Oscar Nominations Comments

I found an article that I strongly suggest you take a look from whom has become my favorite (and quite incisive funny) commentator, Mr. Peter Knegt. Please read the article For Your Consideration: The 10 Biggest Surprises of the Oscar Nominations here.

Some of my favorite comments

1. “The Hurt Locker” ties “Avatar” for most nominations.
With the surprising (and deserved) inclusion of a best original score nod, Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” will head into Oscar night on equal footing with James Cameron’s “Avatar” (which suggests we are in for quite the showdown - between ex-spouses, to boot). Each received nine nominations.

5. “The Blind Side” for best picture.
While not shocking, “The Blind Side”‘s inclusion in the best picture category is definitely the biggest surprise of the Academy’s top ten. Producer’s Guild nominees “Invictus” and “Star Trek” were left out in the Sandra Bullock-starrer’s wake and its inclusion bodes well for Bullock’s best actress bid. Her biggest competitor - Meryl Streep - was her film’s lone nominee. The last time a best actress winner came from a single nominated film? 16 years ago, when Jessica Lange won for “Blue Sky.”

This is the BEST

7. The foreign language film category doesn’t do anything stupid.
Films that didn’t make it to the previously announced shortlist aside, the foreign-language film category features an uncharacteristically deserving bunch, with a Cannes rematch between Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” and Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” likely. Both are from Sony Pictures Classics, which also received a third nomination in the category with Argentina’s “El Secreto de Sus Ojos”.

10. A woman and an openly gay African-American get best director nominations. An animated film and two sci-fi films get best picture nominations. Half the best picture nominees gross over $100 million, three of them gross under $13 million.
Alright, so these aren’t surprises. But they’re definitely something. All in all, as expected as these nominations were, they represent one of the most diverse batches of nominations the Academy has (ever?) offered. Here’s to this no longer being the exception to the rule.