2012 Oscar Nominations Announced; HUGO and THE ARTIST Lead the Pack

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

BEST PICTURE

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

[Adam's Note: The big shocker here is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The drama has landed virtually no precursor award recognition and most had completely written it off. Also surprising is the inclusion of War Horse, as it's near shut-out from the guilds had many pegging it dead. That said, I'm extremely happy about The Tree of Life.]

BEST DIRECTOR

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

[Here Malick takes the spot that David Fincher held in the DGA nods. No argument from me, as I admire both films, but don't expect Malick to show up at the ceremony.]

BEST ACTOR

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

[Lots to be happy about here with Oldman and Pitt (Oldman's first nomination ever), but Michael Fassbender's snub is extremely upsetting. That feeling, Academy? That's shame.]

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

[I'm pretty happy to see Mara recognized for Dragon Tattoo, but the exclusion of Tilda Swinton's brilliant work in We Need to Talk About Kevin is ridiculous. She gave the best performance of the year in my opinion, and absolutely deserves at least a nomination.]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

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

[No big surprises here. I'm glad to see Chastain recognized. The perfect topper for an incredible year for the breakout star.]

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

[Another major oversight here in the other supporting category. Really? You're just gonna ignore Albert Brooks in Drive? Alrighty then.]

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
  
• Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo – Bridesmaids
  
• J.C. Chandor – Margin Call
  
• Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
  
• Asghar Farhadi – A Separation

[The surprise here is Chandor, as many had pegged either Will Reiser for his terrific 50/50 script or Todd McCarthy for Win Win to take that final spot, though it's nice to see Wiig and Mumolo singled out. ]

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash – The Descendants
  
• John Logan – Hugo
  
• George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willomon – The Ides of March
• Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin – Moneyball
• Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

[Really happy to see Ides of March and Tinker Tailor here, but the clear frontrunner is that cracker-jack script for Moneyball]

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE

• Bullhead - Belgium
  
• Footnote - Israel
  
• In Darkness - Poland
  
• Monsier Lazhar - Canada
• A Separation - Iran

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

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

[I did not see two foreign films landing nods in this category and knocking The Adventures of Tintin out, but my horse in this race is Rango so it's no skin off my nose.]

BEST ART DIRECTION

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

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
• Jeff Cronenweth –The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Robert Richardson –Hugo
• Emmanuel Lubezki –The Tree of Life
• Janusz Kaminski –War Horse

[This one has to be Lubezki's to lose. Tree of Life is gorgeous]

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• Anonymous
• The Artist
• Hugo
• Jane Eyre
• W.E.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• Hell and Back Again
• If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
• Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
• Pina
• Undefeated

BEST 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

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

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• John Williams – The Adventures of Tintin
• Ludovic Bource –The Artist
• Howard Shore – Hugo
• Alberto Iglesias –Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• John Williams –War Horse

[Happy to see the Tinker score recognized here, but my favorite of the year was Shore's beautiful Hugo score. Somewhat surprisingly, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score for Dragon Tattoo failed to get a nod]

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “Man or Muppet” – The Muppets
• “Real in Rio” –Rio

[While it's disappointing to see only two nominees (as I would have liked to see a couple Muppets numbers performed on Oscar night), I'm extremely happy to see Bret McKenzie's Man or Muppet singled out.]

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

• Dimanche/Sunday
• The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
• La Luna
• A Morning Stroll
• Wild Life

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE-ACTION)

• Pentecost
• Raju
• The Shore
• Time Freak
• Tuba Atlantic

BEST SOUND EDITING

• Drive
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• War Horse

BEST SOUND MIXING

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Hugo
• Moneyball
• 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