Critics Choice Award Nominations for 2010

Director Darren Aronofsky's ballet drama "Black Swan", starring Natalie Portman, led all other film contenders for the Critics' Choice Movie Awards with a record 12 nominations on Monday, among them best picture and actress.

The films nominated for best-picture were:
- Aronofsky's ballet drama "Black Swan"
- the survival story "127 Hours"
- the boxing saga "The Fighter"
- the sci-fi smash "Inception"
- the British monarchy tale "The King's Speech"
- the Facebook chronicle "The Social Network"
- the heist thriller "The Town"
- the animated blockbuster "Toy Story 3"
- the Western remake of "True Grit"
- the Ozarks crime yarn "Winter's Bone"

Aronofsky previously directed the amazing films Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Fountain (2006), and The Wrestler (2008).

Natalie Portman [photo rt] was discovered at a Long Island laundromat one weekend with her mon at age 12 by a model agent, who sent her to an agency on a Monday for a fashion shoot; she was immediately sent to audition for Luc Besson's film "The Professional", and got the starring role without any prior experience. She is best-known for later starring in the second Star Wars trilogy, and was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar® for the romantic drama Closer, which also starred Julia Roberts, Jude Law, and Clive Owen.

The awards are presented by the 250 members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and the 16th annual awards will be given out on January 14th in a ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, with VH1 airing the show live.

For my money, these awards often better the Academy Awards by selecting less popular but more worthy films.

For best director, Aronofsky is up against Danny Boyle for "127 Hours"; Joel and Ethan Coen for "True Grit"; David Fincher for "The Social Network"; Tom Hooper for "The King's Speech"; and Christopher Nolan for "Inception." These are all good directors. I feel that Aronofsky and Christopher Nolan are the best two directors of the new century.

Nolan's biggest prior films are Following, Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. Memento and Dark Knight are already on many "all-time best" film polls, including the top 250 at Internet Movie Database, where both are in the top 30.

David Fincher made the popular Fight Club, The Game, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He once said "I make comedies - why does no one laugh in the theater?" Personally, I laughed throughout Fight Club while the other filmgoers kept looking at me - they obviously didn't 'get' the director.
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