Jeremy Renner
We all knew that the Avatar & The Hurt Locker Oscar showdown was a bit of an inevitability so it came as no shock that the pair were nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, for James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow.
And the same as every year there were some surprise nominations as well as some snubs that we weren’t expecting.
The big surprise of the nominations came in the Best Actress category as Maggie Gyllenhaal and Diane Kruger, who haven’t even been mentioned during the awards season so far both bagged nods.
Gyllenhaal stars alongside Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart while Kruger is part of the ensemble cast of Inglourious Basterds.
Despite all the hype and excitement surrounding The Hurt Locker in the last few weeks it’s funny to think that Jeremy Renner’s nod has come as a surprise.
Renner has shot to fame with his Iraq drama role but it’s great to see the Academy recognising new talent, it’s a great performance by him by the way!
But there were some notable exclusions from the list of nominees none more so than Invictus and The Lovely Bones.
These two movies were the early tips for success back in September but both have sadly missed out. The Lovely Bones bagged just one major nomination in the form of Stanley Tucci for Best Supporting Actor.
Now everyone knows that the Academy loves a biopic picture so Invictus should have been right up their street.
While Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon have picked up nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectfully the movie has missed out on Best Picture.
Despite there being ten nominees in the Best Picture category this year there was no place for Invictus and Clint Eastwood has sadly been overlooked for Best Director once again, he should have been nominated for Gran Torino twelve months ago.
The Road was never going to pick up major Oscar nods but it was thought that Viggo Mortensen’s central performance was the movie’s major plus point.
However Academy voters have thought otherwise and surprisingly the actor has missed out which is a real shame.
From a female perspective Julianne Moore’s performance in A Single Man, which saw Colin Firth bag his first Oscar nod, was over looked as was Emily Blunt’s portrayal of Queen Victorian in The Young Victoria.
There were a couple of surprises in the Best Picture category as District 9 and The Blind Side both find themselves contenders. However there were a few shock snubs as The Hangover, which won the Golden Globe, Star Trek and Where The Wild Things Are were all over looked.
This summer it was the sleeper hit that dominated the box office and it would have been nice to see more movies, and not just District 9, recognised.
The Academy Award winners will be announced 7th March.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Avatar