Local Restaurant Owner Scores Oscar Nomination

Local restaurant owner Sandra Bullock (Bess Bistro) scored an Oscar nomination this morning for her performance in the sports drama The Blind Side. Bullock has already won a Golden Globe, a Broadcast Film Critics Award, and several other critics' group awards for her performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy. The Austin Film Critics Association gave their Best Actress award to Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds), who is not nominated for an Oscar ... well, I suspect our demographic makeup is different than the Academy's. The Blind Side, written and directed by Longview native John Lee Hancock, also received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. I reviewed the movie for Cinematical last year.

Bullock isn't the only Austin representative in the Oscar nominees today. Local musician Ryan Bingham teamed up with T-Bone Burnett on the song "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart, which received a nomination for Best Original Song. I'm not seeing any other local connections but if I missed something, please let me know. ETA: Victor Diaz reminds me that Wes Anderson is a UT grad and Houston native, and his fantastic movie Fantastic Mr. Fox is up for Best Animated Feature. The Academy Award ceremony takes place on March 7.

It's only fair to mention that Sandra Bullock was also nominated in two categories for the Razzies, the group that votes on the worst movies of the year, which announced its nominations yesterday. Her performance in All About Steve won her Razzie nominations for Worst Actress and Worst Screen Couple (along with Bradley Cooper). Fortunately, that appears to be the only Austin connection in the Razzies this year.

Why yes, I have been dying to write this headline for months, ever since I thought of it. So glad you noticed.