Academy Awards Nominations 2012

Well, here are the nominees for the 2011/2012 Academy Awards. Another year gone and another batch of exciting new films to seek out or catch up on. Here are the major nominees...

BEST FILM
War Horse, Moneyball, Hugo, The Descendents, The Tree of Life, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Midnight in Paris, The Artist

So only nine films appear to have been nominated this year. Can't say I'm extremely pleased with this list... it's good to see Hugo getting the attention it deserves after most of the other Awards ceremonies missed it out, but all in all this is a pretty boring list. The last couple of Oscars have shown some contemporary spark by nominating genre films like Avatar, District 9, Inception, Winter's Bone, etc, but this year it's pretty much back to basics. The entire list upsets me in general due to the lack of recognition for Drive. I mean, would it have killed them to make it the tenth film in this list? And what's with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting nominated? It looks terrible and it has been getting absolutely panned in some quarters, I'm kind of embarrassed for the Academy.

BEST ACTOR
Brad Pitt (Moneyball), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Demian Bichir (A Better Life), George Clooney (The Descendents), Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

A few surprises here, I don't think anyone really guessed that Demian Bichir would get nominated - especially when there was a lot of buzz around Michael Fassbender. I'm relieved that Oldman got his nomination, it was beginning to look like his last chance to finally get nominated. But, looking at this list, I don't know what they really bother - it's obvious that the voters are going to look at this pool of nominees and then just hand the Oscar over to Clooney or Pitt. As much as I like Brad Pitt, there is nothing about his serviceable and underplayed performance in Moneyball that is deserving of this kind of attention. Man, what does Ryan Gosling have to do to get nominated anyway? He has given three knockout performances this year, and did similarly brilliant work last year as well, but he just can't get in there.

BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Viola Davis (The Help), Meryl Streep (Iron Lady), Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

It'll be Streep. She's been nominated a few times in recent years but none of those performances gathered the kind of steam that her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher has been gathering. If she wins it'll make her only the fifth actor in history to win three Oscars. I'm glad Close got nominated, and any other year she might win, but there's no fighting the Streep machine in full flight. I was surprised to see Rooney Mara get in there, I guess I'll have to watch The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo now...

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Brannagh (My Week with Marilyn), Nick Nolte (Warrior), Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Christopher Plummer (Beginners), Max Von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

The battle of the veterans! Nolte has a strong chance because he's one of only two Americans amongst the nominees, and his performance is actually a real against-the-grain, career standout. I don't see why Hill has been nominated... as great as Moneyball is, the acting in it just isn't anything special, and the difference in Hill's performance is pretty much just the fact that he's not acting like an arsehole for once. I'm seriously miffed that Albert Brooks didn't get the nod for Drive.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Jessica Chaistain (The Help), Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Octavio Spencer (The Help)

No surprises with the two girls from The Help being nominated. I thought they might've cast the net a bit wider than that, but the only shock here is Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids. I'm amazed she got nominated but it's definitely deserved, she stole that movie completely and I would absoluely love for her to win, though I'm fairly confident that Octavia Spencer (the favourite) will take home the gong.

BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese (Hugo), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Alexander Payne (The Descendents)

I know Scorsese got his long-overdue Oscar for The Departed only a few years ago, but Hugo is so amazing that he simply deserves it again. I'll reserve full judgment until I see all the films of course, but at the moment I'm predicting that Hazanavicius will get the nod as a consolation prize for The Artist not winning Best Film.