Awards 2011: Independent Spirit Award Nominations

That's right, it's awards season already. This year, things are kicked off with the Independent Spirit Award Nominations.

There are quite a few Oscar contenders on the list, which should make for an interesting show, since the Spirit Awards are the night before the Oscars.

Here are a few of the top categories:

Best Feature Film:

• "127 Hours"
• "Black Swan"
• "Greenberg"
• "The Kids Are All Right"
• "Winter's Bone"

Best Female Lead:

• Annette Bening-"The Kids Are All Right"
• Greta Gerwig-"Greenberg"
• Nicole Kidman-"Rabbit Hole"
• Jennifer Lawrence-"Winter's Bone"
• Natalie Portman-"Black Swan"
• Michelle Williams-"Blue Valentine"

Best Male Lead:

• Ronald Bronstein-"Daddy Longlegs"
• Aaron Eckhart-"Rabbit Hole"
• James Franco-"127 Hours"
• John C. Reilly-"Cyrus"
• Ben Stiller-"Greenberg"

Best Director:

• Darren Aronofsky-"Black Swan"
• Danny Boyle-"127 Hours"
• Lisa Cholodenko-"The Kids Are All Right"
• Debra Granik-"Winter's Bone"
• John Cameron Mitchell-"Rabbit Hole"

There's been a lot of early buzz around "Black Swan" so it's no surprise to see it on the list, but it's a little surprising that Mila Kunis didn't receive a nomination for supporting female.

Speaking of the supporting categories, there are a lot of big names nominated for films that I have honestly never heard of so I guess I've got some research to do before awards season gets in full swing.

As more critics associations announce their choices and some of the smaller releases are expanded into more theaters, look for us to go into full awards mode with predictions, spreadsheets and diagrams.