Oscar nominations are out

Here are the Oscar nominations for 2011, with some of my comments for colour

Oscar nominations are out: (with my comments)

Best picture
• "War Horse" – omg, I can’t believe this got nomination
• "The Artist" - yes!
• "Moneyball" - nice
• "The Descendants"
• "The Tree of Life" - ugh
• "Midnight in Paris" - cool
• "The Help" – wow, I can’t believe this got a best picture nod. It’s good but it’s SO not great.
• "Hugo" – man, I have to see this.
• "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

Actor
• Demian tookir, "A Better Life"
• George Clooney, "The Descendants" – yeah, I guess he’ll win 
• Jean Dujardin, "The Artist" – sweet! I hope he wins
• Gary Oldman, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"
• Brad Pitt, "Moneyball" – I dunno. He’s good and stuff but the movie is better that the performances (opposite of The Descendants)

Actress
• Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
• Viola Davis, "The Help" - yeah, she was good
• Rooney Mara, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
• Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady" – another nomination! Wow.
• Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"

Supporting actor
• Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
• Jonah Hill, "Moneyball" – wow, an oscar nomination for Jonah Hill! I can’t BELIEVE it. He’s good and stuff, but oscar nod? Wow/
• Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
• Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
• Max von Sydow "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

Supporting actress
• Berenice Bejo, "The Artist" – supporting?! She’s the lead for crying out loud. Anyway, she was very good.
• Jessica Chastain, "The Help" – which one was she again?
• Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids" – wow, lots of nods to comedy this year, very cool.
• Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
• Octavia Spencer, "The Help" – oh COME ON. She was the comic relief of this movie. That’s nuts that she gets nominated. What a thin field.

Director
• Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist" = nice!
• Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
• Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris" – wow neat. I guess he won’t go, do you?
• Terrence Malick, "Tree of Life"
• Martin Scorsese, "Hugo" – cool.

Animated feature
• "A Cat in Paris"
• "Chico & Rita"
• "Kung Fu Panda 2"
• "Puss in Boots" – omg, what a thin field. No Pixar movie this year? I forgot. I
• "Rango"

Original screenplay
• "Bridesmaids"
• "A Midnight in Paris"
• "Margin Call"
• "A Separation"
• "The Artist" = yay

Adapted screenplay
• "The Descendants"
• "Hugo"
• "The Ides of March"
• "Moneyball"
• "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Best foreign language
• "Bullhead"
• "Footnote"
• "In Darkness"
• "Monsieur Lazhar"
• "A Separation"

You can't possibly be surprised that War Horse got a best picture nod. It got some pretty glowing reviews. I haven't seen it myself, but no worries. It's a token nomination, and not even for Spielberg (who couldn't score a director nod).

I'm sad to see Albert Brooks not score a supporting nomination for Drive but that made me realize that Gosling dot ZERO nominations this year?! He had some awesome performances! I would have loved to see a Drive acting nod but Ides of March was more expected. Neither?!

War Horse got glowing reviews? It got reviews like Gran Torino did. Positive reviews but overall very "ok." It doesn't look like anything special or different either. Some of these nominations are really surprising.

Admittedly, I haven't seen most of the movies that were nominated, but this must have been a pretty lame year for movies. Very few of those look as interesting as what usually gets nominated.

I'm surprised Tintin didn't get an animated nom. Haven't seen it, but I figured the Spielberg/Jackson tandem had enough juice to make that a sure thing.

I'm pretty sure mo-cap movies aren't eligible for animation nominations. I kind of see why, but they occupy a weird nether-world in the Oscars because of it. I really liked Tintin, it would have been nice to see it get a nomination.

War Horse got glowing reviews? It got reviews like Gran Torino did. Positive reviews but overall very "ok." It doesn't look like anything special or different either. Some of these nominations are really surprising.

The Oscars have never been a place that rewards new and exciting unless it was also very profitable. Remember, they gave Best Picture to Oliver! instead of 2001.

