Wednesday Oscar Watch Part 2 – Satellite Award Nominations

The Satellite Awards, formerly known as the Golden Satellites, announced their nominees late this afternoon. This is always the first group to announce nominations, so this is a good preview of what five-stacked categories might look like. In this case, however, we have well over five nominees in each category. This is always one of my favorite groups during awards season because they mix the traditional kinds of actors and films that go on to get Oscar nods with some…less traditional fare. Here’s a breakdown and quick runthrough by major category:

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception)
Michael Douglas (Solitary Man)
Robert Duvall (Get Low)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)
James Franco (127 Hours)
Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine)

Here we have our main contenders plus the curious addition of Michael Douglas. Both Douglas and Duvall will probably end up in the comedy category at the Golden Globes. Happy to see Bardem, and DiCaprio’s nod is part of a sweep for that film, which managed nine nominations. Missing: Jeff Bridges (True Grit), and where the hell is Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter), whose film earned a few other acting nods?

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone)
Helen Mirren (The Tempest)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Tilda Swinton (I Am Love)
Naomi Watts (Fair Game)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Noomi Rapace! That’s awesome. I’m also so glad that they found room for both Swinton and Watts, who do deserve nods. Mirren doesn’t really need to be on here, but everyone else that I’ve seen (not Portman and Williams) deserves to be here. The problem is, the field is too crowded, considering this doesn’t even incorporate comedies and sure things like Annette Bening. Missing: Hilary Swank (Conviction)

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Steve Carrell (Dinner for Schmucks)
Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)
Romain Duris (Heartbreaker)
Andy Garcia (City Island)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs)
John Malkovich (Red)
John C. Reilly (Cyrus)

Romain Duris! “Heartbreaker” is one of my favorite films of the year and it’s great to see its star honored. It’s interesting to see the love for “Cyrus” and amusing to see “Red” recognized. I totally missed “City Island,” so no comment there. Michael Cera is a fun inclusion, and Carell likely gets in because of his reputation rather than the performance (though I haven’t seen the film). Missing: Paul Giamatti (Barney’s Version) for a film that did get nominated in other categories.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs)
Sally Hawkins (Made in Dagenham)
Catherine Keener (Please Give)
Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Righ)
Mary-Louise Parker (Red)
Marisa Tomei (Cyrus)

I’m so happy that Keener could be included here since her film sort of flew under the radar. Like with best actor – interesting to see the love for “Cyrus” and amusing to see “Red” recognized. The other four nominees are almost sure things for the Golden Globes - the question is, who will join them? Missing: Reese Witherspoon (How Do You Know)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale (The Fighter)
Pierce Brosnan (The Ghost Writer)
Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
Tommy Lee Jones (The Company Men)
Bill Murray (Get Low)
Sean Penn (Fair Game)
Jeremy Renner (The Twn)
Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)

A strong category, but some major omissions, like Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right), Justin Timberlake (The Social Network), and Sam Rockwell (Conviction), though the latter film received no nominations of any kind. Bale, Garfield, and Rush are clearly frontrunners, but Brosnan, Murray, Penn, and Renner may be much stronger contenders than I (and others) initially thought. When I saw “The Company Men” last night, I thought that Jones could be a dark horse. Fair warning: Jones’ surprise Oscar nod for “In the Valley of Elah” in 2007 was precipitated by just one precursor, a Satellite nod. Could it happen again?

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Marion Cotillard (Inception)
Anne-Marie Duff (Nowhere Boy)
Vanessa Redgrave (Letters to Juliet)
Rosamund Pike (Barney’s Version)
Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy)
Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)
Dianne Wiest (Rabbit Hole)

This is quite an interesting category. We’re missing Oscar frontrunners like Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech), Barbara Hershey (Black Swan), and Melissa Leo (The Fighter), all of whose films were nominated in other categories. That puts Adams and Weaver out in front. I’m glad Cotillard made it in, and that makes me more confident about predicting her for a Globe nod. I haven’t seen “Nowhere Boy,” but it’s interesting that too actresses got in. Wiest doesn’t need to be here for a small, unmemorable role, and Redgrave’s nomination seems strange to me though I have little interest in seeing her film. And then we have the lovely Rosamund Pike, nominated for the wrong film. She should really be here for “Made in Dagenham” instead.

Best Motion Picture – Drama
127 Hours
Animal Kingdom
Blue Valentine
Get Low
The Ghost Writer
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
The Town
Winter’s Bone

This extremely long list could well end up as the Oscar list, minus “Get Low” and “Blue Valentine.” I’m so thrilled about “Animal Kingdom,” and it would be awesome to see that film make it all the way. Nothing much more to say other than there are way too many nominees.

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Cyrus
The Kids Are All Right
Made in Dagenham
The Other Guys
Please Give
Red
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

A cool list – and I’ve seen every one of these films – though “The Other Guys” really, really, really does not belong. I’m really excited about the rest, though I still think the only one with any kind of Oscar chance is “The Kids Are All Right.” Beyond that, “Please Give” might now be a contender at the Golden Globes, and “Cyrus” also got recognized by the Spirit Awards yesterday. “Made in Dagenham” is also a good bet for the Golden Globes.

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language Film
Biutiful
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I Am Love
Mother
Outside the Law
Soul Kitchen
White Material

I’m excited and surprised to say that I’ve seen all but one of these films (“Outside the Law”) and they’re all terrific. Too bad there wasn’t room for “Heartbreaker,” but I don’t know what the qualifications for release are (though “Mother” was definitely in last year’s Oscar pool). Again, great list. For the record, only “Biutiful” and “Outside the Law” are Oscar-eligible.

Best Motion Picture - Animated or Mixed Media
Alice in Wonderland
Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Legend of the Guardians
Toy Story 3

A weird amalgam of categories that basically just allows for “Alice in Wonderland” to be recognized as a cinematic achievement rather than a good movie, though I personally liked it. What’s very notably not here? “Tangled.”

Best Director
Ben Affleck (The Town)
Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
Danny Boyle (127 Hours)
Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right)
David Fincher (The Social Network)
Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
David Michod (Animal Kingdom)
Christopher Nolan (Inception)
Roman Polanski (The Ghost Writer)
Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone)

Another ridiculously overstuffed category. No David O’Russell (The Fighter), but we do have frontrunners Aronofsky, Boyle, Fincher, Hooper, and Nolan. Along with that we have the movies whose directors probably won’t make it: Affleck, Cholodenko, and Granik. But could Michod and Polanski factor into the race? Longshots at best, and probably would have had a better shot when there were only five Best Picture nominees.

Notes about other categories:

• “The Eclipse” made it in for Best Original Screenplay (and Best Original Score). I’m very excited about that!
  
• ”Fair Game” for Best Adapted Screenplay: also well deserved.
  
• My guilty pleasure during my casual listening to the Best Original Song contenders, “All Yours” from “Twilight: Eclipse” makes the cut for Best Song. Sweet.
  
• Both “Please Give” and “Shutter Island” got in for Best Film Editing. Interesting. Also “Unstoppable,” which seems silly to me.
  
• “I Am Love” and “Scott Pilgrim” for Best Art Direction. Cool.

See the full list of nominees here. Apologies for any typos or inadvertent nominee omissions during the quick creation of this post. Please comment.