Nominees for the British Academy Film Awards have been announced, and quite a few Oscar contenders made the cut. The Help, Attack the Block and Shame are all in the running for top awards in England's version of the Oscars, an important benchmark in the race to the Academy Awards.
Oscar favorite The Help is up for Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Leading Actress for Viola Davis and Supporting Actress nods for Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer.

Steve McQueen's gritty drama Shame is up for Outstanding British Film.
Attack the Block, the alien invasion indie that was the talk of Hollywood last year, nabbed a nomination for Outstanding Debut by a British Director (Joe Cornish), but lead actor John Boyega was curiously left out of the running for the Rising Star award. With his plate full of high-profile upcoming projects, perhaps he'll be up for Best Actor next year.

Another British hottie, Idris Elba, is increasing his chances for a BAFTA nod next January by sheer volume of work. The recent Golden Globe winner (for his television detective drama Luther) is keeping busy with a slew of new projects, including a just-announced reprisal of his character Heimdall, a Norse god, in Thor 2, a possible cameo in Marvel's The Avengers, a lead in Guillermo del Toro's monsters versus machines epic Pacific Rim, and parts in Prometheus and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Not exactly awards-bait kind of roles, but we have faith in the Wire actor to turn studio chum into little gold statues.
For a complete list of nominees, courtesy of Indiewire.com's Shadow and Act, click here.

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