Oscar Nominations: Shock and Yawns Greet Picks
Entertainment reporters bicker about the bigger pool of nominees
.At the "ungodly" hour of 5:38 a.m., actress Anne Hathaway and Oscar president Tom Sherak unveiled the Academy Award nominees in Los Angeles. In a first for this year, the Academy nominated 10 films for best picture. The nominees included Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air. Here's what's buzzing about the new picks:
- Nothing New Here, yawns The Wall Street Journal staff: "There were no huge surprises this morning...Perhaps the most interesting inclusion was Pixar's 'Up' being included in both the Best Picture and Best Animated Film categories."
- A Few Surprises, writes Susan King at the LA Times: "Though it was no surprise that 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire and 'Up in the Air' earned best picture nods, there were some unexpected choices, including 'The Blind Side,' 'An Education' and 'A Serious Man.'"
- We Were Surprised. Where's the Comedy? asks Choire Sicha at The Awl: "Okay, so this is super-serious. What we expected to have happen for the ten Best Picture nominees is not at all what happened in real life. Instead of the inclusion of commercially popular films like The Hangover and even possibly Star Trek, we ended up with a shocking inclusion of A Serious Man--which deserves it, sorry haters!--and... The Blind Side. One thing: there's not a single comedy in there."
- 10 Is Too Many, complains Ben Kaplan at The National Post: "The ten films is a crock, I know they need to boost DVD sales, but still... the lustre is gone." His live blogging colleague, Brad Frenette agrees: "There are several there that are fillers, I'd say."
- A New Competition Is Born, announces Irin at Jezebel: "The Oscar nominations, announced this morning, are only going to fuel the James Cameron-Kathryn Bigelow rivalry meme." Among other awards, the formerly married couple were both nominated for best director for Avatar and The Hurt Locker respectively.
Here are the nominees outside of best picture:
Actor in a Leading Role
* Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart"
* George Clooney in "Up in the Air"
* Colin Firth in "A Single Man"
* Morgan Freeman in "Invictus"
* Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"
Actor in a Supporting Role
* Matt Damon in "Invictus"
* Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger"
* Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station"
* Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones"
* Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds"
Actress in a Leading Role
* Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"
* Helen Mirren in "The Last Station"
* Carey Mulligan in "An Education"
* Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
* Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia"
Actress in a Supporting Role
* Penélope Cruz in "Nine"
* Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air"
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart"
* Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air"
* Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Animated Feature Film
* "Coraline" Henry Selick
* "Fantastic Mr. Fox" Wes Anderson
* "The Princess and the Frog" John Musker and Ron Clements
* "The Secret of Kells" Tomm Moore
* "Up" Pete Docter
Art Direction
* "Avatar" Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
* "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
* "Nine" Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
* "Sherlock Holmes" Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
* "The Young Victoria" Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray
Cinematography
* "Avatar" Mauro Fiore
* "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" Bruno Delbonnel
* "The Hurt Locker" Barry Ackroyd
* "Inglourious Basterds" Robert Richardson
* "The White Ribbon" Christian Berger
Costume Design
* "Bright Star" Janet Patterson
* "Coco before Chanel" Catherine Leterrier
* "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" Monique Prudhomme
* "Nine" Colleen Atwood
* "The Young Victoria" Sandy Powell
Directing
* "Avatar" James Cameron
* "The Hurt Locker" Kathryn Bigelow
* "Inglourious Basterds" Quentin Tarantino
* "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" Lee Daniels
* "Up in the Air" Jason Reitman
Documentary (Feature)
* "Burma VJ" Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
* "The Cove" Nominees to be determined
* "Food, Inc." Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
* "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
* "Which Way Home" Rebecca Cammisa
Documentary (Short Subject)
* "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province" Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
* "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner" Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
* "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant" Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
* "Music by Prudence" Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
* "Rabbit à la Berlin" Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
Film Editing
* "Avatar" Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* "District 9" Julian Clarke
* "The Hurt Locker" Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* "Inglourious Basterds" Sally Menke
* "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" Joe Klotz
Foreign Language Film
* "Ajami" Israel
* "El Secreto de Sus Ojos" Argentina
* "The Milk of Sorrow" Peru
* "Un Prophète" France
* "The White Ribbon" Germany
Makeup
* "Il Divo" Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* "Star Trek" Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* "The Young Victoria" Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
Music (Original Score)
* "Avatar" James Horner
* "Fantastic Mr. Fox" Alexandre Desplat
* "The Hurt Locker" Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* "Sherlock Holmes" Hans Zimmer
* "Up" Michael Giacchino
Music (Original Song)
* "Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* "Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* "Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* "Take It All" from "Nine" Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Short Film (Animated)
* "French Roast" Fabrice O. Joubert
* "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell
* "The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)" Javier Recio Gracia
* "Logorama" Nicolas Schmerkin
* "A Matter of Loaf and Death" Nick Park
Short Film (Live Action)
* "The Door" Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
* "Instead of Abracadabra" Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
* "Kavi" Gregg Helvey
* "Miracle Fish" Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
* "The New Tenants" Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
Sound Editing
* "Avatar" Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* "The Hurt Locker" Paul N.J. Ottosson
* "Inglourious Basterds" Wylie Stateman
* "Star Trek" Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* "Up" Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Sound Mixing
* "Avatar" Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* "The Hurt Locker" Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* "Inglourious Basterds" Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* "Star Trek" Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Visual Effects
* "Avatar" Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* "District 9" Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* "Star Trek" Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
* "District 9" Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* "An Education" Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* "In the Loop" Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* "Up in the Air" Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Writing (Original Screenplay)
* "The Hurt Locker" Written by Mark Boal
* "Inglourious Basterds" Written by Quentin Tarantino
* "The Messenger" Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* "A Serious Man" Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* "Up" Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy