Academy Award Nominations Reactions

Well there were a few tiny surprises this morning, not many of which negatively shocked me. The biggest shockers that I was unhappy to hear were Ponyo being shut out of the Animated Feature race, and The Cat Piano as well as Partly Cloudy both being snubbed for Animated Short. I haven't seen any of the shorts that are nominated but as soon as I do get a chance to see them I will. As for Best Picture, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince did not get nominated, as I expected it probably wouldn't, however it was interesting to see The Blind Side sneak in there, beating out Clint Eastwood's Invictus.

Not to say that Harry Potter got completely kicked out of Oscar competition. It did get nominated for Cinematography, which if nothing else it deserves. District 9 scored a Best Picture nomination, but failed to get a makeup nomination. Alexandre Desplat got his second Best Picture nomination in a row (nominated last year for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and third all time nomination (nominated for The Queen three years ago) for Fantastic Mr. Fox and depending on how he does this year (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1?) he could bring it up to 3. Star Trek's only achievement was Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, and Sound Editing, Up became the second animated film to be nominated for Best Picture, and the total box office grossings of all the Best Picture nominees are higher than ever (Even if you take Avatar out, and divide by 2). I can't say I'm hugely disappointed this year, so I believe the Oscars have returned to their former glory.