They’re here! The Oscar Nominations are in. Are there some surprises? You betcha!
Probably the biggest surprise of the whole shebang is pretty much Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow not being nominated for Best Director. That’s a real bummer. Man, what does this guy have to do to prove that he’s no longer one half of Bennifer? We’re sure that’s not the long and short of it. Some are surmising that both films, Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, were just too political. And it’s true we’ve just come off of a highly politically charged time in American history — one that is still debating fiscal issues, gun control, and the nutterbeans that make up the GOP — but can we really say that this is just about politics fatigue? In Zero Dark Thirty‘s case, perhaps the political/moral bend cut just a little too close to the vest for some Academy voters, and well, Argo, was maybe just too old of a story. While entertaining, maybe just not poignant enough with its mutton chops and bell bottoms and surreptitious comedic moments. Nonetheless, we just want to say that we think Ben has come a very, very long way, thank you very much. Hopefully he’ll get the nod the next go round. We’ve got the feeling it was sooo close.
And now we should mention Joaquin Phoenix. Well, he managed to secure the nomination even though his pre-nomination antics were more than a little questionable. Funny how the Academy will throw a bone out to one of the more contentious and bizarre actors going, and forgo other big names like Leo DiCaprio who’s been plugging away at this whole Oscar bait thing for eons, and John Hawkes who has also put forth stellar work as of late, neither of whom having taken time off to have a rap career, or a beard career, or a fall off a stage career, natch.
My goodness. Little nine year old Quvenzhan Wallis gets a Best Actress nod for her role in Beasts of the Southern Wild. That’s got to be a real thrill. All of a sudden even though her category features Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, and Naomi Watts as frontrunners, aren’t you just pulling for this little ingénue?
And lastly we come to the moment when we all rolled our eyes this morning, outside of hating Seth MacFarlane’s and Emma Stone’s way-too-early-for-snark jokes, there was the weirdly giddy and simpleton-esque mirth that surrounded MacFarlane’s acknowledgment of his Oscar (YES OSCAR!) nod for coming up with the lyrics to “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted.” So now you have in your memory banks the fact that “Ted,” the movie about an over-sexualized teddy bear, is now an Oscar nominated film. There will probably be a tagline on the DVD box now and a footnote in IMDB!
Ruminate on that, America. Ben Affleck is somewhere having a drink with Matt Damon while saying how this is all “Horseshit!” (Best Boiler Room line, ever.) and Todd MacFarlane is now an Oscar nominated host of the Academy Awards.
Tell us your thoughts in the comments. Here are many of the big noms.
Performance by an actor in a leading role
* Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
* Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
* Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables"
* Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
* Denzel Washington in "Flight"
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
* Alan Arkin in "Argo"
* Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
* Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
* Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"
Performance by an actress in a leading role
* Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
* Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"
* Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
* Quvenzhané Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
* Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
* Amy Adams in "The Master"
* Sally Field in "Lincoln"
* Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables"
* Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
* Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"
Best animated feature film of the year
* "Brave" Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
* "Frankenweenie" Tim Burton
* "ParaNorman" Sam Fell and Chris Butler
* "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" Peter Lord
* "Wreck-It Ralph" Rich Moore
Achievement in directing
* "Amour" Michael Haneke
* "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Benh Zeitlin
* "Life of Pi" Ang Lee
* "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg
* "Silver Linings Playbook" David O. Russell
Best documentary feature
* "5 Broken Cameras"
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
* "The Gatekeepers"
Nominees to be determined
* "How to Survive a Plague"
Nominees to be determined
* "The Invisible War"
Nominees to be determined
* "Searching for Sugar Man"
Nominees to be determined
Best documentary short subject
* "Inocente"
Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
* "Kings Point"
Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
* "Mondays at Racine"
Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
* "Open Heart"
Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
* "Redemption"
Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
Best foreign language film of the year
* "Amour" Austria
* "Kon-Tiki" Norway
* "No" Chile
* "A Royal Affair" Denmark
* "War Witch" Canada
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
* "Anna Karenina" Dario Marianelli
* "Argo" Alexandre Desplat
* "Life of Pi" Mychael Danna
* "Lincoln" John Williams
* "Skyfall" Thomas Newman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
* "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
* "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
* "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
* "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
* "Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Best motion picture of the year
* "Amour" Nominees to be determined
* "Argo" Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
* "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
* "Django Unchained" Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
* "Les Misérables" Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
* "Life of Pi" Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
* "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
* "Silver Linings Playbook" Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
* "Zero Dark Thirty" Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers
Best animated short film
* "Adam and Dog" Minkyu Lee
* "Fresh Guacamole" PES
* "Head over Heels" Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
* "Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"" David Silverman
* "Paperman" John Kahrs
Best live action short film
* "Asad" Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
* "Buzkashi Boys" Sam French and Ariel Nasr
* "Curfew" Shawn Christensen
* "Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)" Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
* "Henry" Yan England
Achievement in visual effects
* "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
* "Life of Pi"
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
* "Marvel's The Avengers"
Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
* "Prometheus"
Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
* "Snow White and the Huntsman"
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson
Adapted screenplay
* "Argo" Screenplay by Chris Terrio
* "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
* "Life of Pi" Screenplay by David Magee
* "Lincoln" Screenplay by Tony Kushner
* "Silver Linings Playbook" Screenplay by David O. Russell
Original screenplay
* "Amour" Written by Michael Haneke
* "Django Unchained" Written by Quentin Tarantino
* "Flight" Written by John Gatins
* "Moonrise Kingdom" Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
* "Zero Dark Thirty" Written by Mark Boal
