Ever since it was announced that Billy Crystal would once again host the Oscars, this year’s ceremony has felt like it would be one of those years when the Academy would settle for the safest possible choices. I like Crystal well enough, and I’m sure he’ll do fine work the night of the ceremony, but you can’t argue that it’s the safe choice. While original host Eddie Murphy could have backfired, at least it was a risk. Likewise, this year’s awards season has felt like a long prelude to The Artist winning Best Picture next month. As a result, I have been more disengaged with this year’s Oscar race than I have been for a very long time. This morning’s announcement of the nominations did nothing to reassure me. While there are plenty of worthy nominees, this year everything seems like it’s already been decided.
Anyway, what follows is a list of the nominees along with some thoughts on each category. Scorsese’s Hugo got the most nominations with 11 (yay!), and The Artist is a close second with 10 (meh). Notable films that got completely shutout include 50/50, Young Adult, and not even a Best Actress nomination for Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Best Picture
War Horse
The Artist
Moneyball
The Descendants
The Tree of Life
Midnight in Paris
The Help
Hugo
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Reaction:
Yes, this is The Artist’s race to lose, though this category isn’t without its surprises. It’s nice to see War Horse get some love, and I’m a tad surprised Moneyball got in, though neither of those will likely be winning anything once all is said and done. A real shock is the nomination of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was absolutely reviled by several critics. (My ‘C-’ review is actually one of the kinder ones I’ve read.) Yet the Academy loved it enough to place it in contention for Best Picture. Obviously there are several movies I wish had gotten in here but didn’t, but the film I’ll futilely be rooting for is Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. It won’t win—if anyone can be a spoiler, it will probably be The Descendants or Hugo—but a boy can dream. Anyway, speaking of The Descendants: it remains a movie that I wish I liked much more than I do. I respect it, I just don’t think it always succeeds. Besides all that, this is more or less the category we expected.
Side note: of the nine Best Picture nominees, here is my grade distribution: One got an ‘A,’ two got an ‘A-,’ one got a ‘B+,’ one got a ‘B,’ three got a ‘B-,’ and one got a ‘C-.’
Best Actor
Demián Bechir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Reaction:
This race seems like it will come down to Dujardin vs. Clooney; it all just depends how in love the Academy really is with The Artist. I’m genuinely glad Pitt got in, because I thought a lot of people were underselling is performance in Moneyball there for a while. The biggest surprise is Demián Bechir getting a nomination for A Better Life, a film which no one saw. Of course, his nomination meant that Michael Shannon’s much-hyped performance in Take Shelter had to be kicked out. I have not seen A Better Life nor Take Shelter, but a lot of people seem up in arms about Shannon not getting in. Well, I like Shannon, so yeah! Injustice! The best news, however, is that Gary Oldman got a nod for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. That, ladies and gentlemen, is acting.
Best Actress
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
Reaction:
And the Oscar goes to… Viola Davis for The Help! Thanks to all you other ladies for showing up, and see you at the after party. (It should be noted that this is the only major category nomination for Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. That movie itself isn’t great, but it’s good to see that Mara’s fine work didn’t go unnoticed.) Besides Davis, the only other possible winner may be Meryl Streep for her performance as Margaret Thatcher, even if the response to that movie hasn’t been all that positive.
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Reaction:
Look: no matter who else got in this category, Christopher Plummer was probably always going to win. And I have zero problem with that. In fact, the man deserves it. His performance in Beginners was terrific, and I really liked the movie he was in. If that’s not Best Supporting Actor material, I don’t know what is. The problem? Patton Oswalt and Albert Brooks both got screwed out of the category by perfectly okay performances from Max Von Sydow and Kenneth Branagh. I understand wanting to honor Von Sydow, but little about his performance in Extremely Loud is all that impressive. He does what is asked of him, and he does it quite well. Branagh, however? He’s charming enough in My Week With Marilyn, but nothing about his work is Oscar-worthy. Oswalt and Brooks gave two of the best supporting performances of the year, and the fact that they’re not in this category—particularly Brooks—is a joke. (Though it does seem like the Academy really didn’t love Drive that much.)
Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Reaction:
This one seems pretty wide open to me, even if it will probably be The Help castmates Chastain and Spencer duking it out… with Spencer probably coming out on top. I’m glad Melissa McCarthy got a nomination, even if it just feels like another instance of the Oscars humoring the big hit comedy of the year. But if Bejo winds up winning this one, we’ll know we’re in for a long night of Artist love.
