Oscar Nominees Are Out With (Another) Irish Short Nominated

My initial reaction was of delight for Winter's Bone for picking up some major nominations. Not least for John Hawkes, who wasn't featuring much at all in other award shows. Also, delighted for its Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and, really, for the Best Actress nod for the brilliant Jennifer Lawrence. When you look at the list there are some stand-outs. Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole? Really? She was fine but there were better performances last year. Still, the race is between Annette Benning and Natalie Portman regardless - with the latter still the favourite. True Grit also picked up a bunch of nods, with one in particular for its breakout star, Hailee Steinfeld, extremely satisfying - she is brilliant. The Best Actor category is a funny one; no one expected Jeff Bridges to get a nod, as good as he was in True Grit, Ryan Gosling not picking up a nomination is crazy - he was stunning in Blue Valentine. That said, he'll undoubtedly pick up more nods in future such is his talent - and Michelle Williams, at least, features. The King's Speech is still a favourite for Best Actor for Colin Firth, and there or there abouts for Best Film - which should still go to The Social Network. Biggest shock of the list? No best director nod for Chris Nolan for Inception - even though he picked up ones for Best Screenplay, and Film, he should really have featured in the director category. Feel free to list your grievances below - this is just a visceral rant, off the bat. Congrats to Michael Creagh and the other guys behind The Crush, which is an Irish short nominated - I haven't seen it but have heard it's brilliant. The ceremony takes place February 27th.

Best Picture
The Kids Are All Right
Toy Story 3
The Social Network
The King’s Speech
Inception
The Fighter
Black Swan
127 Hours
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

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

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

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

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town

Best Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Animated Feature
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3
How To Train Your Dragon

Best Original Screenplay
Inception by Christopher Nolan
The King’s Speech by David Seidler
The Kids Are All Right by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
The Fighter by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson
Another Year by Mike Leigh

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin
True Grit by Joel & Ethan Coen
127 Hours by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy
Toy Story 3 by Michael Arndt
Winter’s Bone by Debra Granik and Anne Roselini

Best Foreign Film
Biutiful
Dogtooth
In A Better World
Incendies
Outisde The Law

Art Direction
Alice In Wonderland
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

Cinematography
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Costume Design
Alice In Wonderland
I Am Love
The King's Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

Documentary Feature
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restropo
Wasteland

Documentary Short
Killing In The Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors Of Qiugang

Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Makeup
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Original Score
How To Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Original Song
'Coming Home' (Country Strong)
'I See The Light' (Tangled)
'If I Rise' (127 Hours)
'We Belong Together' (Toy Story 3)

Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

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