Nominations announced. The Big 5, below. & all awards, at the link.

Best Picture

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnite in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

(Pulling for the Descendants, expecting The Artist, but think Midnite in Paris, Hugo, or Extremely Loud... could win.)

Best Director

Woody Allen, Midnite in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

(Pulling for Woody Allen, expecting Hazanavicius, but thinking Malick might get a Polanski-in-2003-for-the-Pianist style lifetime achievement award.)

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

(Pulling for Rooney Mara, expecting Viola Davis, but wouldn't be shocked by a win for Glenn Close.)

Best Actor

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

(Pulling for Demian Bichir, expecting Dujardin, but any of the other three could win (Clooney prolly most deserving of those three).)

Best Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa Mc Carthy, Bridesmaids
Janet Mc Teer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

(Pulling for Melissa Mc Carthy, expecting Octavia Spencer, but Jessica Chastain could get a combined award for the score of films she did in 2011.)

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

(Christopher Plummer has this. Pulling for him, expecting him, von Sydow is the only other one with a chance.)

Nick Nolte is still making movies? Of course, I haven't been to a non-kiddie movie in years...

maybe it's just me, but I thought Jonah Hill was average AT BEST in Moneyball. they couldnt find anyone else there?

fucking Tree of Life was just impossible to sit through. Liked but didn't love The Descendants and Moneyball...I'd probably go for ol Woody on this one.

this is gonna sweep

Dalen,

I am assuming that's Secret Diary of a Callgirl starring Jessie Andrews, which is great, but I said Academy, not AVN, Awards.

Man, Tintin and Albert Brooks took it UP THE ASS.

"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"? Does Tom Hanks being in a movie automatically put it up for Best Picture?

"Drive" as a whole got the shaft... pun intended.

I've only seen Moneyball, Midnight in Paris, and Descendants. I'd probably give the edge to Midnight in Paris.

I'm kind of surprised to even see Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close on there seeing that it's been mostly shat on by critics.

nothing for Patton Oswalt or Albert Brooks in the Supporting Actor Catagory...laaaaaame.

Michael Shannon definitely should've been nominated for best actor. I haven't seen A Better Life or The Artist yet but Shannon was better than those other three---they were all good but Shannon was great in Take Shelter.

Haven't seen it but see husker's response above yours. Hanks + Daldry = Oscar nom. I haven't seen it but have read that it's a little ham fisted and a little too eager to capitalize on 9/11. I could be wrong.

I saw The Artist and The Descendants over the weekend. I appreciated and admired the Artist more than enjoyed it and The Descendants was fine with some great acting and some comments on the messiness of life but also depressing.

Midnight In Paris was pretty good and only the 2nd Woody movie I've enjoyed in 20 years (other being Vicki Cristina Barcelona).

Still need to see Tree of Life, Hugo, My Week With Marilyn, Tinker Tailer, and The Iron Lady.

Overall though, pretty weak year for Best Pics and if agree on Gosling and Drive. Even though I didn't find it mind blowing like some here, if Warhorse and The Help can get noms, it should.

Drive should have gotten a Best Picture nod, as well, A Separation (though, it's hard for straight-up foreign films to break that barrier). & it's only surprising that Gosling didn't get a nod for Actor, in that Chastain did for Supporting Actress; in each case, the nom would have been for body of work (Chastain: Tree of Life, The Debt, The Help; Gosling: Drive, Ides of March, Crazy Stupid Love). But, Actor possibilities were heavy with A-listers this year (Clooney, Pitt... & di Caprio, had J. Edgar been a bit better received), so not to be unexpected that Gosling was passed over. (Anyway, he deserved a win more for Half-Nelson &/or Lars & the Real Girl. Not that he got one. (Ditto Michelle Williams for Wendy & Lucy, not that she'll win for My Week with Marilyn, either.))

As to Albert Brooks, his lack of a nom cleared the field for Plummer, who was prolly going to get it over Brooks, regardless. (Beginners + Dragon Tattoo > Drive.)

Patton should have made it over Jonah Hill

Disappointed that Ben Kingsley wasn't nominated for Hugo. He was outstanding.

haven't seen any of those movies.

What a sack of dogshit. When's the last time the nominees were this fucking Gawd Awful?



I can't believe Baby Goose got shut out. It's the accent right? Because he was pretty good in Ides of March - which despite some obvious flaws in portraying how campaigns are actually structured was a pretty good flick.

*SPOILER ALERT*






When was the last time you saw a movie where the nominal protaganist fuhs an intern, learns she's banging his hero boss, takes her to get a scrape (not his kid, boss's kid), bails on picking her up so she kills herself and then blackmails the boss (Clooney as John-Barack EdwarBama) into the top job?


You want BLEAK? That's some THERE IS NO FUTURE shit. And while it's a little melodramatic, the game is as cutthroat and backstabby as they portray. Today's friend is tomorrow's nemesis, and everyone's all smiles. Sorry kid, that's the way it goes.

Your expertise on the nominees is duly noted. Congrats on becoming the Rogneeb of film opinions.

Gotta agree with Rads here. What did you see this year that you can give an actual meaningful opinion about?

And what do you hate so much about Alexander Payne? Maybe I'm mistaken but I seem to remember you slamming at least 2 of his other films that you hadn't even seen. I'm just curious because I think he makes pretty good movies.

someone just paste GAR's head onto one of these bodies.

Nevermind. I did a quick search and we've had this argument before--7 years ago. I just forgot. No need to rehash.

Radcliffe, don't tell me you can't judge what's good and what's not (to you) with 90% accuracy without needing to watch everything. If you need to actually see something as cloying and grief-porny as ELAIC to know its terrible, I'm sorry.

Artist isn't playing here. The rest don't deserve my hard earned money or happy hour time. An example of a movie I recently watched and enjoyed is above -- and it's not because it's in my wheelhouse, most of the industry-specific scenes were off base.

I also gave Margin Call a gushing review in the movies thread. I'd like to know what you think about some of these. And Marco, don't get too bent out of shape, bro - remember who win the Oscar pools 2 or 3 years running.

Glaring omissions:

Picture -- Hanna, Win Win. Could easily replace The Help or Extremely Loud... &/or War Horse.

Actress -- Saoirse Ronan (Hanna). Sorry, Meryl, gotta go.

Actor -- Paul Giamatti (The Hangover: Part II... Nah, brah, I mean, Win Win), Owen Wilson (Midnite in Paris). One, but prolly not both, could be here, replacing Dujardin.

Director &/or Original Screenplay -- Tom Mc Carthy (Win Win). Marty, out.

Most obviously, though, anybody pining for the backpacker hip-hop* of stand-up (Patton) to be nominated should really be cheesed about Ronan & Giamatti getting ignored.

*I'm supposed to like it, particularly in contrast to the "radio-saturating pablum/pabulum like Jeezy & Kreayshawn", but I'm just not smart enough to get it.

Just kidding around Loogs. I do think to completely dismiss a movie without seeing it is a mistake--something might surprise you.

And as for those Oscar pools I'm pretty sure I won a couple too. Maybe we should resurrect that contest this year.

Wow, this thread makes me realize how few movies I went to last year, especially of the Oscar variety.