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Arts & Entertainment

Academy Awards Cheat Sheet: Best Picture Cram Sessions, Trivia and More

Everything you need to get ready for next Sunday's telecast

Since the move to 10 Best Picture nominees last year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been able to highlight even more deserving performances from the world's great actors and filmmakers.

This year is no different, as the Best Picture field is incredibly diverse, featuring films like the somewhat-true story of the 19-year old who created the most profitable website on the planet (The Social Network), a gritty tale of a troubled boxer and his more troubled family (The Fighter), a familiar gang animated toys learning how to move on (Toy Story 3), a daughter searching for her meth-addicted father (Winter's Bone) and a band of "dream stealers" (Inception), just to name a few.

And The Nominees Are...
For those who haven't been obsessively following the results of the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and countless other award ceremonies (also known as those of you who have a life), here's a refresher on which films and performers are in the running to take home a coveted gold statue:

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

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

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Documentary
Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz
Gasland, Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
Inside Job, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Waste Land, Lucy Walker and Angus Aynley

Best Foreign Film
Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) (Algeria)
Incendies (Canada)
In a Better World (Denmark)
Dogtooth (Greece)
Biutiful (Mexico)

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

Best Original Song
“Coming Home,” Country Strong, Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light,” Tangled, Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
“If I Rise,” 127 Hours, A.R. Rahman, Dido, Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together,” Toy Story 3, Randy Newman

How to see them:
With winter break upon us, why not use the week before the 83rd annual Academy Awards to see all ten of the Best Picture nominees? 127 Hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, The King's Speech and True Grit are still playing in a theaters in our area (including Hawthorne's All Westchester Saw Mill Multiplex) while Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The Social Network, Toy Story 3 and Winter's Bone are available on Blu-ray and DVD.

If you'd rather see all 10 of these contenders on the big screen, AMC Pictures is hosting its annual Best Picture Showcase at participating theaters in our area. Beginning Saturday, moviegoers have been able to see all 10 films on the big screen in two day increments (that's five films a day), or all at once in the 10 film, 24-hour marathon held on February 26. Tickets come with $10 worth of AMC concessions and the ability to say you stayed overnight in a movie theater. Participating AMC theaters in our area include the Palisades Center, Danbury and Kips Bay in Manhattan.

Trivia:
Sure, seeing the films is the first step, but there are also plenty of Oscar tidbits gleaned from this year's list of nominees. Read on to help boost your trivia score and beef up your conversation bag at various Oscar parties this season.

  • Nominated for Best Actor for his role in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful, a win would make Javier Bardem the sixth perfomer in history to receive an acting award for a non-English speaking role, joining Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, 2007), Benicio del Toro (Traffic, 2000), Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful, 1998), Robert De Niro (The Godfather Part II, 1974), and Sophia Loren (Two Women, 1961).
  • True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld could join the likes of Tatum O'Neal and Anna Paquin, becoming the third youngest Best Supporting Actress winner. The Coen Brothers' scene stealer just turned 14-years old in December.
  • While Best Actress contender Annette Bening has received four Oscar nominations (The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia, The Kids Are All Right), the actress has yet to take home a golden statue. 
  • Natalie Portman recently revealed she is expecting her first child, which could help her take home her first Best Actress award for her role as ballerina Nina Sayers in Black Swan. Some superstitious film buffs believe pregnancy to be a good luck charm, as Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront), Meryl Streep (Sophie's Choice), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) and Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago) all took home Oscars with a baby on the way.

The 83rd Academy Awards will air on Sunday February 27, 2011 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.

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