General Discussion

Hollywood got up early this morning, took a big swig of some very expensive coffee, flung it in the face of the production intern who served it to them way too hot, then eventually got around to announcing the nominees for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. Most of the movies you'd expect to see on there--The Artist, The Descendants, The Help, The Tree of Life, War Horse--are exactly where you'd expect them to be. Few notable surprises showed up, save for the nomination of Demian Bichir in the indie drama A Better Life for Best Actor, and the crazy amount of love the Academy decided to fling in the direction of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Or, well, I guess some people were surprised by that last one. I wasn't. Of course that movie got nominated for best picture. It's practically search engine optimized for Oscar gold. They might as well have called it: 9/11 Tragedy Young Boy Autistic Search for Humanity Sandra Bullock Crying Mute Grandfather Tom Hanks Viola Davis Also Crying Give It a Fucking Oscar Already.

There were a few other odd picks in the various categories, but less surprising and more disappointing are the many, many snubs of movies we here at Screened liked quite a bit. Drive was nearly shut out, save for a Sound Editing nomination, meaning Albert Brooks will probably have to stab somebody. Bridesmaids picked up a screenplay nomination, and Melissa McCarthy surprisingly (and delightfully) got a Best Supporting Actress nomination, but Kristen Wiig missed out on an Actress nom, and it didn't make it into the Best Picture field, because it's a mainstream comedy and heaven forbid such rabble ever worm its way into such a prestigious category.

In Best Actress, assumed shoe-in Elizabeth Olsen was snubbed, despite her great work in Martha Marcy May Marlene. In Best Actor, the brilliant campaign to bring Andy Serkis a statue for his various monkey movements in Rise of the Planet of the Apes was sadly dashed, as was the hope for Michael Fassbender to get a nomination for any of his great performances last year, including his Fassboner-bearing role in Shame. And though pretty much everyone saw this coming, the documentary EVERY CRITIC LOVED last year, The Interrupters, was ignored in the Best Documentary category.

More bizarre than sad are the Best Song and Best Animated feature categories. Best song is literally two nominees long, and just features a song from The Muppets and a song from, of all movies, Rio. Animated film has five nominees, including two foreign entries that I'm guessing no one over here has ever seen. Unfortunately, because apparently the Academy hasn't quite figured out how to parse that whole motion capture animation thing, The Adventures of Tintin was ignored here, as was the Oscar Nominated for Best Song Rio (not that it really needed to be there). Thank god Kung Fu Panda 2 got its much-deserved nomination, however.

Anyway, full list of nominees below. What are you excited/disappointed about?

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

• 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"

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

• Bérénice 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

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

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: Hélène 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 Zähle and Stefan Gieren
• "The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
• "Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
• "Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø

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

Hate to be "that guy" but Melissa McCarthy totally got a much deserved Best Supporting Actress nomination. That and Jonah Hill's nom for Moneyball were probably the best things about these announcements. It was all pretty expected but 50/50 really, really could have used some love.

Oh and no Albert Brooks? Fuuuuuck that.

I really thought JGL was at least going to get a nomination for Best Actor for 50/50. I'm sure the other actor did great jobs, but that was my favorite performance of the year. Maybe it just proves that pube shaving jokes in trailer = no oscars, not even a nomination. Although shitting in a sink does, hmm.

That's it. I'm done with awards shows forever. Albert Brooks got SNUBBED.

Good to see Bret McKenzie get nominated for one of his songs from The Muppets. Those song numbers really worked well in that movie.

The only real surprise was seeing Melissa McCarthy's nomination for Bridesmaids. She totally deserves it, but I didn't think a role like that would be something the Academy would notice.

Bummed about lack of Brooks, Fassbender and Swinton. Psyched about Oldman and Nolte. Im surprised that 9 movies got enough votes to get nominated, considering the new rules. Indicates that the race is probably closer than most seem to think.

It's kind of neat that Demian Bichir managed to slip under the radar for A Better Life. It never came to the multiplex, but I managed to catch it at the sketchy dollar theater on 50 cent Tuesdays. This one is definitely worth checking out if you have the chance.

comeon, we could have gotten more Muppets songs in there.

And wtf, Rango came out LAST year?? God damn, it feels like that movie came out a least TWO years ago.

Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? That's... kinda odd since he didn't really do much. And best adapted screenplay for Tinker Tailor as well? Well, color me surprised because I for one think that movie was unnecessarily confusing.

I'm also kinda bummed out about Drive but I kinda saw that one coming but the many nominations for Tree of Life is a consolation.

@lipp18 said:

comeon, we could have gotten more Muppets songs in there.

And wtf, Rango came out LAST year?? God damn, it feels like that movie came out a least TWO years ago.

Rango out in 2011.....

Disappointed that Drive didn't get much, Fassbender either but I suppose that is the ways the Oscars go.

Who votes for Best Animated feature, because if it is only the animators you guys can bet that no motion captured movie will be on it , I maybe wrong but I think there is still some tension from animators regarding motion capture because there work is being devalued or am I just talking nonsense? anyone has some insight on this ?

Am I crazy or did the Sarah Palin documentary actually get nominated? Did I actually read that?

@Korg: Yeah, I think in looking through the other Bridesmaids snubs, I just assumed. I'm half-awake and missing coffee thus far, but my bad. I fixed the text.

I'm realllly happy for Gary Oldman's nomination. Loved his perfomance, the guy is a chamaeleon! And I agree with Alex: Extremely loud & incredibly close is just Extremely manipulative and incredibily annoying.

@Bmccann42: Actually, it's a DIFFERENT documentary called Undefeated, believe it or not. Not the Sarah Palin one.

Thanks Alex, that is a huge weight off my mind!

A fucking travesty that Tintin wasn't nominated for Best Animated, let alone Best Picture. Call me crazy, but I went into the movie with very little to go on and it was so great it hurts. Also, only 9 Best Picture noms? They really couldn't find one more movie to choose from? The Muppets getting basically snubbed also is complete bullshit. I am not too surprised the Academy didn't want to nominate Fassbender as we can't give him a win or all our children will turn into porn-addicted monsters.

I guess I really need to see Hugo now. I hope Bridesmaids get Best Original Screenplay.