Cinemablographer: Oscar Nominations: 'Lincoln', 'Life of Pi', Silver Linings Playbook' Dominate

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook, an Alliance Films release

Well, it turned out to be an unpredictable morning after all. Two of Oscar’s biggest frontrunners, Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, took a bizarre hit this morning when Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow failed to make the Best Director slot. The other top contender, Steven Spielberg, was nominated although he was snubbed yesterday by the British Academy. Does this mean Life of Pi is the one to beat? I guess it could come down to Lincoln and Life of Pi, as the former earned 12 nominations while the latter earned 11, which is impressive since Pi scored zero acting noms while Lincoln got three. Joining Spielberg and Lee in the Best Director category are David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook, Michael Haneke for Amour, and Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild, the latter of which is perhaps the biggest—and most pleasant—surprise of the morning. Lincoln, Life of Pi, Amour, SLP, and Beasts are probably the top five films in the running for Best Picture. Also nominated for the big prize are Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained and Les Misérables. It was an especially good morning for Silver Linings Playbook as the TIFF winner was essentially nominated in every category in which it was a contender (its score was disqualified), including nominations in all four acting categories, which hasn’t happened, I think, since 1981’s Reds. The Best Supporting Actress nomination for Jacki Weaver (who should have won for 2010’s Animal Kingdom) is a pleasant surprise.

Canada did very well this morning with a nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category for Rebelle/War Witch, which Canucks can now see on home video. It will be tough for Canada to beat Best Picture nominee Amour, although Best Foreign Language Film is one of few categories to require members to see all five nominees in order to vote. Canada is again a shorts nominee with Henry in the live action category. Also representing Canada is composer Mychael Danna, who earned two nominations for Life of Pi – one for Best Score and one for Best Song. The latter category will presumably be topped by frontrunner Adele for Skyfall who goes head to head with “Everyone Needs a Best Friend” from Ted, which is written by Oscar co-host Seth McFarlane (and performed by Norah Jones). Skyfall nabbed five nominations: Best Score, Best Cinematography, and two sound nominations in addition to Best Song.

Among the disappointing snubs are Marion Cotillard for Rust & Bone (Best Actress), John Hawkes for The Sessions (Best Actor), and Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy).

Finally, and most notably, Anna Karenina earned four nominations this morning: Best Cinematography, Best Costumes, Best Production Design, and Best Score. Hooray for Anna!

Nominees below:

Best Picture

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

The Master

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty