Oscar Nominations

This morning the nominations were announced for the 2011 Academy Awards. Here is who I think should win....

Best Picture

Last year I thought that having 10 Best Picture nominees was rediculous, but it really fits this year because there were so many good movies that came out. It would have been extremely hard to pick just five. I have only seen 8 of them, not having seen 127 Hours or Winter's Bone, so for all I know those two could be complete genius, or absolutely awful. Of the ones I have seen, I think that they are all really good choices. Personally, I think that The Kids Are All Right was a bit overrated because I wasn't really all that impressed with it. I thought that the performances were great, but the overall movie was just ok. I liked Inception, but I really don't think that it deserves to win Best Picture. Of the other six, though, its a pretty difficult choice. I loved all of those movies: The Fighter, Toy Story 3, True Grit, The King's Speech, and The Social Network, but the movie that I really want to win is my favorite movie that came out in 2010, and one of my favorite movies of the past decade....Black Swan.

It was everything I love in a movie. It was creepy, suspenseful, interesting, and different from all other movies I have seen. I left the movie theatre completely awestruck after seeing this movie, and that rarely happens.

Best Director

This one is tough, because it three directors are nominated that I really love: Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, and The Coen Brothers. I'm gonna have to go with Darren Aronofsky, though, because Black Swan was just sensational, and I think he did a really great job with it.

 Best Actor

This is another one that is extremely tough. I haven't seen 127 Hours or Biutiful, but I'm sure that James Franco and Javier Bardem are great in those movies because they are two of my favorite actors. Of the three that I have seen, though. I can't choose between Colin Firth or Jeff Bridges. I thought that Jesse Eisenberg was great in The Social Network, but I'm more in favor of the other two actors. Firth and Bridges were both fantastic in The King's Speech and True Grit, so I would be happy either way.

Best Actress

Of the five actresses nominated for Best Actress, I have only seen two of the films, The Kids Are All Right and Black Swan. I haven't seen Winter's Bone, Blue Valentine, or Rabbit Hole. That doesn't really matter, though, because while I thought Annette Bening was great in The Kid's Are All Right, I am rooting for Natalie Portman.

Best Supporting Actor

I have not seen The Town or Winter's Bone, so I can't really judge how good Jeremy Renner of John Hawkes's performances were. Of the other three actors, it is a really hard choice. Christian Bale, Geoffrey Rush and Mark Ruffalo all gave excellent performances this year in The Fighter, The King's Speech, and The Kids Are All Right. I'm going to have to go with Christian Bale, though. He was great as the crack addicted former boxer Dicky Eklund, and I think his win should make up for Mark Wahlberg not even being nominated. (Which he should have been!)

Best Supporting Actress

If it were up to me, I would give the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Barbara Hershey. She was perfect as Natalie Portman's controlling mom in Black Swan, and I can't believe she was snubbed! I know the Academy loves nominating kids, but they could easily give her Hailee Steinfeld's spot. I thought Steinfeld was good in True Grit, but I didn't think her performance was Oscar-worthy. I love Helena Bonham Carter, and I thought that she was fantastic in The King's Speech, but I think this year the Oscar is going to go to The Fighter's Melissa Leo. Although I do agree that she was a bit too young to play the mother of 9 kids in their 30s and 40s, her age wasn't something that was distracting because she was so great in her role as Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg's mom.

Best Visual Effects

I'm not even going to talk about the others because this one should go to Inception! From half of the city curving up to the zero gravity fight scenes, this movie just looked really cool! Nothing else really compared to it visually this year. Having said that, I'm pretty bummed that Tron: Legacy wasn't nominated in this category...

Best Costume Design

This year I was crazy about the costumes in Alice in Wonderland. I loved everything that Mia Wasikowska wore in that movie. Even the armor she wears at the end is fantastic! If this movie doesn't win for Best Costume Design, I will be very disappointed!

Best Makeup

I haven't seen Barney's Version or The Way Back, but I don't really care because I am rooting for Rick Baker all the way!!! Baker and David Elsey are nominated for The Wolfman, and should definitely win. I am a huge fan of monster makeup, and they did a great job transforming a handsome dude like Benicio Del Toro into the Wolfman.