After months of anticipation, the nominations for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards were anounced this morning.  Honouring the best 2010 had to offer in film, the nominees in the running for Best Picture are:

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

127 Hours

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter’s Bone

The King’s Speech led the field of with 12 nominations, and True Grit was the runner-up with a surprising 10.  Inception and possible frontrunner The Social Network both tied with 8 nominations.  The biggest surprise in the Best Picture category was the critically acclaimed independent film Winter’s Bone getting a nomination for Best Picture.  It was also surprising to not see Christopher Nolan (Inception) nominated for Best Director, and Joel & Ethan Coen (True Grit) there instead.

Other surprises included Javier Bardem (Biutiful) getting a nomination for Best Actor, and John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone) for supporting.  The acting categories are as strong as ever, including the predicted and very deserving nominations for Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), James Franco (127 Hours), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit).

The three excellent films in the running for Best Animated Feature are How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist, and Toy Story 3.  It was also very gratifying to see John Powell get a Best Original Score nomination for his beautiful work on How To Train Your Dragon.  It should also be noted that Toy Story 3 represents not only the third animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture, but also the first sequel to appear in that category which has not also had it’s predecessors nominated.

Although it’s always sad to see some favourites shut out of certain categories, overall this is an excellent line up of films and performances being honoured with Oscar nominations.  The Oscars will be presented on Sunday, February 27th.  Please come back over the next month for our complete coverage of The Academy Awards, and see below for a complete list of nominees.

-John C.

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem in Biutiful

Jeff Bridges in True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network

Colin Firth in The King’s Speech

James Franco in 127 Hours

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale in The Fighter

John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone

Jeremy Renner in The Town

Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech

Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right

Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone

Natalie Portman in Black Swan

Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams in The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech

Melissa Leo in The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit

Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom

Animated Feature Film

How to Train Your Dragon – Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

The Illusionist – Sylvain Chomet

Toy Story 3 – Lee Unkrich

Art Direction

Alice in Wonderland – Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

Inception – Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat

The King’s Speech – Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr

True Grit – Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

Black Swan – Matthew Libatique

Inception – Wally Pfister

The King’s Speech – Danny Cohen

The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth

True Grit – Roger Deakins

Costume Design

Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood

I Am Love – Antonella Cannarozzi

The King’s Speech – Jenny Beavan

The Tempest – Sandy Powell

True Grit – Mary Zophres

Directing

Black Swan – Darren Aronofsky

The Fighter – David O. Russell

The King’s Speech – Tom Hooper

The Social Network – David Fincher

True Grit – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)

Exit through the Gift Shop – Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz

Gasland – Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic

Inside Job – Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

Restrepo – Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger

Waste Land – Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

Killing in the Name – Nominees to be determined

Poster Girl – Nominees to be determined

Strangers No More – Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon

Sun Come Up – Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger

The Warriors of Qiugang – Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum

The Fighter – Pamela Martin

The King’s Speech – Tariq Anwar

127 Hours – Jon Harris

The Social Network – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

Biutiful – Mexico

Dogtooth – Greece

In a Better World – Denmark

Incendies – Canada

Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) – Algeria

Makeup

Barney’s Version – Adrien Morot

The Way Back – Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

The Wolfman – Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)

How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell

Inception – Hans Zimmer

The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat

127 Hours – A.R. Rahman

The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

“Coming Home” from Country Strong Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey

“I See the Light” from Tangled Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater

“If I Rise” from 127 Hours Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3 Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture

Black Swan – Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers

The Fighter – David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers

Inception – Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

The Kids Are All Right – Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers

The King’s Speech – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers

127 Hours – Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers

The Social Network – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

Toy Story 3 – Darla K. Anderson, Producer

True Grit – Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

Winter’s Bone – Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

Day & Night – Teddy Newton

The Gruffalo – Jakob Schuh and Max Lang

Let’s Pollute – Geefwee Boedoe

The Lost Thing – Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) – Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

The Confession – Tanel Toom

The Crush – Michael Creagh

God of Love – Luke Matheny

Na Wewe – Ivan Goldschmidt

Wish 143 – Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

Inception – Richard King

Toy Story 3 – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

Tron: Legacy – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

True Grit – Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey

Unstoppable – Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

Inception – Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

The King’s Speech – Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley

Salt – Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin

The Social Network – Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten

True Grit – Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

Alice in Wonderland – Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi

Hereafter – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell

Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

Iron Man 2 – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

127 Hours – Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

The Social Network – Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

Toy Story 3 – Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

True Grit – Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Winter’s Bone – Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Another Year – Written by Mike Leigh

The Fighter – Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;

Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

Inception – Written by Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right – Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

The King’s Speech – Screenplay by David Seidler