This week's Oscar ceremony promises to be a glittering occasion, but there are a few people watching from their sofas who really should have been suited and booted for the big evening. Michael Doherty reports
It promises to be an exciting Oscar contest on Sunday evening, with The Social Network having made all of the early running, The King's Speech coming late on the rails, and True Grit giving a very passable impression of a dark horse. While many of those who made their marks in 2010 (Colin, Natalie, Christian, Melissa, etc) have deservedly secured a nomination: there are a few glaring omissions. Leaving the technical snubs (eg Lee Smith for his superb editing work on Inception) aside, consider the following . . .
1. Ryan Gosling (Best Actor)
Blue Valentine was one of the most remarkable movies of the year featuring fearless, career-high performances from two of Hollywood's finest young actors, Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling. Williams duly gets her Osar nod but nothing for Gosling?
2. Christopher Nolan (Best Director)
We know that the Hollywood academy have infamously short memories and Inception made the mistake (in Oscar terms) of opening in July, but it's still a shock that such a brillliant, inventive movie should have been overlooked for a directorial nod.
3. Hailee Steinfeld (Best Actress)
Only a ''Supporting'' nod for a 13-year-old gal who occupies practically every frame of a superb movie and commands your attention while Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon chew the scenery and Roger Deakins fills the screen with images to die for? Travesty.
4. Lesley Manville (Best Actress)
Mike Leigh always manages to extract miraculous performances from his regular company of actors. In Another Year, he works the oracle again with Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen and Imelda Staunton. But it's Lesley Manville who delivers the socko performance as an ageing woman with too much drink and too little love in her life.
5. Matt Damon (Best Supporting Actor)
There is a lot of Oscar love for True Grit, and deservedly so, but none for Matt Damon who gives a terrifically layered performance as a vainglorious Texas Ranger.
6. Julianne Moore (Best Supporting Actress)
Another Blue Valentine scenario: how can you celebrate one superb performance from a movie and ignore another, when both are so intrinsically linked? Julianne must be miffed.
7. Justin Timberlake (Best Supporting Actor)
The Social Network is perhaps another victim of Hollywood's Goldfish Memory Syndrome. Jesse Eisenberg got his Oscar nod but there were a few supporting performances that caught the eye including Rooney Mara, Andrew Garfield and, most notable of all, Justin T, who was very good in the role of Napster founder Sean Parker.
8. Leap Year (Best Film)
Er, only joking.
