big kids' table with her Best Actress nod for Winter's Bone, and John Hawkes got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for the same flick. Javier Bardem received a Best Actor nod for Biutiful. At this point, Melissa Leo's nomination for Best Supporting Actress in The Fighter isn't a surprise, but it's worth mentioning because she totally rocks.
The race for Best Director absolutely follows this year's party line, with noms for the five directors with the real Best Pictures (Black Swan, The Fighter, The King's Speech, The Social Network and True Grit). I say "real" because of the AMPAS's recent change in procedure that doubled the number of movies nominated for Best Picture.
Television audiences for the Oscars have been dropping for years. The AMPAS believed the reason was that none of the most popular films were being nominated. So, the Academy decided to increase the number of Best Picture nominees from five to 10. In my mind, all this did was cheapen the award — or, in marketing speak, "devalued the brand" — saying, essentially, "Here are the nominees for Best Picture...and five others that have no chance of winning." In a further effort to increase viewers, the Academy has chosen Anne Hathaway and James Franco as this year's hosts. You know, because they're kinda young, kinda wow. But, hey, they're as good as anybody else, I suppose.
It's often thought that the films honored each year at the Academy Awards provide a snapshot of contemporary culture, and I believe there's some truth to that theory. As for what this year's crop of films say about the current zeitgeist, I think it's interesting that the year's two favorite films, The King's Speech and The Social Network, are two sides of the same coin: one film about building relationships; one film about the inability to build relationships. That's all I got, people. Make of it what you will.
For a complete list of the 83rd annual Oscar nominations, go HERE. The actual ceremony takes place on February 27, and I'll be watching to see whether Hathaway and Franco fall on their faces as hard as Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin did last year. After all, failure knows no age limit.
The only real surprise there is the great John Hawkes scoring a nomination.
I've been a fan of his for years. Especially on DEADWOOD.