It’s that time of year again, as we reach the end of the Awards Season with the 2010 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards, aka the Oscars. While we leave most of the awards hoopla to the annual Oscar Waffle discussion on our forums, we’d be crazy not to highlight the Oscars on the main site. Here are the nominees, along with some commentary on the major categories.

This year the key contenders are The Social Network and The King’s Speech, although how rough the competition is between the two is up for debate. Fincher’s film about the origins of Facebook has been sweeping awards ceremonies everywhere, although King’s Speech tops the number of nominees with twelve nods. It certainly deserves the attention, although most critic groups have been passing it by in favor of The Social Network and some media outlets are already tossing up editorials explaining why Tom Hooper’s royal tale shouldn’t win. We’ll see who’s still standing when the last Oscar is handed out, however.

The 82nd Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 27th, hosted by the odd combination of James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Keep an ear on our podcast for continuing commentary on the Oscar race and an eye on the site for announcements about potential Oscar events. For now, the nominees are…

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Rafe says: I’m glad Melissa Leo didn’t get ignored for her Fighter performance, which wound up winning her the Golden Globe. Still disappointed to see Steinfeld categorized as a supporting actress, but it goes back to any recognition being good recognition.

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter
John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner – The Town
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech

Rafe says: Some really good performances making up the category, but I figure Bale has this locked down. His transformative presentation is a lot easier to put a finger in then Rush’s subdued piece. Renner makes The Town, but he should get used to saying, “it’s an honor just to be nominated” for now. Sad to see one of the best supporting performances overlooked, however: Andrew Garfield for The Social Network, one of the big praises I’ve been singing for the movie.

Best Actress
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Rafe says: Yowza. If you really think about it, these are some tremendous performances. Normally I have trouble thinking of five nominees, but this year I have trouble picking a winner from the nominees because they all really are impressive… except for Kidman. Sorry Nicole, but you don’t belong here.

Best Actor
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours

Rafe says: It’s great to see Bridges name here for the second year in a row, but I figure he shouldn’t prepare too much of a speech. My money is on Colin Firth, who has been walking away with other awards as well for his excellent stammering performance. Eisenberg could prove an upset, although I’d be very disappointed if that were to happen, since his performance in Social Network is pretty much what he’s done elsewhere.

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
David O. Russell- The Fighter
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
David Fincher- The Social Network
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit

Rafe says: Apparently Inception was one of this year’s most impressive films without a director, as Christopher Nolan is once again overlooked by the Academy. The truth is that members of the Academy were afraid Nolan would implant a vote for his movie into their dreams, so they rubbed him off the ballot entirely. Sorry Nolan, your time will come some day.

Best Animated Picture
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Rafe says: There were other animated movies this year besides Toy Story? Seriously, Disney/Pixar has some stiff competition from Dragon, but I would still expect Woody and Buzz to walk away with the prize… unless Academy members wind up having trouble seeing through the tears and vote for the wrong picture.

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Rafe says: There are a lot of very good movies in this list, but only a few great ones. The Social Network has walked away with the lion’s share of prizes this year and Oscar night probably won’t be any different. We can hope, however, because The King’s Speech really is a better film, and I always carry the secret hope that an animated picture will sweep in as a surprise winner, reminding everyone that it’s an art form and not limited just to an audience of kids.

And then there are the awards that are more focused in specific areas, and wind up getting overlooked by a lot of people. Here we include these nominations, although we don’t have specific commentary on all of them.

Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh – Another Year
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Story by Keith Dorrington, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson- The Fighter
Christopher Nolan – Inception
Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg- The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler – The King’s Speech

Adapted Screenplay
Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy – 127 Hours
Aaron Sorkin- The Social Network
Michael Arndt, Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich – Toy Story 3
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen- True Grit
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini- Winter’s Bone

Cinematography
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Film Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Music – Original Score
John Powell – How to Train Your Dragon
Hans Zimmer – Inception
Alexandre Desplat – The King’s Speech
A.R. Rahman – 127 Hours
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – The Social Network

Music – Original Song
“Coming Home” – Country Strong
“I See the Light” – Tangled
“If I Rise” – 127 Hours
“We Belong Together” – Toy Story 3

Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Sound Mixing
Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

Makeup
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Animated Short Film
“Day & Night”
“The Gruffalo”
“Let’s Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)”

Live Action Short Film
“The Confession”
“The Crush”
“God of Love”
“Na Wewe”
“Wish 143”

Documentary – Feature
Exit through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Documentary – Short
“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”

Foreign Language Film
Biutiful
Dogtooth
In a Better World
Incendies
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)