moving forward and standing still?

So, Oscar nominations were released this morning and were essentially the predictable bunch of folks that have been making the rounds all month. However a few interesting little twists arose at the crack of dawn this morning; here are my surprises:

1) Two of my favorite people of the year didn't make it into the running for Oscar gold. Christopher Nolan's absence from the Best Directing category makes me wonder what sort of game these people are playing. Look, I understand he's been put up in Original Screenplay and the Best Picture category, but why snub him in directing? To make way for David O. Russel? (Who, just because your entire cast got nominated, doesn't mean you automatically deserve a nomination, Lee Daniels.) Additionally, a member of my favorite young cast is missing: Andrew Garfield. His heartbreaking performance has been earning him a nod at just about every award ceremony out there, but the Oscar fuddy-duddies have snubbed him in the Best Supporting Actor Category. Look, no one actually thinks he'll win (after all, Christian Bale lost a ton of weight and played a drug addict this year), but the brilliance of the Social Network's bright young cast deserves to be recognized. Sure, they may have done the right thing and given a nod to True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld, but they are not making progressive steps to disband their "old boys club" reputation.

2) No Blue Valentine love? The film only received one notable nomination for Michelle Williams in the Best Actress category. Her counterpart Ryan Gosling was passed up in favor of James Franco's equally disturbing performance in 127 Hours. Though this film wasn't going to receive any nods in the technical or writing categories, I thought for sure it would be a shoo in with the move to 10 nominations for Best Picture. Quite honestly I could do without 127 Hours up for the best of the year.

3) Perhaps the most purposeless and perplexing oversight came in the form of Inception passed over for Editing. It almost felt arbitrary for me; sure, lets give 'em all the other categories but not editing just so we don't tip the scales and have an action movie as the most nominated film of the year? I don't want to sound like this is some big conspiracy against mainstream cinema amid the artistic prestige of the year, but let's be honest, Inception was one of the best things out there. It's been dry, and we all deserved to have a little fun and shouldn't feel bad about it.

4) Finally a nod for Javiar Bardem. Finally.

I'm not quite sure what to do with this year's list of nominations. In relation to this year's odd mix of triumphs and typical fair, it's hard to see any logic or reasoning behind a number of their choices. It felt like they gave up: sure, lets just give the Coen Brothers the most nominations, and The Kings Speech a strong second. They're classic films that "deserve" to be recognized. And all this is to be expected (every. single. year.), but why throw in some deserving nods and hold back on others? Is this an attempt to appease all? I get that you're trying to be hip, Oscars, by nominating Tron Legacy and Inception, but a clear overview on this year's best films seems to be muddled in this crowd-pleasing process. Figure it out, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. You'll never be the cool, hip parent with traditional values.