84th Academy Awards / Oscars thread (2012)

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/24/84th-academy-awards-the-nominees-list/

Check out the list below, and see who will take home the Oscar on Sunday, February 26. Are there any nods that surprise you?

Best picture

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

Actor

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

Actress

Glenn Cose, 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

Supporting actor

Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer
Max von Sydow Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Supporting actress

Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Director

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

Animated feature

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

Original screenplay

Bridesmaids
A Midnight in Paris
Margin Call
A Separation
The Artist

Adapted screenplay

The Descendants
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Best foreign language

Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monseiur Lazhar
A Separation

 

I think the lists are pretty strong but I still have to see many of the recent releases.

 

They really need to go back to the 5 best picture nom format.

I'm "root"ing for Tree.

 

Wow, snoozer city. This is probably the least-interesting list of nominees I have seen in years. 2011 was a bad year for movies, and this proves it.

 

Some good films here but the lack of Andy Serkis for Rise OTPOTA for supporting actor shows again how conservative (The only thing they are conservative in) and scared they are of something new and inventive and threatens their (Acting) egos. He did a great job of acting and just a nomination not a win would of showed that Hollywood isnt as irrelevent as they are. Atleast 2/3rds of Oscar winners are forgotten and what lasts are films that are important and aesthetically pleasing to the ticket buying public. Ofcourse im prejudice-look left- but the Oscars are an archaic phenomenom weather or not Andy got the nomination or not. No sour grapes but this is why I never watch the Oscars atleast not since 1980. Take care, John M.

 

Hugo is my fav. from that list. Just a beautiful movie.

Not a good year overall for movies...

 

Agreed on both counts.

 

Very happy Hugo got nominated for Best Picture. Hope it wins.

I'd like to see Marty pick up his second Best Director Oscar as well.

Also hope Midnight in Paris wins Best Original Screenplay, and maybe Moneyball for Adapted Screenplay.

Who would've though when they were watching Knocked Up or Superbad....Jonah Hill, Academy Award nominated Actor?

 

Since when is Viola Davis the lead actress of The Help?

That's like nominating Tom Hanks as best actor for Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud.

 

disgaree on both. The larger pool for best picture allows for more films (and less mainstream ones sometimes) to be recognized, even though they have no chance

as for TOL, blech! (a bump in the road for Malick - no worries there!)

Malick might win for Director, because that category has become increasingly about when "your number is up" or "it's your time".

 

I agree. It allows less mainstream films to be recognized, and also allows very popular, very well made films that would often get unfairly looked down upon for this sort of thing to be recognized. For instance, if it were implemented a year earlier, the Dark Knight would've been given a deserving nomination. Toy Story 3 got a nomination last year that it likely wouldn't have gotten otherwise. And I think even Hugo, which is nominated this year, might have been overlooked if not for the expanded pool

I do think the 10 film minimum is a bad requirement as it can allow weaker, less deserving films to be nominated just to meet the minimum. I think they've got it right now, where it's 5-10 films, with a film being nominated if it receives 5% of first-place votes during the nomination process. I think this is the right way to do it.

 

The only thing more boring than Tree Of Life is the actual Oscar Ceremony. I haven't seen any of the other nominees and probably never will. Puts on "Army Of Darkness".

 

How things have changed in a year... At this time in 2011, I was excited because having caught "Black Swan" on the day before the announcement, I had seen all ten films up for Best Picture. This year, the nominations come out and I've seen just one of nine ("The Descendants"). Pretty bummed I haven't been able to catch "The Artist," "Midnight In Paris" and "Moneyball" yet. And since I'd hoped to catch "Hugo" in 3D but missed out, perhaps that opportunity will present itself again.

 

*

 

Tin Tin gets shut out.

 

Not too inspiring indeed. The only one of these I've seen is Moneyball, and I only want to see a couple of the others. Otherwise, a lot of pretentiousness, earnestness, and Epicness, none of which are too much my bag.

 

Sorry, but I have to disagree. Look at the Rotten Tomatoes ratings for some of the best picture nominees:

War Horse - 78% (and also blatant Oscar-bait)
The Help - 76%
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - 48% !!!

In my opinion, if it doesn't have at least 80% positive reviews, it doesn't seem like it could possibly be the best picture of the year.

I don't see how a film with a majority of negative reviews (Extremely Loud) can make the short list and one can still argue that the larger field is a good thing. It obviously isn't if a film with such low ratings can make it on.

On a different note, if Tree of Life doesn't at least win best cinematography, then the awards are a complete sham.

Kind of funny that two of the five best director nominees (Allen and Malick) most likely will not even be there, since Allen generally shuns the Oscars and Malick shuns the spotlight in general.

 

Can't say there is even a favorite at this other than the amount of noms Hugo got (which few people have seen).
Could it be possible a silent movie could win?

 

I haven't seen ANY of the best picture nominees this year. However, I will comment anyway, lol...

I'm surprised by the "Extremely Loud...." nomintaion. Every review I have read of it has said it was mediocre at best. I hope it didn't get nominated just because of it's "theme"...I think a great movie could be made from the 9/11 tragedy, but everyone seems to be saying that this wasn't it.

It also seems somewhat strange to have 9 best picture nominees, but yet only 5 best director nominees. Spielberg must be pretty ticked off today.

 

I definitely get the feeling that the momentum is behind The Artist, but it would be somewhat of an "out there" choice.

 

I bet if there were only five films this year, Tree wouldn't have been one of them.

For what it is worth, I've seen all the Best Picture nominations except for Extremely Loud (I'm seeing it tonight), and Tree of Life is my favorite of the lot (and second favorite film of the year).

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Is there an Academy Award by-law that states that Meryl Streep and Glenn Close must get a nomination for every movie they appear in?

 

It's been over 20 years since Close's last nomination, but I definitely get your point about Streep. She's at her record 17th nomination.

 

The problem with Streep is that she keeps earning them, even when in not-so-great films...

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Then the academy is WRONG.

This is what I consider a solid 5 nominees:

The Artist
The Descendants
The Tree of Life
Midnight in Paris
Hugo