Best Picture

“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role

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

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actress in a Supporting Role

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

Directing

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

Animated Feature Film

“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2” Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
“Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction

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

Cinematography

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

Costume Design

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

Documentary (Feature) 

“Hell and Back Again” 
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” 
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” 
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Pina” 
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated” 
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject) 

“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” 
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis” 
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad” 
James Spione
“Saving Face” 
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” 
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing

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

Foreign Language Film

“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote” Israel
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran

Makeup

“Albert Nobbs”
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” 
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Iron Lady” 
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score) 

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

Music (Original Song) 

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

Short Film (Animated) 

“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action) 

“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju” Max Zahle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzo

Sound Editing

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

Sound Mixing

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

Visual Effects

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

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) 

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

Writing (Original Screenplay) 

“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

Another year, another round of disappointment for the Oscars.  I’m generally disappointed every year with either the Oscar nominations or the awards themselves, but I can’t help but get excited for the show every year. This year I wasn’t really surprised as I was expecting to see Hugo, The Artist, and the Descendants getting a lot of love. I was a little surprised when I saw that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close got both a Best picture and Best Supporting Actor nomination, and I suppose I can’t say I was expecting to see Tinker Taylor Solider Spy getting as much love as it did either. As expected Moneyball got several nominations that I didn’t support. Let me lay it out; I think Moneyball was a great movie with  a terrific  script,  a great lead,  and some really  beautiful cinematography(which it somehow didn’t get nominated for), but it really doesn’t deserve its nominations for best lead actor and best supporting actor. Firstly Brad Pitt played a far more complex and dynamic character in the Tree of Life; secondly Jonah Hill was not ever remotely exceptional in his role. He was decent for sure, but nothing even in the same ballpark as Oscar territory.  Why not replace Jonah Hill with someone who has been  underrated and unrecognized for his exceptional work in Mo-cap, Andy Serkis. Serkis did Gollum for Lord of the Rings and went unrecognized, and this year did one better when he played Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and was snubbed yet again. The man has done more extensive work than almost any other actor particularly when it comes to facial expressions and body language yet he is consistently over looked because he does not have a physical presence on the screen.

The other big disappointments I had was the lack of a best picture nomination for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the lack of nominations for Drive period. How can Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Moneyball, War Horse, and Midnight in Paris get nominations for best picture over Drive, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and heck; I’d even put Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in over these.  The best picture nominees this year are not what I was hoping with some really great movies getting snubbed. Albert Brooks should have nominated in best supporting actor over either Jonah Hill or Max von Sydow; Drive should have had a cinematography nomination, and lastly it should have been up for film editing. Talk about getting snubbed. Its just very funny because when Drive came out it was getting talked up from fans and critics all around the internet, but has now fallen to a mere sound editing nomination. That ridiculous. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at least got nominated for best lead actress with Rooney Mara,  cinematography, film editing, and sound mixing. Its mostly technical awards but its something. It should have been nominated for best adapted screenplay over The Ides of March and David Fincher should have been nominated  over Woody Allen for best director.

As a fan of Harry Potter; it would have been nice to see some sort of big nomination for the last film even if it was just to pay tribute to what the series has meant to cinema in the last 10 years. While I was disappointed with many of the nominations; I can honestly say that I haven’t seen a few of the heavyweights like Hugo, The Artist, The Descendants, and The Help. I try and see as many as I can every year and there are always a few that I miss out on. Between now and The Oscars I am hoping to catch Hugo, Tinker Taylor Solider Spy, and The Help so that I can be more prepared and well rounded in my opinions for the movies that were nominated. If I find an opportunity to see the Artist I’ll take it, but it seems pretty unlikely. Another year with more disappointments, but I’m still hopeful for a great show!

Check back a week before the Oscars when I give my predictions for who will win and my picks for who I want to win.