The Oscar Nominations were announced this morning in Hollywood. The Oscars ceremony has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, with director Brett Ratner and host Eddie Murphy quitting. But all’s well now, as we will see Billy Crystal hosting the awards show after a long gap. It will surely be a good show nonetheless, when the show airs from the Kodak theatre on Feb 23. Until then, have a look at the full list of nominees, and our take on it. We have serious issues with some inclusions, and more so, with some obvious exclusions. Go on, hit the jump!
Our predicted winners are marked. [X], (These are what we think the winners will be, not the winners we think should be. )
Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
War Horse [X]
Moneyball
The Tree Of Life
The Help
Midnight In Paris
Hugo
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
Best Actor
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
George Clooney (The Descendants) [X]
Demian Bachir (A Better Life)
Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Best Actress
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) [X]
Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)
Viola Davis (The Help)
Rooney Mara (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh (My Week With Marilyn)
Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
Nick Nolte (Warrior)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners) [X]
Max Von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)
Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bijou (The Artist)
Jessica Chastain (The Help)
Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
Octavia Spencer (The Help) [X]
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo) [X]
Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)
Terrence Malick (The Tree Of Life)
Animated Feature
A Cat In Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss In Boots
Rango [X]
Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo [X]
Midnight In Paris
War Horse
Cinematography
The Artist
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [X]
Hugo
The Tree Of Life
War Horse
Costume Design
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E. [X]
Documentary Feature
Hell And Back Again
If A Tree Falls Short: A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated
Documentary Short
The Barber Of Birmingham: Foot Soldier Of The Civil Rights Movement
God Is The Bigger Elvis
Incident In New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom
Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [X]
Hugo
Moneyball
Foreign Language Film
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
A Separation [X]
Music (Score)
The Adventures Of Tintin
The Artist
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse [X]
Music (Song)
The Muppets [X]
Rio
Short Film (animated)
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
Short Film (live action)
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic
Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
War Horse [X]
Sound Mixing
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo [X]
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
War Horse
Visual Effects
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo [X]
Real Steel
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
Writing (Adapted)
The Descendants
Hugo [X]
The Ides Of March
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Writing (original)
The Artist [X]
Bridesmaids
Margin Call
Midnight In Paris
A Separation
Thoughts on the Nominations:
Inclusions: The Academy seems to be extremely impressed with a movie called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Currently it holds a 48% rating on RT, and 6.2 on imdb. For an annoying movie which was clearly made with an intention of being Oscar bait, it is equally annoying to see it in the 10 film nominations. Speaking of Oscar bait, who knows it better than Spielberg, and his underwhelming and soppy War Horse is a clear example of that. I just hope none of them win.
Glad to see the other deserving ones in the list such as - The Artist, Descendants, Moneyball, and The Help. And also deserving nods to the actors who showed their craft in these amazing movies. Pleasantly surprised to see Gary Oldman in the list of Best Actors for Tinker Taylor, and am very happy for Rooney Mara (Girl with Dragon tattoo).
Exclusions: This is where it gets really pissing me off. Obvious ones – Brendan Gleeson (The Guard), Michael Fassbender (Shame), Charlize Theron (Young Adult), Joseph Gordon Levitt (50-50), and Ryan Goslin (Ides of March) – all deserved a nomination, but the Academy thought otherwise. And what is with the no love for Drive in any of the sections. There are 9 nominees, so there was indeed space for one more. WTF AMPAS? And why isn’t Senna nominated for Best Documentary? Have mixed feelings about Tintin getting the snub in the animation category, but this leaves a better change for Rango to win. And thank you for not nominating Madonna.
Let’s talk some stats:
The number of nominations for the Best Movie category:
Hugo – 11
The Artist - 10
Moneyball – 6
War Horse – 6
The Descendants – 5
The Help – 4
Midnight In Paris – 4
The Tree of Life – 3
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close - 1
We’ll review the winners, when the envelopes are opened on Feb 23rd.
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