Oscar Blows It

Hugo leads the nominations with 11

The wait is over, but was it worth it? The mystery of how many films would be nominated for Best Picture was answered today. There are nine. Hugo leads with 11 nominations. It's joined by Midnight in Paris, The Descendants, and front-runner The Artist, but the wacky new voting system also allowed lesser films like War Horse and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close to squeeze in. As further proof that one can always buy one's way into the ceremony, Demian Bichir scored a surprise Best Actor nomination for A Better Life. I think every other time I logged on to Twitter I saw someone tweeting that they were heading out to a lunch for the film, or a screening, or some other variety of schmoozing. Bichir's nom means that one of the early faves was squeezed out, and that person is ... MICHAEL FASSBENDER. What?! At least Gary Oldman found his way in for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. But, wow. Snubbing Fassy for Bichir is a joke. Like War Horse for Best Picture bad. Adding insult to injury was a snub for Tilda Swinton's performance in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Shailene Woodley got bumped from Best Supporting Actress.

My sentiments exactly

There are some goodies, though. Terrence Malick and Tree of Life were nominated when it seemed like the film had no chance in hell. It was also a good day for Canada, with Monsieur Lazhar  landing a Best Foreign Film nom, plus two nominations in the animated short category for the NFB films Dimanche and Wild Life (both of which were posted here last week). 
And let us rejoice for the nominations for Woody Allen, Meryl Streep, Jessica Chastain, and Christopher Plummer!

The nominees are:

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

Tree of Life - Nominees to be determined

War Horse  - Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

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, The Girl with the Drag on 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 & Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress

Bérénice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Animated Feature Film

A Cat in Paris

Chico & Rita

Kung Fu Pa nda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

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, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

Pina, Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel

Undefeated, TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

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, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin

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 (Ori ginal Song)

“Man or Muppet,” The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

“Real in Rio,” 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

Raj u, Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren

The Shore, Terry George and Oorlagh George

Time Freak, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey

Tuba Atlantic, Hallvar Witzø

SOUND

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. Haboushand Peter J. Devlin

War Horse

Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and

Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Pa rt 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

See sidebar for reviews of all films. I never wrote a review for A Better Life, but I believe I tweeted some praise for Bichir's performance, but called the film out for being the sentimental fodder that it is.