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Reaction:
Hey, you want to know what’s strange? When Michel Hazanavicius wins Best Director next month, he will have beaten out Alexander Payne, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and Terrence Malick! That’s right, the Academy will be saying that Hazanavicius’ work this year was better than anything those four chumps ever did. Insane. This was a guy who was directing spy spoofs a couple years ago. He makes one novelty silent movie and we’re giving him Best Director. But I digress…
Best Original Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
Reaction:
It’s not often you see a foreign film creep into one of the mainstream categories, but that is what has happened with Asghar Farhadi’s universally-praised A Separation. I haven’t been able to catch it yet, but that’s pretty cool to see. It’s also nice to see the Oscars throw a bone to Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, but we all know they won’t win. Instead, we’ll probably give Woody Allen a late-career pat on the back for his work on Midnight in Paris. I didn’t love that movie, but it seems like that’s where we’re headed.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, & Jim Rash, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Steven Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin, Moneyball
Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Reaction:
As I said before, I didn’t really love The Descendants all that much. However, I hope it wins this award because that means Dean Pelton from Community (Jim Rash) will officially be an Oscar winner. Six seasons and a movie, Jim. Six seasons and a movie.
Best Animated Film
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
Reaction:
With the Pixar film out of the picture for the first time since the birth of Christ, it seems like the Best Animated Film award will go to either Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots or Rango. I enjoyed all three, and I’ll be excited for any of them to come away with the trophy. And of course, we throw in a couple foreign animated films to humor the rest of the world. But this award belongs in America!
Best Original Song
“Man or Muppet,” The Muppets (Bret McKenzie)
“Real in Rio,” Rio (Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown & Siedah Garrett)
Reaction:
“Man or Muppet.” End of conversation. Good day to you, sir. I said good day!
P.S. – Only two nominees? For real?
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
Reaction:
None of these scores really stood out to me when I saw the movies, with the exception of The Artist, since it occasionally re-uses music from other movies. So yeah, let’s give them an award for that. Other than that, I don’t really have much of an opinion here. There are no Reznor/Ross-level game changers, so it will probably just end up going to one of John Williams’ scores. Lord knows he’s been so underappreciated.
Best Documentary Feature
Hell and Back
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated
Reaction:
And here I was thinking I was doing a pretty good job of keeping up with documentaries this year. I guess not, as I have seen none of these. I have seen the trailer for Pina, and I thought it looked reasonably cool. So there’s an endorsement.
Best Foreign Language Film
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)
Reaction:
From what I can tell, this should be A Separation in a landslide. Also, it’s the only one I’ve heard of. So there.
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
Reaction:
This award probably should go to The Tree of Life, as that film provided me with enough memorable images to hold me over for several years. Other than that, I don’t really care who gets this award, so long as it isn’t The Artist. Again, I didn’t hate The Artist. But if we give it Best Cinematography, we’re not even trying anymore.
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Here are the rest of the awards without comment, as I don’t have a great deal to say about them. Enjoy:
Best Editing
Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Kevin Tent, The Descendants
Kirk Baxter and Angus Well, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo
Christopher Tellefsen, Moneyball
Best 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
Best Animated Short
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
Best Live-Action Short
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic
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 & Bo Persson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tom Fleischman & John Midgley, Hugo
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco & Ed Novick, Moneyball
Greg Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey Haboush & Peter Devlin, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson & Stuart Wilson, War Horse
Best Visual Effects
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler & John Richardson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman & Alex Henning, Hugo
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor & Swen Gillberg, Real Steel
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White & Daniel Barrett, Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler & John Frazier, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Best Costume Design
Anonymous (Lisy Christl)
The Artist (Mark Bridges)
Hugo (Sandy Powell)
Jane Eyre (Michael O'Connor)
W.E. (Arianne Phillips)
Art Direction
Laurence Bennett & Robert Gould, The Artist
Stuart Craig & Stephenie McMillan, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Dante Ferretti & Francesca Lo Schiavo, Hugo
Anne Seibel & Hélène Dubreuil, Midnight in Paris
Rick Carter & Lee Sandales, War Horse
Best Makeup
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston & Matthew W. Mungle, Albert Nobbs
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight & Lisa Tomblin, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Mark Coulier & J. Roy Helland, The Iron Lady
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The Oscar ceremony will occur on the night of February 26. I will write a predictions post the week before, and then we can all watch together as Billy Crystal works the title of War Horse into a parody of Edwin Starr’s “War.” See you then.
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