Oscar Snubs: Still No Love for Christopher Nolan?

Jan. 25, 2011— -- The Oscar nominations have been announced and, as is often the case, the more interesting story is not who's in but who's out.

The biggest snub -- Christopher Nolan being left off the list for best director -- sparked a Twitter outrage Tuesday.

His summer blockbuster "Inception" received a total of eight Academy Award nominations, including two for Nolan in the original screenplay and best picture categories. Nolan also wrote and produced the film.

But "Inception" didn't just direct itself. And after Nolan was snubbed for both 2000's "Memento" and 2008's "The Dark Knight," fans were starting to wonder what it takes for Nolan to get some Oscar love.

"You have to wonder whether the Academy has it in him for a little bit," Patricia Chui, editor-in-chief of Moviefone.com, told ABCNews.com.

Though the Director's Guild of America nominated Nolan for directing "Inception," Academy voters have not followed suit. All the other 2011 DGA nominees -- Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan"), David Fincher ("The Social Network"), David O. Russell ("The Fighter") and Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech") -- received Oscar nods. But "True Grit" directors Joel and Ethan Coen beat out Nolan for the fifth slot.

The complaints are already pouring in to Twitter.

One person tweeted: "Hey Academy...who incepted your minds with the idea that Christopher Nolan didn't deserve to be nominated for Best Director this year!? WTF!"

Another chimed in: "No best director nomination for Christopher Nolan = No Oscars this year."

Here are six other surprising snubs from this year's Oscar nominations:

Mark Wahlberg

Many saw this one coming, but when Mark Wahlberg, the star of "The Fighter," was -- excuse the pun -- knocked out of the best actor competition, it still hurt.

Never mind that three of his co-stars -- Amy Adams as his girlfriend; Melissa Leo, who played his mother; and Christian Bale, as his brother Dicky -- received nominations in the supporting actress and actor categories. Wahlberg was the odd man out.

"Not that he wasn't great," Chui said about Wahlberg. "But Christian Bale is the one people are talking about more. He had the flashier role."

Oscar Snubs and Surprises

Javier Bardem was the surprise nominee in the best actor category. And the fact that he earned his nomination in the Spanish-language film "Biutiful," which also snagged a best foreign film spot for Mexico, is even more surprising.

But Wahlberg can take heart. As producer of "The Fighter," he could be collecting a prize if the film wins for best picture.

Or as Leo, who won the Golden Globe for her role as Wahlberg's mother, told "GMA" Tuesday: "Mark Wahlberg, one of the most generous, most beautiful people I've ever met, is receiving all sorts of nominations right now. Every nomination is a nomination for Mark Wahlberg."

Ryan Gosling

Another actor many say was snubbed this year is Ryan Gosling for his performance in the marriage drama "Blue Valentine."

Gosling's co-star, Michelle Williams, got a much-deserved spot in the best actress category, but Gosling, her on-screen husband, did not.

"How can you award one without the other?" Chui said. The movie is a performance of two actors in tandem with each other. Each performance is so dependent on the other. Personally I would have loved to see him nominated."

Mila Kunis and Andrew Garfield

Though she shared the screen with Natalie Portman in one of the most talked-about sex scenes this year, "Black Swan" co-star Mila Kunis was overlooked by the Academy in the supporting actress category.

Kunis, who prepared for the role as intensely as Portman did -- dropping 20 pounds to a dangerously low 95 pounds -- earned nods from the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Awards, but was denied the chance for Oscar gold.

"Swan" is obviously Portman's movie -- she received a nomination for best actress -- but some think Barbara Hershey, as her manic mother, should also have been nominated for best supporting actress.

Like Kunis, Andrew Garfield, who played Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's business partner in "The Social Network," earned a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor, but he was overlooked by SAG.

Reading those tea leaves, some surmised rightly that he would be excluded from Oscar. Still, many consider it a snub, since "Social Network" got eight nominations, behind "The King's Speech" (12) and "True Grit" (10).

Garfield is already moving on. The 27-year-old actor has stepped into his first a starring role, taking over the "Spider-Man" franchise from Tobey Maguire.

Lisa Cholodenko

Where have all the women directors gone?

Kathryn Bigelow may have made history last year as the first female to win a best director Oscar, but this year it's back to the all boys club.

Lisa Cholodenko's little film that could, "The Kids Are All Right," earned four nominations. Star Annette Bening and co-star Mark Ruffalo secured spots in the acting categories. Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg were nominated for best originial screenplay, and the film is up for best picture.

Not only was Cholodenko overlooked for best director but her other star, Julianne Moore, who helped shepherd the project and even brought in Bening, was excluded from the nominations. That seemed to hurt Cholodenko more.

"There was no way that I could have made this film without her," Cholodenko told the New York Times. "I choose to share this best picture nomination with her. It's really due to her commitment to the project and what she gave to it and in it."

Another female director not nominated was Debra Granik for the indie "Winter's Bone," about a teenage girl's search for her father in the drug-infested Ozarks. The film received a best picture nod and acting nominations for 20-year-old star Jennifer Lawrence and co-star John Hawkes. Granik and co-writer Anne Rosellini were also nominated for best adapted screenplay.

Though this year's list for best director is a strong one, Moviefone's Chui said it's still disappointing not to see either Granik's or Cholodenko's name included. "It does show we have a way to go," she said. "Last year's win doesn't necessarily mean the game has changed."

The same could be said for overall diversity among the nominees this year. After last year's "Precious," which saw wins for best adapted screenplay and Mo'nique for best supporting actress, there is a noticable absence of color.

"It really is a white person's list," Chui said. "It's just striking compared to last year."

'Waiting for 'Superman''

Many were surprised when "Waiting for 'Superman,'" the feature-length documentary about America's ailing educational system, was left off the list for best documentary.

After all, this film comes with a pedigree. David Guggenheim, who won the 2009 Oscar for Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," directed "Superman." Some would argue that "Superman" was too overtly political, but Chui believes the documentary category, which had a strong list of contenders this year, marches to its own drummer.

"It's always a little bit odd," she said. "There have been many years in which the most talked about documentaries are not even nominated. Overall, I'm not surprised that there's a surprise here."

The Town

Ben Affleck's heist thriller, "The Town," was widely praised when it came out, but was absent from many critics' lists in recent months.

Still, some say it was overlooked by Academy voters and Chui thinks it would have been included if not for "127 Hours," which she called "a little bit of a surprise."

"That was the wild card spot," she said.

"The Town" wasn't completely shut out, however. Star Jeremy Renner, fresh off his "Hurt Locker" nomination, received a nod for best supporting actor.

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