Reznor Oscar nom

THE UPWARD SPIRAL: We’re huge fans of The Social Network and hope it wins big at the Oscars (though we suspect the Academy voters will feel more comfortable with a conventional movie about a king than a thoroughly modern one about a geek). Of the David Fincher film’s eight nominations, none is more deserving than that for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ darkly beautiful, richly evocative original score. There’s an excellent breakdown of the Original Score and Original Song nominees in this morning’s L.A. Times, with a primary focus on the Nine Inch Nails frontman, whose darkly imaginative sensibility meshed perfectly with the director’s. Reznor and Ross are up against veteran film composers Alexandre Desplat (The King's Speech), John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon), A.R. Rahman (127 Hours) and Hans Zimmer (Inception) in what could be seen as a microcosm of this years Oscar field as a whole. The duo, whose score won a Golden Globe, will work with Fincher again on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. (1/26a)