The 82nd Academy Award nominations were announced early this morning with Avatar and The Hurt Locker leading the pack. There were a number of surprises and questionable nominations. Here are the ten we found most interesting. Check out the full list of nominations here and my Top 10 surprises below.
10. Sending A Message To Avatar
Everyone makes fun of Avatar for the admittedly weak script, but who would think the Sundance indie, The Messenger, would be the one to knock it out of the Best Original screenplay race?
9. Jeremy Renner For Best Actor
Many predicted Renner for best Actor, but this nomination solidified the Academy’s love for The Hurt Locker. Most films that have gone on to win Best Picture have had acting, editing, directing, and screenplay nominations. Only The Hurt Locker has them all thanks to this nomination.
8. Paris 36?
Last spring I sat in an empty theater and watched this mediocre musical. Who would have thought it would get a Best Original Song nomination?
7. Star Trek Takes Revenge
Even though it was one of the worst films of the year, everyone was banking on Michael Bay‘s loud, obnoxious blockbuster to at least get a visual effects nomination. I guess the Academy hated it as much as everyone else, giving the nomination to J.J. Abram‘s Star Trek instead.
6. Matt Damon Sneaks In, Woody Harrelson Surprises
Matt Damon got nominated for a boring performance in a boring movie, yet Christian McKay gets snubbed for Me and Orson Welles as well as Alfred Molina and Anthony Mackie. In a nice surprise Woody Harrelson got in for his great work in The Messenger. Too bad there will be no real suspense when Christoph Waltz takes home the award.
5. Supporting Actresses
Much like Waltz has Supporting Actor win locked up, Mo’Nique will win this award. What is surprising is that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Penelope Cruz (and for Nine, not Broken Embraces?) snuck in when Julianne Moore and Melanie Laurent got rejected.
4. Hurt Locker and Mr. Fox Scores
We all loved The Hurt Locker, but I don’t think anyone was expecting it to get a nod for it’s original score. This further solidifies it’s front runner status in the Academy. It was great to see Fantastic Mr. Fox get recognized as well.
3. No Love For Clint
One of my favorite snubs of the year goes to Clint Eastwood for his terribly overbearing and mundane Invictus. Since the Academy usually loves him, many thought he would be a lock for Best Picture. He also got denied in the directing category.
2. The Secret of Who?
This French/Irish animated film snuck into the Animated Feature race over Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and Ponyo. I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t comment, but I don’t think anyone predicted The Secret of Kells would get an Oscar nomination.
1. District 9 and A Serious Man Blindsided
With the Best Picture race expanding to 10 nominees this year, we all knew there would be a few surprises in the race. Shockingly, the mediocre Blind Side is considered one of the ten best movies of the entire year by the Academy. It was nice to see a heavy sci-fi flick get recognized as well as A Serious Man, which made little money and didn’t seem to have support, despite it being my favorite film of the year.
What were your biggest surprises? What will take home the awards this March?