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2011 Oscar Nominations


The nominations are finally out for the 83rd Academy Awards.  The race for some of the awards are close whereas some have a clear winner already.  Here are a few highlights form some of the categories and what to look for as winners. 
            For Best Adapted Screenplay, the race is really between two films; “The Social Network” and “True Grit”.  Both films are written extremely well and are deserving of this award.  I hope Aaron Sorkin will win the award for “The Social Network” because the film is based on a true story, whereas “True Grit” is a remake of an old western.  Sorkin’s script offers insight into what Mark Zuckerberg’s lawsuits were like and how he handled them.  It is also much more dramatic than the Coen brothers’ script for “True Grit”.  This category will hopefully be an interesting one, but I hope “The Social Network” wins. 
            Although I have not yet seen “Black Swan”, I am expecting Darren Aronofsky will take home the award for Best Directing because of his innovative filmmaking style.  Although many of his movies have the same basic storyline, a person with extreme problems who becomes very self destructive, not very many filmmakers have made movies like it.  It’s a relatively new idea, and with the Academy always looking for new talent, Aronofsky is sure to win Best Directing for “Black Swan”. 
            The toughest contest this year though is in the category of Best Motion Picture, only because there are ten excellently well qualified candidates.  With nominees such as “Black Swan”, “The King’s Speech”, “The Fighter”, and “The Social Network”, this is probably the least defined race.  This may be the most unexpected category of the night.  I hope “The King’s Speech” wins for a multitude of reasons.  Colin Firth is probably the front runner for Best Actor, making this film more likely to win if he wins Best Actor.  Another reason is that director Tom Hooper tells a story that not many people know about in a very dramatic yet comedic way.  But he also tells an important lesson, that as respectable as our leaders are, they aren’t perfect.  Look for “The King’s Speech” to take this award along with a lot of others. 
            This year, the Oscars will hopefully be much more interesting than they have been in years past.  However, I do expect that we will see a few movies winning a lot of awards.  We’ll just have to see what happens on February 27th.  

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