And The Nominees Are…

Artists, and War Horses, and Descendants! Oh my!

Another year has passed, and it’s time for Hollywood’s old Dog-and-Pony Show to celebrate those they deem worthy with The 84th Annual Academy Awards. Outside of a few notable surprises, we have the usual rabble we’ve come to expect being honored this year. The likes of Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Martin Scorsese, and Woody Allen are all represented in their respective categories. Let’s peruse the list and see what’s happening.

Hugo leads the charge with eleven nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The surprise hit, The Artist, follows close behind with ten nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Alas, no Supporting Actor nod for everybody’s canine sweetheart, Uggie the dog. Better luck next year, Uggie! The rest of the pack received a fairly even distribution, with Moneyball and War Horse getting a respectable six nominations each, whilst The Help and Midnight in Paris each received four nominations, and others following suit.

Oscar decided to play it sassy this year, only nominating nine films in the Best Picture category. I guess five is too old school and ten is too cliche. They also showed signs of progression with nominees such as Bridesmaids, which has been bestowed with nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay. This means that even the Academy appreciates a disgusting defecation joke every now and then. However, they also showed signs of playing it safe, such as nominating Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close for Best Picture. Because cloying sentimentality never goes out of style.

But who are we kidding? The Academy Awards aren’t really about who wins and who loses. It’s about seeing glamourous stars dolled up and dressed to the nines, walking the red carpet, and posing for photos. It’s about people getting together with family or friends and watching the show unfold, whether it’s a host proving their worth, or two co-hosts repeatedly embarrassing themselves. It’s about being entertained for a few hours, and being reminded of all the films we could’ve seen, but probably opted to wait for on Netflix instead.

Here’s the full list of the nominees:

BEST PICTURE

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

BEST DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Demian Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

A Cat In Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss In Boots
Rango

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Annie Mumulo & Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball
Bridget O’ Connor & Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Guillaume Schiffman, The Artist
Jeff Cronenweth, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Robert Richardson, Hugo
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
Janusz Kaminski, War Horse

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

John Williams, The Adventures of Tintin
Ludovic Bource, The Artist
Howard Shore, Hugo
Alberto Iglesias, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
John Williams, War Horse

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Man or Muppet” Music and Lyrics by Bret McKenzie, The Muppets
“Real in Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown & Lyrics by Siedah Garrett, Rio

BEST MAKE-UP

Martial Corneville & Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle, Albert Nobbs
Nick Dudman & Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, The Iron Lady

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Lisy Christi, Anonymous
Mark Bridges, The Artist
Sandy Powell, Hugo
Michael O’ Connor, Jane Eyre
Arianne Phillips, W.E.

BEST FILM EDITING

Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Kevin Tent, The Descendants
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo
Christopher Tellefsen, Moneyball

BEST SOUND EDITING

Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis, Drive
Ren Klyce, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty, Hugo
Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom, War Horse

BEST SOUND MIXING

David Parker & Michael Semanick & Ren Klyce and Bo Persson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley, Hugo
Deb Adair & Ron Bochar & Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick, Moneyball
Greg P. Russell & Gary Summers & Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Gary Rydstrom & Andy Nelson & Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson, War Horse

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Tim Burke & David Vickery & Greg Butler and John Richardson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Rob Legato & Joss Williams & Ben Grossman and Alex Henning, Hugo
Erik Nash & John Rosengrant & Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg, Real Steel
Joe Letteri & Dan Lemmon & R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett, Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Scott Farrar & Scott Benza & Matthew Butler and John Frazier, Transformers: Dark of the Moon

BEST ART DIRECTION

Production Design: Laurence Bennett, Set Decoration: Robert Gould, The Artist
Production Design: Stuart Craig, Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo, Hugo
Production Design: Anne Siebel, Set Decoration: Helene Dubreuil, Midnight in Paris
Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales, War Horse

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE