So I'm just going to provide an actual list of the nominees first and then I will go over some of the epic failures from this year's crop of nominations:
Best Picture:
AMOUR (Sony Pictures Classics), Nominees To Be Determined
ARGO (Warner Bros.), Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Fox Searchlight), Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
DJANGO UNCHAINED (The Weinstein Company), Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
LES MISERABLES (Universal), Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
LIFE OF PI (20th Century Fox), Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
LINCOLN (DreamWorks), Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (The Weinstein Company), Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
ZERO DARK THIRTY (Sony), Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers
DirectingMichael Haneke - AMOUR
Benh Zeitlin - BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Ang Lee - LIFE OF PI
Steven Spielberg - LINCOLN
David O. Russell - SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper - SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Daniel Day-Lewis - LINCOLN
Hugh Jackman - LES MISERABLES
Joaquin Phoenix - THE MASTER
Denzel Washington - FLIGHT
Actress in a Leading RoleJessica Chastain - ZERO DARK THIRTY
Jennifer Lawrence - SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Emmanuelle Riva - AMOUR
Quvenzhané Wallis - BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Naomi Watts - THE IMPOSSIBLE
Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - ARGO
Robert De Niro - SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Philip Seymour Hoffman - THE MASTER
Tommy Lee Jones - LINCOLN
Christoph Waltz - DJANGO UNCHAINED
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams - THE MASTER
Sally Field - LINCOLN
Anne Hathaway - LES MISERABLES
Helen Hunt - THE SESSIONS
Jacki Weaver - SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)ARGO, Written by Chris Terrio
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, Written by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
LIFE OF PIi, Written by David Magee
LINCOLN, Written by Tony Kushner
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, Written by David O. Russell
Writing (Original Screenplay)AMOUR, Written by Michael Haneke
DJANGO UNCHAINED, Written by Quentin Tarantino
FLIGHT, Written by John Gatins
MOONRISE KINGDOM, Written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
ZERO DARK THIRTY, Written by Mark Boal
Foreign Language Film
AMOUR (Sony Pictures Classics), Austria
KON-TIKI (The Weinstein Company), Norway
NO (Sony Pictures Classics), Chile
A ROYAL AFFAIR (Magnolia Pictures), Denmark
WAR WITCH (Tribeca Film), Canada
Animated Feature Film
BRAVE (Disney•Pixar), Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
FRANKENWEENIE (Walt Disney Pictures), Tim Burton
PARANORMAN (Focus Features), Sam Fell and Chris Butler
THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS (Sony), Peter Lord
WRECK-IT RALPH (Walt Disney Pictures), Rich Moore
Art DirectionANNA KARENINA, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
LES MISERABLES, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
LIFE OF PIi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
LINCOLN, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
Cinematography
Seamus McGarvey - ANNA KARENINA
Robert Richardson - DJANGO UNCHAINED
Claudio Miranda - LIFE OF PI
Janusz Kaminski - LINCOLN
Roger Deakins - SKYFALL
Costume Design
Jacqueline Durran - ANNA KARENINA
Paco Delgado - LES MISERABLES
Joanna Johnston - LINCOLN
Eiko Ishioka - MIRROR MIRROR
Colleen Atwood - SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
Film Editing
William Goldenberg - ARGO
Tim Squyres - LIFE OF PI
Michael Kahn - LINCOLN
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers - SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg - ZERO DARK THIRTY
Documentary (Feature)
5 BROKEN CAMERAS (Kino Lorber), Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
THE GATEKEEPERS (Sony Pictures Classics), Nominees to be determined
HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE (Sundance Selects), Nominees to be determined
THE INVISIBLE WAR (Docurama Films), Nominees to be determined
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (Sony Pictures Classics), Nominees to be determined
Makeup
HITCHCOCK, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
LES MISERABLES, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
Music (Original Score)
Dario Marianelli - ANNA KARENINA
Alexandre Desplat - ARGO
Mychael Danna - LIFE OF PI
John Williams - LINCOLN
Thomas Newman - SKYFALL
Music (Original Song)
"Before My Time" from CHASING ICE, Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from TED, Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
"Pi's Lullaby" from LIFE OF PI, Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
"Skyfall" from SKYFALL, Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
"Suddenly" from LES MISERABLES, Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Sound Mixing
ARGO, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
LES MISERABLES, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
LIFE OF PIi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
LINCOLN, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
SKYFALL, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
Sound Editing
ARGO, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
DJANGO UNCHAINED, Wylie Stateman
LIFE OF PI, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
SKYFALL, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
ZERO DARK THIRTY, Paul N.J. Ottosson
Visual Effects
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
LIFE OF PI, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
PROMETHEUS, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson
Documentary (Short Subject)
INOCENTE, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
KINGS POINT, Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
MONDAYS AT RACINE, Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
OPEN HEART, Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
REDEMPTION, Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
Short Film (Animated)
ADAM AND DOG, Minkyu Lee
FRESH GUACAMOLE, PES
HEAD OVER HEELS, Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
MAGGIE SIMPSON IN "THE LONGEST DAYCARE", David Silverman
PAPERMAN, John Kahrs
Short Film (Live Action)
ASAD, Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
BUZKASHI BOYS, Sam French and Ariel Nasr
CURFEW, Shawn Christensen
DEATHS OF A SHADOW (Dood van een Schaduw), Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
HENRY, Yan England
Although the Oscars is the one and only award show I watch every year, I've become increasingly disenchanted ever since Saving Private Ryan lost out as Best Picture. It's not like the Oscars haven't always been a popularity contest (Sandra Bullock anyone?) but ever since then the glad handing and "make up Oscars" have gotten even worse. When I awoke this morning and saw this list I was completely gobsmacked. It was as if the Baseball Writers Association of America hooked up with the Academy Award voters, snorted some coke, popped some ecstasy, and swallowed it with a Sterno tequila chaser.
