2012 Academy Awards Nominations Announced

Sigh. Once again the Academy demonstrates just how wrong they can get things. Now, in an awards show that is about creativity, it’s all rather subjective. That’s a given. But come on. “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” a Best Picture nominee? Really? Giving Nick Nolte the Best Supporting Actor nod, but not Tom Hardy for the leading role? Not acknowledging “Tintin” as ‘proper’ animation, which I can only assume is the reason the film isn’t nominated in that category? And a total snub of “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, especially in the most deserving category: Tilda Swinton for Best Actress? WTF is wrong with you Academy members? The one pleasant surprise is “Bridesmaids” getting some love. I suppose at this point, it’s pointless to complain about the choices they make, since it’s a perpetual thing. It’s no wonder why viewership has been steadily declining over the last decade or so. Whatever. It’s a circus, and every year I watch it as nothing more than that.

Anyway, the full list of nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were released late last night, and here they are…

BEST PICTURE
“The Artist” (The Weinstein Company), Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” (Fox Searchlight Pictures), Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” (Warner Bros. Pictures), Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” (Touchstone Pictures), Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” (Paramount Pictures), Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” (Sony Pictures Classics), Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” (Columbia Pictures), Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” (Fox Searchlight Pictures), Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” (Touchstone Pictures), Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

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

BEST 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

BEST 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

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Bullhead” (A Savage Film Production), Belgium
“Footnote” (Sony Pictures Classics), Israel
“In Darkness” (Sony Pictures Classics), Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” (Music Box Films), Canada
“A Separation” (Sony Pictures Classics), Iran

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“A Cat in Paris” (GKIDS), Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” (GKIDS), Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2″ (DreamWorks Animation), Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss In Boots” (DreamWorks Animation), Chris Miller
“Rango” (Paramount Pictures), Gore Verbinski

BEST 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

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 COSTUME DESIGN
Lisy Christl – “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 DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
“Hell and Back Again” (Docurama Films), Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” (Oscilloscope Laboratories), Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” (A Radical.Media Production), Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
“Pina” (Sundance Selects), Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated” (The Weinstein Company), TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

BEST MAKEUP
“Albert Nobbs” – Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ – Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
“The Iron Lady” - Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

BEST MUSIC (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 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

BEST 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

BEST 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

BEST 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

BEST 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

BEST 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

BEST 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

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, 26th February 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.