Obviously the 12 Oscar nominations gathered this morning by The King’s Speech (and congrats to everyone concerned) suggests that the Spirit of 1993 is alive and well among Academy members. Usually any film with that many nominations tends to be considered the Best Picture frontrunner. But is it? Is The King’s Speech a skilled surfer riding a perfect wave, or is it a boogie board coasting along on whitewash? Is there a way to spin this, or should I just face facts and give up?

I need to accept and deal wiith what’s happened but…but…wow, I don’t feel so good. I like and admire The King’s Speech — it’s a very stirring and well-made film — but at the same time I feel like Milan Kundera did when the Soviet tanks rumbled into Prague. And standing next to the turret on the tank at the head of formation are Dave Karger, Anne Thompson, Peter Howell and their allies, all wearing Soviet military uniforms and beaver hats.

Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay wins for David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin aside, is the Social Network actually going to get attaboyed-but-no-cigared by the rank and file? Maybe I should take a walk or do a half-hour on the treadmill and work off some of the gloom.

Congrats all the same to producer Scott Rudin for the 18 nominations that his two films have gathered — 8 that went to The Social Network and 10 collected by True Grit.

Who would’ve predicted last summer that Inception‘s Christopher Nolan would get shafted on a Best Director Oscar nomination? That film was such a stunning vision, but I guess too many people were just confused by it. I understand what happened and don’t dispute the nominating of Black Swan‘s Darren Aronofsky, True Grit‘s Joel and Ethan Coen, The Fighter‘s David O. Russell and The King’s Speech‘s Tom Hooper. But it just feels unjust on some level. Is it because Nolan, a somewhat dry and circumspect fellow, didn’t schmooze around?

HE’s hearty congrats to Javier Bardem for his Best Actor nomination, just announced, for his highly exceptional performance in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s Biutiful. (I did what I could to push for this, and so did Steve Pond, Dave Karger, Julia Roberts, Ben Affleck, etc.)

And to Inarritu and the Roadside Attractions team for their Best Foreign Language Feature Oscar nomination.

And I need to say it again — poor Lesley Manville. We all knew weeks ago that the Another Year costar wouldn’t make the Best Actress cut, but I still feel badly for her. If she’d been put into Best Supporting Actress contention, I think she might have beaten out The King’s Speech‘s Helena Bonham Carter . But slaphappy hugs for The Fighter‘s Amy Adams and Melissa Leo for their nominations in this category. And to True Grit‘s Hailee Steinfeld and Animal Kingdom‘s Jacki Weaver.

Wait…Amir Bar Lev‘s The Tillman Story, Alex Gibney‘s Client 9 and Davis Guggenhiem‘s Waiting for Superman didn’t get nominated for Best Feature Doc Oscar? And Lucy Walker‘s Wasteland (a.k.a. “the garbage movie”) and Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic‘s Gasland did? Along with Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger‘s Restrepo?

But congrats to the Exit From The Gift Shop guys (Banksy, John Sloss, Jaimie D’Cruz) for their nomination in this realm, and especially to Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs‘ Inside Job, which will almost certainly win now, I think.

Get Low‘s Robert Duvall was denied a Best Actor nomination. The Social Network‘s Andrew Garfield was stiffed in the Best Suporting Actor category. And Mila Kunis didn’t make the Best Supporting Actress list.