Oscar Nominees: Best Cinematography

My predictions: 4/5, picking “127 Hours” over “The King’s Speech”
My ballot: Come back next week!
The nominees: Black Swan, Inception, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, True Grit

The Oscar nominations puzzle me sometimes. While I understand that different people from different branches of the Academy vote in each of the categories, it strikes me as strange when, for instance, “127 Hours” pops up in a whole bunch of other categories and then doesn’t get recognized for its stunning visual framing. While I was let down by both “Black Swan” and “True Grit” and not nearly as impressed aesthetically as most were, this still seems like a strong category. You’d think the default winner would be “Inception,” but its snubs elsewhere indicate it might go to a film that probably won’t win in other categories.

My current bet to win: “True Grit”