Oscar Nominations!!!!!!

And it is here! The Oscar nominations were announced this morning and here they are (the ones that matter anyway):

BEST PICTURE

127 Hours

Black Swan

The Fighter

The King's Speech

Inception

True Grit

The Social Network

The Kids Are All Right

Toy Story 3

Winter's Bone

BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth--The King's Speech

Jesse Eisenberg--The Social Network

Jeff Bridges--True Grit

Javier Bardiem--Biutiful

James Franco--127 Hours

BEST ACTRESS

Natalie Portman--Black Swan

Annette Benning--The Kids are All Right

Michelle Williams--Blue Valentine

Nicole Kidman--The Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence--Winter's Bone

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale--The Fighter

Jeremy Renner--The Town

Geoffrey Rush--The King's Speech

John Hawkes--Winter's Bone

Mark Ruffalo--The Kids Are All Right

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams--The Fighter

Melissa Leo--The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld--True Grit

Helena Bonham-Carter--The King's Speech

Jacki Weaver--Animal Kingdom

BEST DIRECTOR

David Fincher--The Social Network

David O. Russell--The Fighter

Darren Aronofsky--Black Swan

Tom Hooper--The King's Speech

Joel and Ethan Cohen--True Grit

For the most part I think the Academy got it right this year. I was happy to see Hailee Steinfeld get a nomination for True Grit and Jeremy Renner for The Town. The inclusion of Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine and Javier Bardiem for Biutiful were nice surprises too.

However, there are few glaring problems that I have with this list. The first is the nomination of Jesse Eisenberg for Best Actor. Don't get me wrong I love Jesse Eisenberg and his turn as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network was good but not anything special. Certainly not better than Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception or Shutter Island. Even Ben Affleck's performance in The Town was better. Speaking of The Town while I'm happy Jeremy Renner got an Oscar nod in the supporting actor category, it is an outright joke that the movie itself wasn't nominated for Best Picture. Come on Toy Story 3? Really? The biggest snub without question however, was Christopher Nolan for Best Director. Do you know how much effort went in to filming Inception? He filmed in six different countries and crafted a fantastic movie that was both cerebral and surprising. I'm sorry but no one will ever convince me that Joel and Ethan Cohen did a better job on True Grit than Christopher Nolan.

So there you have it! The Oscar nominations for 2010. As we get closer to the big day I'll give you my personal picks of who should win and who will win. Until then let the speculation begin!