As you can imagine most of the categories such as Art Direction and best short film I could care less about so I will just focus on the big categories, and believe me there are plenty of omissions and inclusions that have me questioning whether the Mayans were actually right and we are really living in some quasi bubble Universe from LOST. Hurley's hairy man-boobs could have done a better job at picking nominees than these jackwagons.
BEST PICTURE
Believe it or not this is the category I have the least amount of problems with. All films are extremely deserving and well reviewed. With the exception of Amour I'm familiar with all of them although I must admit I've only seen Lincoln and Django Unchained. (I'm going to see Zero Dark Thirty) tomorrow. Although to be fair Les Miserables seems tailor made for the Oscars and the reviews are mixed. There are two movies that I'm surprised didn't make it--The Master and Skyfall. I love Paul Thomas Anderson and although I didn't get a chance to see it in the theater, I'm planning to as soon as it comes out on DVD. Now you are probably wondering why I'm mentioning a film that I haven't even seen yet. I'll give you two reasons. One is that I've never seen a PTA film I haven't liked and two the film received several other nominations in the acting categories. As for Skyfall, it was the most entertaining film I saw last year and I think it got snubbed because it was a James Bond film. On a side note I'm also wondering why Moonrise Kingdom got snubbed which was purportedly director Wes Anderson's masterpiece.
BEST DIRECTOR
This category actually may contain the two most glaring omissions of them all which I will get to in a minute. First of all I think it is an absolute joke that Quentin Tarantino didn't get nominated for an Academy Award. I fervently believe that it is the violent nature of the film coupled with the tragic shootings in Connecticut that swayed the Academy voters. Maybe they didn't want to be seen as honoring a man who perpetuates violent films. Even more egregious are the omissions of Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck. Most pundits thought both of these people were shoe-ins and I agree. Seriously what does Affleck have to do to get people to forget about Gigli? The man has directed three phenomenal films. And as for Bigelow...I mean you gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me right? She's scooping up every directing honor for Zero Dark Thirty left and right! But they completely leave her off the ballot?!! I won't bring up Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan, or Paul Thomas Anderson not being including here because that would be an exercise in futility. Suffice it to say that the Academy really messed this one up and more than likely Spielberg will walk away with Kathryn Bigelow's statue.
BEST ACTOR
I have slightly mixed feelings on this category. I want to reserve judgement because I haven't seen Silver Linings Playbook or Les Miserables yet but I find it hard to believe that Phil from The Hangover put on a performance worthy of an Oscar nod. And Hugh Jackman's nomination feels like a life time achievement award nomination. Where is Jamie Foxx from Django Unchained? Where is Bill Murray from Hyde Park on the Hudson? Where is Jonathan Hawkes from The Sessions? More importantly where is Liam Neeson from The Grey? In all honesty it's a moot point because Daniel Day-Lewis will just stuff this statue under his stove pipe hat and saunter away with his third Oscar anyway.
BEST ACTRESS
Quite honestly I haven't seen any of the films these women are in so I'm going to leave well enough alone.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Poor Leo. Poor poor Leonardo DiCaprio. You pull off one of your best roles ever as the diabolical Calvin Candie and you are left completely off the list. Like Bigelow I thought DiCaprio was not only a shoe in for the nomination but for the win as well. This one just leaves me scratching my head in anger. Especially since Tommy Lee Jones performance in Lincoln was WAY over-hyped. And I guess they thought it would be nice to reward Robert DeNiro for being in his first good film in a decade. Javier Bardem's role as the notorious villain Silva in Skyfall was ten times the performance. And what about Michael Fassbender? Dude was killer as the android David in Prometheus.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Again no qualms here. I'd be shocked if Hathaway doesn't walk away with it in a landslide.
As for the rest of the minor categories I really only have two objections. The first is that I think it's a travesty that Hans Zimmer didn't get nominated for Best Original Score. Does John Williams have to be nominated every fucking time? The man doesn't fart concertos! Also Adele getting nominated for best song is ridiculous. "Skyfall" was a terrible Bond song and the worst part of an amazing movie.
Well I guess that's my rant for this year. Check back in a couple weeks when I do my Oscar predictions.
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