2012 Oscar Nominations Play it Safe, Boring.

2012 Oscar Nominations Play it Safe, Boring.
    Eh. You were expecting something else?

    If it wasn't partially my JOB to cover this sort of thing, I'd prefer to declare that the entire shindig this year is rendered irrelevant by the failure to nominate Albert Brooks in "Drive" for Best Supporting Actor. The most "interesting" thing about this year is that there are NINE Best Picture nominees - they changed the rules again so that the list could be "between 5 and 10" based on total number of votes per individual film, meaning that there's some poor unfortunate movie out there that would have been the tenth nominee under last year's rules.

    "The Help" simply does not belong on a Best Picture list in any year, but certainly not in a year that also included the shut-out "Drive." "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" is kind of a mess, but it was a given that the first big-star "let's all have a cry about 9/11 memories" movie was going to be nominated. "The Artist" is probably going to win, and will quickly join "A Beautiful Mind," "English Patient" and "Dances With Wolves" on the future "REALLY!?" lists - though I suppose they deserve big propers for acknowledging "Tree of Life."

    Full list (and comments) after the jump:

    Best Picture
    War Horse
    The Artist
    Moneyball
    The Descendants
    Tree of Life
    Midnight in Paris
    The Help
    Hugo
    Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

    BOB COMMENT: Obviously, I'd prefer to see "Tree of Life" win, but y'know what would be an even better spoiler in some ways? "Midnight in Paris" - 'Classic Woody' making a big comeback is a big deal.

    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

    Best Actor
    Demián Bichir, A Better Life
    George Clooney, The Descendants
    Jean Dujardin, The Artist
    Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
    Brad Pitt, Moneyball

    BOB COMMENT: This should be Oldman's to lose, but the role is likely too restrained for Oscar. Dujardin probably takes this, will be the most popular "funny foriegn guy" in American movies for about six months and then promptly be banished back home a'la Roberto Benigni.

    Best Supporting Actress
    Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
    Jessica Chastain, The Help
    Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
    Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
    Octavia Spencer, The Help

    BOB COMMENT: Respect where it's due, Melissa McCarthy is a delightful surprise here. "The Help" is obviously the more 'popular' movie, but I really doubt Chastain would've been noticed in this if she didn't have "Tree of Life" the same year.

    Best Supporting Actor
    Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
    Jonah Hill, Moneyball
    Nick Nolte, Warrior
    Christopher Plummer, Beginners
    Max von Sydow Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

    BOB COMMENT: No Albert Brooks, no sale.

    Best Director
    Michele Hazanavicius, The Artist
    Alexander Payne, The Descendants
    Martin Scorsese, Hugo
    Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
    Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

    BOB COMMENT: Y'know what? I like Hazanavicius. The "OSS" movies are hilarious, and he seems like a cool cat. But the "one of these things is NOT like the others" on this roster is staggering, and the idea that he'd be a frontrunner for something as inconsequential as "The Artist" on a list where the great Alexander Payne is the LEAST accomplished filmmaker otherwise is completely ridiculous.

    Best Original Screenplay
    Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
    Annie Mumolo Kristin Wiig, Bridesmaids
    J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
    Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
    Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

    BOB COMMENT: Will probably be Woody, and he deserves it, but it'd be great to see Wiig win.

    Best Adapted Screenplay
    Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, The Descendants
    John Logan, Hugo
    George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, Ides of March
    Steven Zallian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin, Moneyball
    Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

    Best Foreign Film
    Bullhead
    Footnote
    In Darkness
    Monseiur Lazar
    A Separation

    BOB COMMENT: I'm assuming "The Artist" isn't on this list because it's technically "Foriegn LANGUAGE Film" and the only spoken dialogue in the film is in English.

    Best Animated Feature
    A Cat in Paris
    Chico & Rita
    Kung Fu Panda 2
    Puss in Boots
    Rango

    BOB COMMENT: My overseas readers are probably wondering how "Tintin" didn't make this list. Likely answer? A lot of "Tintin" was accomplished via motion-capture, and there's a vocal and powerful contingent of the American animation industry that sees mocap either as a threat to their livelihoods or a "low" form of the medium; and they've circled the wagons.

    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 Art Direction
    The Artist
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
    Hugo
    Midnight in Paris
    War Horse

    Best Cinematography
    The Artist
    The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
    Hugo
    The Tree of Life
    War Horse

    Best Costumes
    Anonymous
    The Artist
    Hugo
    Jane Eyre
    W.E.

    BOB COMMENT: The lack of ANY 'genre' films outside of "Harry Potter" in the tech/art categories is baffling, until you remember that the prospects would include Captain America, Thor, XMen, etc. Bias against scifi/fantasy? Lessening. Bias against supehero-subgenre? Alive and kicking.

    Best Documentary Feature
    Hell and Back Again
    If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Libration Front
    Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
    Pina
    Undefeated

    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 Film Editing
    The Artist
    The Descendants
    The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
    Hugo
    Moneyball

    Best Makeup
    Albert Nobbs
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
    The Iron Lady

    BOB COMMENT: Really? Red Skull get's nothing?

    Best Original Score
    The Adventures of TinTin
    The Artist
    Hugo
    Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
    War Horse

    BOB COMMENT: WHAT!? Okay, not to channel poor Kim Novak here or anything... but "The Artist" get's Best ORIGINAL Score?? Forget that the original part of it's score is deeply generic even as "tribute" scores go, big chunks of it are sampled from other scores. Two years ago, "The Will Be Blood" got shafted on a score nod because the composer sampled ONE riff from his OWN catalogue - how does this get a pass? Even the fucking Weinstein's shouldn't be this powerful...

    Best Original Song
    "Man or Muppet", The Muppets
    "Real in Rio", Rio

    Best Sound Editing
    Drive
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
    Hugo
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon
    War Horse

    Best Visual Effects
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
    Hugo
    Real Steel
    Rise of the Planet of the Apes
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon

    BOB COMMENT: Oh, look, some non-Potter genre movies finally make the cut in the usual place. This should go to "Apes," as consolation prize for the rank cowardice in not giving Andy Serkis an acting nod.

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