They are here! The 2012 Academy Award nominations are here! Have you ever watched the actual nominees announcement broadcast? It's kind of like watching the actual Academy Awards if it was presented at an abandoned hotel buffet and it only lasted 30 minutes. Every once in awhile you'll hear two people "whoo!" in the background, but that's about it. It's actually kind of great. Without all of the pomp and the medleys and the overlong speeches and the commercial breaks, it plugs along at a really nice clip and ends at a reasonable hour. And the best part is that everyone is still theoretically a winner! I'm not sure who the dude was standing next to Jennifer Lawrence this morning, though. Who was that dude? I'm also not sure who the dude was who gave Jennifer Lawrence her No Affect Pills. Guys, please be careful when you're administering the No Affect PIlls to Jennifer Lawrence right before she goes on TV. She should have no affect, not NEGATIVE affect. Anyway, lots of predictable things in here: The Descendents is doing great. Everybody loves The Artist. Brad Pitt was in Moneyball. And of course, Andy Serkis for Best Director. (Just kidding, apparently the time is later. Sorry Serkis!) Tumblr will probably be very excited to hear that Kristen Wiig, Amy Mumolo were nominated for the Bridesmaids screenplay. (Melissa McCarthy nominated for Best Supporting Actress, if you're a Reddit user. The point is, congratulations Internet.) And that brings us to the Best Picture nominees. A few years ago, they expanded the number of nominees from five to 10. The reasoning behind this was that it would draw a bigger audience to the broadcast somehow, but the defense was that it would allow more films to get the recognition they deserve. Uh, EPIC FAIL TIME. Hahah. Seriously, The Help AND Extremely Nine and Incredibly Eleven are both nominated for BEST PICTURE? Of the whole year?!Good grief. I will literally TOLERATE War Horse and Midnight in Paris on there. (War Horse, no duh it's on there. Midnight in Paris was cute and certainly more interesting than a lot of other junk, so fine.) But those boldly straight-forward celebrations of American Racism and The Reverse Voldemort Of National Tragedies (she who must ALWAYS be named) need to get out of here with that noise. Oh well. It's just weird that the Academy Awards would celebrate something less than artistically perfect, since they never have in the past. They're usually nothing but completely dedicated to integrity and the advancement of the medium's loftiest ideals. (Oh, on that note, congratulations to PUSS IN BOOTS for being an Oscar-nominated movie.)
The full list of nominees after the jump:
Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
Best Actor
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa Mccarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Best Original Screenplay
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Margin Call
Midnight In Paris
A Separation
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best Foreign Film
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
A Separation
Best Animated Film
A Cat In Paris
Chico and Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss In Boots
Rango
Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse
Cinematography
The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo, Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse, Janusz Kaminski
Costume Design
Anonymous, Lisy Christl
The Artist, Mark Bridges
Hugo, Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre, Michael O'Connor
W.E., Arianne Phillips
Documentary (Feature)
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated
Documentary (Short Subject)
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
Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady
Music (Original Score)
The Adventures of Tintin
The Artist
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse
Music (Original Song)
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Short Film (Animated)
"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action)
"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø
Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
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
