And the nominees are…!
Brace yourselves, folks. Because, I’ve gotta tell you, there are some pretty conspicuous absences this year. I can’t wait to hear which bets you’ve already lost.
The envelope, please.
Charlize Theron: NOT NOMINATED. A lot of people expected her to be in the running based on her work in Jason Reitman’s Young Adult, never mind all that Oscar buzz for costar Patton Oswalt.
Also snubbed, this time in the Best Animated Feature category, the Golden Globe-winning Adventures of Tintin. Among the actual nominees? Kung Fu Panda 2. Heaven help us all.
Fassbender, Mulligan, and Gosling all had banner years, I thought, along with Elizabeth Olsen. But except for Michelle Williams, there were few nods for Young Blond Hollywood. This is why I dye my hair, people! So that I can be taken seriously!
And now, the nominees.
There were some clear-cut frontrunners. Hugo, the magical Scorsese movie about a boy, a girl, and an automaton, won a whopping eleven nominations. The Artist followed close behind with ten Oscar nods.
Adorably, total brosephs George Clooney and Brad Pitt are both up for Best Actor, while their respective movies, The Descendants and Moneyball, are both candidates for Best Movie. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during that golf game. I bet those two fratboys like to hold hands at dinner, even.
I am delighted to report that a substantial chunk of the cast of The Help secured nominations. Viola Davis was nominated for Best Actress, while Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain are both Supporting nominees. I, for one, was really blown away by Chastain. Her magnetic performance, tiptoeing between farcical and gut-wrenching, was a capital-letter revelation.
Dark horse Jonah Hill was nominated for his supporting role in Moneyball.
Then there’s the even darker horse, Nick Nolte, who was nominated for Warrior. Your move, Gary Busey.
And in a really wonderful gesture—I don’t know that she’ll win, but what a profound honor anyway—darling Melissa McCarthy was nominated for Bridesmaids.
Here, I’ve gone on and on, and I haven’t even mentioned Meryl once. Don’t look so worried: she was nominated, too, of course.
A list of nominees, after the cut.
(And thank you, Academy, for making me retype the whole thing.)
BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
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
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 and Incredibly Close
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
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Bérénice Bejo
The Artist
Jessica Chastain
The Help
Melissa McCarthy
Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer
Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer
The Help
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
DIRECTING
The Artist
Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants
Alexander Payne
Hugo
Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen
The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Bullhead
Belgium
Footnote
Israel
In Darkness
Poland
Monsieur Lazhar
Canada
A Separation
Iran
I’m hoping:
Jean Dujardin
Jonah Hill
Viola Davis
Melissa/Octavia/Jessica—all top notch choices
The Artist
I really hope Michelle Williams or Meryl Streep don’t win, (they’re both boring to me, and I find it disgusting that everytime she’s selling a movie she talks about Heath) and I’m really bummed that Leo was not nominated. I think he is an amazing actor—probably the best of his generation (US, mainstream-wise). I actually watched The Help recently and it wasn’t nearly as cheesy-Disney as I feared it might be, and I think the female cast was awesome!
I had the same reaction to The Help! I initially found the prospect of watching it very unpleasant/daunting, but gosh damn it, none of the schmaltz was off-key. I really don’t like being manipulated, but I laughed, I cried, I felt like a total idiot. Oh, well. But yeah, if that movie is “helpful” or “progressive” in any one way, it’s because it somehow stockpiled some of our strongest living female actors into one mega ensemble, without ever turning into The Hours or Foxfire.
I love Meryl—I find her endlessly fascinating—but the nom itself is zzz. Also: singly the worst roster of ‘Best Picture’ noms I’ve ever seen. I just realized I forgot all about Kirsten Dunst and Melancholia, at that. Poor blondes!
Melancholia is great film and I am kinda shocked it didn’t make it, but the 9/11 film did.
I didn’t seen everything, but again I’m not touching by any of the nominations, same thing with the last years: Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, The Hurt Locker, The Blind Side, Slumdog Millionaire…
I’m not a sport movie fan (Moneyball), War Horse looks cheesy, Rooney Mara is fine (but Oscar like performance?), I didn’t see The Artist yet, never been a fan of Dujardin acting (he plays in a lot of awful films life 99F, Lucky Luke…), I think silent movies are much more than what the movie gives the idea, but it will probably the next movie I will see in the bunch.
Michael Fassbender rules in almost everything he was in (Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men First Class, A Dangerous Method), I like also Drive and Melancolia… But I’m not surprise, most of the movies I like now didn’t receive awards…
You failed to mention the snub of Tilda Swinton, who was touted as an Oscar contender after Cannes, and subsequently won many awards for We Need to Talk About Kevin up till this point. For her to be excluded and Williams and Mara included, shows how unjust the academy really is. It is all political and money, not talent in Hollywood.
OH HELL. How did I let Tilda get by me? Good catch. You’re right: that alone is just really telling. This all might be a scam.
ETA: Also, didn’t Michael Shannon have a thing this year? We really need to keep nominating him for stuff.
Take Shelter, I think. Thanks for reminding me that I need to watch that. It’s rather hard to find though, but I guess if you’re not suckling on the HWood power teet like Clooney it seems like you’re forgotten.
I don’t know about teats, but I do remember during the Globes someone tweeted something great about, if Hollywood is high school, Clooney is senior class president. I love him, but it was right on the money.
you left out a lot of categories :/