Oscars 2011: Nominations, Surprises and Snubs

The nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards have been released and have spread like wildfire as people discuss the triumphs and inevitable snubs amongst the nominations.

Though its popularity had dropped after being upset by The Social Network at the Golden Globes, The King's Speech turned around and snagged 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. Another surprise was True Grit's 10 nominations, leaving the presumed favorite The Social Network behind with just eight nominations.

There weren't many surprises this year, save a few nominations for films audiences weren't overly familiar with. This included Javier Bardem for Biutiful, John Hawkes (relatively unknown despite his extensive resume--some viewers may recognize him for his part in the HBO TV series "Deadwood" and a brief appearance in the final season of "LOST") for the much-acclaimed film festival favorite Winter's Bone, and Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom.

Other surprises included the nomination of the French animated film The Illusionist over the much-appreciated Despicable Me in the Best Animated Film category and Michelle Williams' Best Actress nomination for the film festival darling Blue Valentine. Which leads us to the ever-popular Oscar snubs.

Oscars Snubs

Though heartily deserving it, Michelle Williams' nomination is the perfect way to begin to this next section, as her Blue Valentine co-star Ryan Gosling was shut out of the Best Actor category. In the same turn, Mark Wahlberg was overlooked for a Best Actor nomination for the title role in The Fighter, even though his three co-stars, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Christian Bale all received nominations. Also shut out for well-deserved nominations were Mila Kunis for The Black Swan (Best Supporting Actress), Andrew Garfield for The Social Network (Best Supporting Actor) and Danny Boyle for 127 Hours (Best Director). Another glaring and surprising omission was that of Tron from the Best Visual Effects Category.

However, the most stunning snub of all that has set the Internet afire with complaints and general venting is the omission of Christopher Nolan for Best Director for his sci-fi thriller Inception. The film was a truly unique summer blockbuster. It made millions like a summer blockbuster. It had audiences going back for repeat viewings like a summer blockbuster. But it wasn't reliant on special effects or 3-D to make its mark.

Inception was an intelligent film, full of nail-biting action shots and an intense screenplay to match. It divided audiences and brought them together as they spent hours discussing the ins and outs of the film. Though it pulled in eight nominations including Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture, the omission of Christopher Nolan in the Best Director category definitely stings a bit.

The nominations for the three main categories are below:

Best Picture
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

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in Biutiful
Jeff Bridges in True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
James Franco in 127 Hours
Colin Firth 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

View the rest of the nominations here.

The Academy Awards will be broadcast on ABC on Feb. 27 and will be hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

Oscars.com