Hi Bryan Here…..

The 84th annual Academy Award nominations are in.  There are a couple of surprises that I was very happy to see on here and tons of disappointment.  It looks like the Academy went with 9 Best Picture noms this year rather than 10.  They also only went with 3 noms for make up which I can think of others, and only two for original song.  Was this a time issue, so that the event would be over on time for once rather than have all 5 songs being sung?  I don’t like it, but that’s how it is this year.  Below you will see each category with my thoughts.  Enjoy.

Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards

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

This is a great list minus “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”.  Why is “Another Earth”, “Drive”, and “Marth Marcy May Marlene” not on here?  “Moneyball” should not have been nominated for Best Picture.  Great to see “Tree of Life” on here and I think it should win, but it won’t.  And, I’m just saying, “Super 8” should definitely be on this list.  

Directing

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

Go Woody Allen!  That would be awesome if he won.  Also, Malick is a great choice.  Again, where is Nicolas Winding Refn for “Drive”.  He should have been on there.  Also Mike Cahill should have been nominated for “Another Earth”.

Actor in a Leading Role

Demián 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”

Okay, where is Ryan Gosling for “Drive” and Michael Parks for”Red State”.  And the big one, Andy Serkis did not get a nomination for ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’.  Not happy about this.

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”

Go Jonah Hill and Nick Nolte.  Both were amazing in their roles.  But they are missing Albert Brooks from ‘Drive’, Alan Rickman from Harry Potter 7, and William Mapother from “Another Earth’.  

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”

Great list here.  The usuals are on here.  But, the academy really fucked the ball here by not including Brit Marling for ‘Another Earth’ and Elizabeth Olsen for “Martha Marcy May Marlene’.  Those two need to be nominated, and I’m pissed they weren’t.

Actress in a Supporting Role

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

FUCK YES Melissa McCarthy!!  I so hope she wins.  That would be awesome.  If this were up to me, I would have nominated Elle Fanning for ‘Super8’ and Carey Mulligan for ‘Drive’.

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

Goooooo Rango!!  But no ‘TinTin’ or Winnie The Pooh??  For Shame!

Foreign Language Film

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

WHAT THE FUCK?  No ‘Trollhunter’.  Again, for shame.

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

Good list.  ‘Harry Potter’ should have been on here though.

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 Farhad

Hooray for ‘Midnight in Paris’, and ‘Bridesmaids’.  I hope either of those two win.  Secretly wishing ‘Bridesmaids’ would win.

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: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

‘Tree of Life’ should have been nominated.

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 Kaminsk

‘Another Earth’, ‘Super 8’, ‘Drive’, and ‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’ should have been on here.  

Costume Design

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

Go ‘Anonymous’.  I secretly wish James Gunn’s ‘Super’ was nominated for this category.

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

I’m all in for Paradise Lost 3, but that film is close to my heart. But why wasn’t ‘Project Nim’ nominated?  Shameful.

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

Have not seen any of these.

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

“Moneyball”?  Really?  No way.  Come on.  ‘Drive’ and ‘Red State’ was way better.

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

Really?  Only 3 noms.  Add to this ‘Super 8’ and ‘Drive’.

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

Decent selection, but ‘Super 8’ should have been nominated.

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

YES!!!!  ‘Muppets’ were nominated.  I hope the muppets make an appearance at the Oscars.  Go Muppets!!!

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

Have not seen any of these.

Short Film (Live Action)

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

Have not seen any of these.

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

WTF!!! No Harry Potter or ‘Super 8’?  Ridiculous.

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

Again, like above, Harry Potter and ‘Super 8’ should have been included here.

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

Good list here, but again ‘Super 8’ should have been nominated.

All in all, tons of films got snubbed that shouldn’t have.  But that goes the academy.  Be sure to tune in right here for my annual live coverage on Oscar Night.

Your thoughts?