This year’s Academy Award nominations contain few surprises apart from a couple of people left of this list. Unexpectedly there was no nomination for Michael Fassbender in ‘Shame’ nor for the standout 2011 comedy ‘Bridesmaids.’ Nominations of best Supporting Actress for Melissa McCarthy and another for Original Screenplay did not materialize.
That old warhorse, Meryl Streep, has been nominated for the Best Actress prize again… she has won twice already. Hollywood just loves her heavy-handed overacting but to me she plays her parts as caricatures – she might have been a good comedian but as an actress she sucks. Streep appears incapable of applying any subtlety whatsoever to the roles she butchers. When I watch her on screen I am reminded that reputation is more valuable in Hollywood than talent. It’s almost as though the powers that be figure that just because Streep is not pretty she must be talented.
Streep who has now been nominated for 17 Academy Awards will go up against Glenn Close, Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams and Viola Davis.
George Clooney is up for two separate Oscars, firstly for his performance in ‘The Descendants’ and secondly for Best Adapted Screenplay with ‘Ides of March’.
In the Best Actor category he will go up against Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Jean Dujardin and Damien Bichir. We want Pitt to win – it’s about time he gets the recognition he deserves – he is an excellent and under-rated actor.
Nine movies are up for Best Picture; ‘War Horse’, ‘The Artist’, ‘Moneyball’, ‘The Descendants’, ‘The Tree of Life’, ‘Midnight in Paris’, ‘The Help’, ‘Hugo’ and ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’.
In the Best Supporting Actor category are Kenneth Branagh, Jonah Hill, Nick Nolte, Christopher Plummer and Max von Sydow.
The 84th Academy Awards will take place at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on February 26.
Full list of nominees at the 84th Academy Awards:
Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in ‘A Better Life’
George Clooney in ‘The Descendants’
Jean Dujardin in ‘The Artist’
Gary Oldman in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’
Brad Pitt in ‘Moneyball’
Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in ‘My Week with Marilyn’
Jonah Hill in ‘Moneyball’
Nick Nolte in ‘Warrior’
Christopher Plummer in ‘Beginners’
Max von Sydow in ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’
Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in ‘Albert Nobbs’
Viola Davis in ‘The Help’
Rooney Mara in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
Meryl Streep in ‘The Iron Lady’
Michelle Williams in ‘My Week with Marilyn’
Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in ‘The Artist’
Jessica Chastain in ‘The Help’
Melissa McCarthy in ‘Bridesmaids’
Janet McTeer in ‘Albert Nobbs’
Octavia Spencer in ‘The Help’
Animated Feature Film
‘A Cat in Paris’ Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
‘Chico & Rita’ Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
‘Puss in Boots’ Chris Miller
‘Rango’ Gore Verbinski
Art Direction
‘The Artist’
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
‘Hugo’
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
‘Midnight in Paris’
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
‘War Horse’
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
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
Directing
‘The Artist’ Michel Hazanavicius
‘The Descendants’ Alexander Payne
‘Hugo’ Martin Scorsese
‘Midnight in Paris’ Woody Allen
‘The Tree of Life’ Terrence Malick
Documentary (Feature)
‘Hell and Back Again’
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
‘If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front’
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
‘Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory’
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
‘Pina’
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
‘Undefeated’
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
Documentary (Short Subject)
‘The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement’
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
‘God Is the Bigger Elvis’
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
‘Incident in New Baghdad’
James Spione
‘Saving Face’
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Film Editing
‘The Artist’ Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
‘The Descendants’ Kevin Tent
‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
‘Hugo’ Thelma Schoonmaker
‘Moneyball’ Christopher Tellefsen
Foreign Language Film
‘Bullhead’ Belgium
‘Footnote’ Israel
‘In Darkness’ Poland
‘Monsieur Lazhar’ Canada
‘A Separation’ Iran
Makeup
‘Albert Nobbs’
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
‘The Iron Lady’
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Music (Original Score)
‘The Adventures of Tintin’ John Williams
‘The Artist’ Ludovic Bource
‘Hugo’ Howard Shore
‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ Alberto Iglesias
‘War Horse’ John Williams
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
Best Picture
‘The Artist’ Thomas Langmann, Producer
‘The Descendants’ Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’ Scott Rudin, Producer
‘The Help’ Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
‘Hugo’ Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
‘Midnight in Paris’ Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
‘Moneyball’ Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
‘The Tree of Life’ Nominees to be determined
‘War Horse’ Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
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’ Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Ren Klyce
‘Hugo’ Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
‘War Horse’ Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Sound Mixing
‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
‘Hugo’
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
‘Moneyball’
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
‘War Horse’
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
‘Hugo’
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
‘Real Steel’
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
‘The Descendants’ Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
‘Hugo’ Screenplay by John Logan
‘The Ides of March’ Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
‘Moneyball’ Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay)
‘The Artist’ Written by Michel Hazanavicius
‘Bridesmaids’ Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
‘Margin Call’ Written by J.C. Chandor
‘Midnight in Paris’ Written by Woody Allen
‘A Separation’ Written by Asghar Farhadi
