2010 at the Oscars was the year an old-fashioned tribute to pre-World War II British resolve beat the up-to-the-minute expose of the founding of modern social media to win the Best Picture Oscar.

What happened? Was it that the Academy refused to allow the preponderance of precursors to dictate their own choice or did they simply like the old-fashioned British film, The King’s Speech, better than they did The Social Network? We’ll probably never know. What we do know is that bringing in hot younger stars like James Franco and Anne Hathaway to host the Oscars does not make the show better, and does not bring in more viewers.

We also know the move to ten Best Picture nominees does not help the box office of the nominees. Given more choices to spend their entertainment dollars on, an unimpressed public will simply ignore most of them. Adhering to the adage that less is more, the Academy has scaled back the number of nominations for 2011 to “between five and ten”. In the meantime let’s take a last look at 2010’s top ten.

Nominated for twelve Oscars and winner of four, the greatest strength of Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech was its acting, and Colin Firth’s portrayal of England’s stuttering George VI was much admired even by those who were lukewarm on the film itself. Also scoring high with critics as well as audiences were the Oscar nominated performances of Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue and Helena Bonham Carter as George’s wife, Elizabeth, England’s long beloved “queen mum”. Also nominated for Best Cinematography; Editing; Art Direction; Costume Design; Score and Sound Mixing, it won for Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay in addition to Best Actor.

The handwriting should have been on the wall when Andrew Garfield’s critically lauded performance in David Fincher’s The Social Network failed to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. It was the first clue that the film most awarded by the precursors was not as loved by the Academy. It did score an otherwise acceptable seven nominations including three it won for Best Adapted Screenplay; Editing and Score. It was also nominated for Best Picture; Director; Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Sound Mixing.

The directors’ branch of the Academy may not love Christopher Nolan, but the screenwriters’ branch certainly does, bestowing him with his second nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Inception. As co-producer of the science fiction action film he also shared in the film’s nomination for Best Picture. Nominated for eight Oscars including Best Art Direction and Score, it won for Best Cinematography; Sound Mixing; Sound Editing and Visual Effects.

A rare remake to outperform the original at the Oscars, Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit scored an impressive ten Oscar nominations but no wins. Last year’s Best Actor winner Jeff Bridges was nominated for his take on Rooster Cogburn, the role that won John Wayne his only Oscar. Hailee Steinfeld did one better than Kim Darby in the 1969 version by scoring a nomination for her portrayal of the film’s protagonist, Mattie Ross. The film was also nominated for Best Picture; Director; Adapted Screenplay; Cinematography; Art Direction; Costume Design; Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

Nominated for seven Oscars, David O. Russell’s The Fighter won the supporting acting awards for Christian Bale as Mark Wahlberg’s punch-drunk older brother and Melissa Leo as his loud-mouthed manager mother. The film has also been nominated for Best Picture; Director; Original Screenplay; Editing and a second Best Supporting Actress nominee in Amy Adams as Wahlberg’s wife.

Natalie Portman danced away with the Best Actress Oscar for Darren Aronofsy’s dark ballet film, Black Swan. The film was also nominated for Best Picture; Director; Cinematography and Editing.

Nominated for four Oscars, Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right brought Annette Bening her fourth nomination as half of a lesbian couple that also included Julianne Moore. It also brought Mark Ruffalo his first, as well as nominations for Best Picture and Original Screenplay.

An atypical Oscar nominee, Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone probably benefitted most from the year’s ten Best Picture slate. The tale of a 17 year-old mountain girl who must find her missing father before his bail runs out and the house is foreclosed on, scored additional nods for Best Actress (newcomer Jennifer Lawrence); Supporting Actor (John Hawkes) and Adapted Screenplay.

Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours may have met with mixed critical reaction but you couldn’t tell that from the film’s six Oscar nominations which include Best Picture; Actor (James Franco); Adapted Screenplay; Editing; Score and Song (“If I Rise”).

The third time proved the charm for Pxar’s Toy Story franchise with Toy Story 2 which earned itself a Best Animated Feature Oscar as well as a Best Song award for Randy Newman’s “We Belong Together”. The film was also nominated for Best Picture; Adapted Screenplay and Sound Editing.

Other films Oscar liked this year included Rabbbit Hole; Blue Valentine; The Town and Animal Kingdom.

Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams both received Best Actress nominations for portraying women in crumbling marriages, Kidman in Rabbit Hoole opposite Aaron Eckhart and Williams in Blue Valentine opposite Ryan Gosling.

Jeremy Renner received his second acting nomination in a row, this time in the Best Supporting Actor category for The Town, Ben Affleck’s second foray into directing a major film.

Veteran Australian actress Jacki Weaver received a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her cunning grandmother in Animal Kingdom.

All films discussed have been released on DVD in the U.S.

This week’s new DVD releases include Sarah’s Key; The Devil’s Double and the Blu-ray debuts of Twelve Angry Men and Rushmore.