Let's talk Oscar Nominations! The front-runner in the race this year is, no surprise here, The King's Speech with 12 nominations (that's 1 shy of a baker's dozen!) The Coen Brother's hog the awards, yet again, with 10 nominations for their western True Grit. And two of my favorite films this year, The Social Network and *am I dreaming?* Inception come in third with 8 nominations each. I have to say, I'm super happy with this year's selection. Not only was it a great year for film but Avatar was not nominated! So even if my least favorite film wins Best Picture (I'm looking at you 127 Hours) I still won't want to gauge my eyes out and puncture my ear drums for fear of hearing James Cameron make, yet another, douchey acceptance speech! You're not the king of anything asshole! Anyway... here's how my predictions did! (Bolded films are nominated) Best Picture Inception Toy Story 3 The King's Speech True Grit Black Swan The Social Network The Fighter The Kids Are All Right Winter's Bone 127 Hours 10/10 - Yeah right, Like The Town was ever in the running! Best Director Christopher Nolan - Inception Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan David Fincher - The Social Network Tom Hooper – The King's Speech David O. Russell - The Fighter 4/5 Missed True Grit - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen Poor Chrissy Nolan can't catch a break. With The Dark Knight being snubbed for the major awards in 2009, he doesn't get a director's nod in 2011 either. *Sad face emoticon* Not that the other directors don't deserve to be in the running but I think with the Coen Brothers already sharing 4 Oscars, they could show poor Chrissy some sympathy. Best Original Screenplay Christopher Nolan - Inception David Seidler - The King's Speech Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John J. McLaughlin - Black Swan Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko - The Kids Are All Right Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colich, Eric Johnson, Scott Silverand Paul Tamasy - The Fighter 4/5 Missed Another Year - Mike Leigh It wouldn't be the Academy if they didn't shake things up and throw a bone to a little international indie film. It won't win, but it's a polite nomination. Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle - 127 Hours Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - True Grit Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini - Winter's Bone David Lindsay-Abaire - Rabbit Hole Dark Horse: Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich - Toy Story 3 4/5 - My dark horse selection actually made it into this category. Good for you Toy Story 3! It's very rare that an animated feature gets nominated for anything other than animated feature! Best Actor Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network Colin Firth - The King's Speech James Franco - 127 Hours Jeff Bridges - True Grit Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine 4/5 Missed Javier Bardem in - Biutiful 2008's best actor winner and baby daddy of Academy Award Winner Penelope Cruz's fetus sneaks into the ranks with his foreign language film. Best Actress Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole Natalie Portman – Black Swan Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right 5/5 Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale - The Fighter Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech Jeremy Renner – The Town Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right John Hawkes - Winter's Bone 5/5 Best Supporting Actress Amy Adams - The Fighter Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit Melissa Leo - The Fighter Mila Kunis - Black Swan Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech 4/5 Missed Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom To be honest I hadn't heard of Animal Kingdom, accept that it got Jacki Weaver a SAG nod. I don't want to say I'm surprised that Mila wasn't nominated; while her *cough* (oral) *cough* performance was good, it certainly wasn't Oscar worthy. However, the biggest indication that Mila would have been nominated for the Oscar were her nominations in the same category for both Golden Globes and SAG, they're usually not that off. I did fairly well if I don't say so myself, 40/45 correct predictions! Give me the weekend to catch up on the films and I'll have my full winners prediction list by Monday! You'll be swimming in your office Oscar pool! Check out the full list of nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards!