Drum roll please.... Oscar Nominations! — Page 3

I am so happy Javier Bardem got a nod. He is mesmerizing in this very depressing and hard to watch film. Very glad he was not overlooked.

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"Does anyone think that Jeremy Renner might win Best Supporting Actor since he was practically the only person that was nominated as DIDN'T win for "The Hurt Locker"?"

He was the best part about The Town, which I think was more about the movie getting a nomination. The script was a mess and he really fleshed out what could have been a one-note character. He has no real shot at winning with Bale and Rush fighting for the category. Some people think front-runners Firth and Leo are closer to fitting that description (except I really do think Firth deserves an Oscar for this more than A Single Man).

I knew Hailee Steinfeld being considered a Supporting Actress would affect a glaring snub in that category (But I thought Barbara Hershey and Dale Dickey were more nomination worthy than Mila Kunis, though I liked her a lot in Black Swan). But her being there just adds to the unpredictability of that category.

HAPPY:

The nomination for "Exit through the Gift Shop." It's a fabulous documentary and, honestly, deserves to be on the Best Picture list as well.

"The Fighter" love.

SAD:

No nomination for Mark Wahlberg or Ryan Gosling, both of whom are deserving.

The two very worthy female "Black Swan" supporting performances went unrecognized.

Andrew Garfield's snub. Jeremy Renner is, in my opinion, nothing special in "The Town." Garfield, and even Matt Damon in "True Grit", were leaps and bounds better.

The big "Inception" snubs. No best editing? REALLY? And Christopher Nolan un-nominated? It's really laughable. In my opinion, it's the best film of the year- with the best directing, the best original screenplay and CERTAINLY the best visual effects.

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In all seriousness Roscoe, did you check out The King's Speech?

I actually agree with you about the Best Picture category. TKS won the PGA award which has been a good indicator and I think the Weinsteins will go all out for TKS to win BP or at least do their best to put down 'The Facebook movie'.

Rush, Weaver, Kidman...go Aussies!

NEVER LET ME GO was sadly released too long ago and died too quickly to be remembered this award season. I knew that would happen immediately after seeing it.

I'm really really hoping for The Social Network, but I know it's going to be The King's Speech.

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No worries, Roscoe. I have a friend who feels the same way about The Social Network and refuses to see it (and really, really loves The King's Speech). I actually liked The King's Speech when it more about a friendship transcending class (I am such a sucker for that) when you just had Rush and Firth speaking together. Really did not care about the general historical record (which in film can pretty low standard)within the film that was unavoidable. I only cared about the three leads, who were all good, and didn't much care about the others in that film (and I really wanted to forget Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill).

Strummer - that's pretty much exactly how I responded to THE KING'S SPEECH - although, I was also somewhat intrigued by the display of coldness exhibited by the royals (especially exemplified by Claire Bloom.) The dynamic between Firth and Rush, though, was exquisite, and ably supported by Bonham Carter.

And Mr. Spall gave the most fascinatingly embarrassing performance I've ever seen. All I could think was, "Who cast him, and then who let it continue?"

And Mr. Spall gave the most fascinatingly embarrassing performance I've ever seen.

I winced every time he appeared. It was like crunching on an eggshell in an otherwise delicious omelette.

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I'm generally a great fan of Timothy Spall's work. He's been terrific in an array of Mike Leigh films, from LIFE IS SWEET to TOPSY TURVY. He's getting such uniformly bad reviews from everyone that I may have to see the KING'S SPEECH just to see one of the most reliable actors in the world blow it.

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It's not so much that he's doing a bad Winston Churchill. He's doing a bad Alfred Hitchcok doing a bad Winston Churchill.

(NOTE: Hitch's name is spelled wrong so I'm not given those **** for the last syllable of his name by the auto-censors on BWW.)

But I don't think he sucks or is even "off" in the movie. If this were an impersonation contest, he would lose. And that's what most criticisms I've seen have been focusing on: the superficial (I know, SHOCK!). Who the hell cares? I don't think anyone is really nailing their real-life counterpart in the film, with the exception of Helena Bonham Carter, who really is channeling the Queen Mum, particularly in her later scenes. It's not just the clothes and wigs, it's her physicality, accent, etc. She wins the impersonation contest in this movie.

Churchill is by far the most recognizable figure in the film, because of all the historical newsreel footage and audio tapes we've heard since junior high history classes.

But if recognizability is why you're going to see this movie, just skip the film and go to Madame Tussauds. No sense in spoiling the fun with an actual story and dialogue. Let's just see who looks and acts most like their real-life counterpart.

We'll call it British History Idol. People could judge that.

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