82nd Oscar Nominations: Surprises and Snubs

While many of this morning’s Academy Award nominations were anticipated, there were a few surprises. The new Ten-Nominee Best Picture race had some unexpected inclusions (one of them totally blind-sided the cometition…yes, I went there). There were some other surprises, but more noteworthy were some big snubs. Some were pretty expected (though I held out a little hope for FlickSided favorite, Joseph Gordon-Levitt), while others came with a bit more of a bombshell (is the Academy too chicken to give Screenplay nods to two animated films?).

Here’s a rundown of this year’s biggest Oscar surprises and snubs:

The Surprise Nominations:

• Instead of presumed favorites like Samantha Morton or Diane Kruger, Maggie Gyllenhaal snuck into this morning’s nomination list, getting recognized for her supporting performance in Crazy Heart. Most expected her co-star Jeff Bridges’ Best Actor nomination, and some even speculated that the film itself or its screenplay would get some love (didn’t happen), but few people, if anyone, expected Maggie’s nomination.
• In the Loop grabbed a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination this morning, beating out a couple other possible scripts (wait for my list of snubs for some elaboration) for that fifth spot on the list. Prior to the Oscars, In the Loop hasn’t received much attention on the awards circuit, but has gotten a ton of love from critics and is quite funny, so I can’t argue that this is totally undeserved.
• Sure, Up earning a Best Picture nod was noteworthy, but the biggest animation-related story involves The Secret of Kells (no, I haven’t heard of it either), which knocked Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs off the Best Animated Feature list. While Cloudy didn’t really have a hope of winning (did I mention Up is nominated for Best Picture), it was assumed to at least be nominated. Instead, the Academy recognized this multinational film, which has earned critical praise from those who have seen it and even an Annie Award nomination.
• We all knew Robert Downey Jr.’s Golden Globe win a few weeks ago was a fluke, but it’s pretty easy to disregard pretty much any decision made by the Hollywood Foreign Press (they did, after all, crown The Hangover in one of their Best Picture races). Still, it comes as a complete shock that, while ignoring Downey’s performance, the Academy still bestowed upon Sherlock Holmes two nominations, one for Original Score (the lesser of the two surprises, as the score was the best part of an otherwise mediocre film) and another for Art Direction (another category you’ll hear me bitch about when we get to the snubs).
• It was more or less assumed that Avatar would lead the pack with nine nominations, but the surprise here is that The Hurt Locker also received nine, thanks to some less expected, but not at all shocking, help from both its Original Score and Jeremy Renner’s Best Actor nod.
• Perhaps the biggest stunner of the morning came from the most important category of all: Best Picture. Some will be surprised to see that District 9 snuck onto the list (an inclusion I can get behind), but I think there’s a bigger shock here. Somehow, The Blind Side walked away with a Best Picture nomination. Although this movie has absolutely no shot at actually claiming the prize, its inclusion as one of the Best Picture nominees guarantees the film’s star, Sandra Bullock, will go home with a little gold statue on March 7^th.

The Snubs:

• Each of the two writing categories had unforgivable omissions. The first being the failure to recognize Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of the Roald Dahl book, The Fantastic Mr. Fox. This film had some of the wittiest dialogue seen on screen all year, and should have been nominated. On the original screenplay side, I can’t understand how the Academy could ignore (500) Days of Summer. This film tells such an original story in a completely original manner. The script constantly provides it’s actors with perfect dialogue and the narrative never falls into the tired clichés found in most romantic comedies.
• While I’m talking about (500) Days of Summer, why not mention the lack of love for the film’s two leads. Both Zooey Deschanel  and Joseph Gordon-Levitt turned in award-worthy performances, though it’s the later that I really hoped to see honored. It’s clear the Academy has no intention of actually giving the award to past-winner Morgan Freeman, so why not give a little attention to this talented up-and-comer?
• There’s another critically-acclaimed gem that walked away with fewer nominations than I expected. A Single Man could have rightfully earned nominations for its adapted screenplay or even director Tom Ford, but it was the film’s Art Direction and Cinematography that I would have liked to see recognized by the Academy.
• Speaking of Art Direction, where the hell is Where the Wild Things Are? Spike Jonze’s latest should have been nominated for both the aforementioned category and for the incredible costumes worn by the Wild Things in the film. Jonze and Dave Egger’s screenplay wasn’t bad either. (I’d whine about Karen O’s score being ignored too, but it didn’t meet qualification criteria, so I’ll let that one slide).
• Another misstep by the Academy in nominating its Lead Actors was the failure to mention Sam Rockwell’s tour-de-force performance in Moon. As the film’s only real character, Rockwell manages to suck in his audience during every scene of this wonderful independent sci-fi flick.
• Maggie Gyllenhaal’s nomination really shook up the Supporting Actress nominations. While it’s a sure-bet that Mo’Nique will walk away with the prize, it’s still worth mentioning that Inglourious Basterds’ Diane Kruger and Melanie Laurent were both deserving of nominations. Also, if the Academy insists on nominating a Supporting Actress from the dreadful Nine, why didn’t they at least pick Marion Cotillard? If they were determined to nominate Penelope Cruz, how about her far superior performance in Broken Embraces? The Academy really dropped the ball on this one.
• While I figured Lee Daniels would be nominated for directing Precious, there were a few other worthy contenders, most notably Joel and Ethan Cohen for directing Best Picture and Best Screenplay nominee A Serious Man.

A complete list of nominees can be found here.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be presented at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on March 7th at 5 pm PST (8 pm EST) and will air Live on ABC.