How much love has Kubrick had from the Oscars over the years? I haven't really looked into it.

Off the top of my head, Kubrick has never been super-successful at the Oscars, but at least part of that is because Kubrick always defied what was expected in a movie, and he made very challenging stuff.

Movie buffs like to think that the Oscars celebrate the best movies, but really they celebrate the "idea" of what's best about Hollywood. That's why so many traditional-style movies (like Forrest Gump) beat out more daring stuff (like Pulp Fiction).

When Hurt Locker beat Avatar, i had renewed faith in the Oscars. Or when Crash won, I thought that was cool.

Yeah, it does seem to be shifting lately. However, I think the bigger reason there is that movies are treated more and more as a product not just by studios, but by the general public. Just like it takes some effort and expense to get organic food, it takes extra effort to see a more pretigious picture, so they settle for Transformers. Critics don't normally need to pay, and they aren't consuming movies just to pass the time. So you have this gulf that just keeps getting wider and wider, and the Oscars are beginning to reflect that.

yeah, that's why I'm hoping the Artist really cleans up because it takes a ton of effort to go and see that (it's a silent movie for crying out loud). And I'm SO happy I saw it. I think it's asking for a leap of faith when you have the balls to make a movie like that so I hope it gets recognized properly. It's so good

Bah, the Oscar's, like the Grammy Awards are dead to me.

1) Too much politics are in it. Movies must reflect the prevailing political tilt in Hollywood to even be considered. Then there is the politics and campaigns to get nominated and voted for. Neither of these things have much to do with what is a good movie or bad.

2)To much elitism in what movies are even considered. Why in the f-ing world is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2 not nominated for anything? (or anything important...it may get some special effects award or some shit) Because it was embraced by the great unwashed and because it was a "kids" movie. Nominated movies have to fit a certain mold to even be considered and quality has little to do with it.

Frankly, The Oscars much like the Grammy's, are just one big insider circle jerk. It's too bad so much importance is still placed on them. And don't even get me started about the telecast...<vomit sound effect).

This is true. I would much rather see movies making the Film Critics Circle (NY, Boston, Chicago, &c) awards than most Best Picture winners. The Oscars are for Hollywood pictures and you need to work in the Hollywood system to get nods. Hence the chronically underwhelming Oscar attention to Kubrick, Scorsese, Coppola and other "outsiders." Yes, Scorsese is getting his due in these last 5 years or so. That makes up for 30 years of treating him like shit, I am sure. Woody Allen is an exception--folks that make movies just really like his movies, period.

What can really skew things are pictures like TITANIC. I can't find the ref, but someone worked out that almost 1/3rd of the Academy voters worked on TITANIC. It's like voting for yourself.

I once read something that said the Academy has no idea what makes a movie good, but they do know what goes into making movies in general. That's why they always are more impressed by enormous productions that involve countless man hours, like Titanic or Return of the King. The people who vote are the ones who actually know how to do this stuff. That doesn't make them a better judge of quality, but rather they will be more impressed by something that took more effort.

Barney -- have you seen Descendants yet? It really is a good movie. I would agree that it is more of an acting display -- kind of like Doubt was -- than necessarily a great movie.

As for Gosling -- he was just so "out acted" in Ides of March by PSH that it would have been odd to see him get the nod.

I really want to see Descendants but I do hear it's more about the performances (your comparison to Doubt is bang-on, I would add MONSTER in there too).

You found Gosling outacted by PSH in Ides? I thought PSH really phoned that in. Not a difficult role, no trying scenes at all. I thought it would be VERY Oscar-like to nominate Gosling for Ides but I would much rather see him nomination for either:

-Drive - he makes this movie, it's so awesome
-Crazy, Stupid Love - he turns this comedy into a drama. I can't explain it but what should have been a stupid romantic comedy was elevated to something much much more

San Defanso, the problem with your hypothesis is that Hurt Locker beat Avatar which throws all of that out the window? Everyone worked on Avatar and it LOST. It was so awesome.