I love Oscar nomination day. Usually I’ll take off time from work and watch as the announcements are made live – the feeling of wonder, amazement, and sycophantic glee is almost tangible as the names are listed off. Then, it’s quick to the website to post the nominations along with (not-so)witty commentary as to where the nominations are good and bad.

Unfortunately, this year, I am way too far behind on many things to be able to do that. I can go ahead and post the nominees, and later today I’ll probably write up an editorial as to my take on the nominations. Until then, however, you’ll just have to live with the bland, lifeless reporting of the nominations below. All I can say for now is that I’m pretty excited about a few of the nominations, and I suspect it might be a far more interesting year for the Academy Awards than many of us were expecting – after all, when a family-friendly 3D picture directed by Martin Scorsese leads the pack in nominations, all bets are off.

2012 Academy Award Nominations (84th Academy Awards)

Best Picture

The Artist  

The Descendants  

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Help  

Hugo  

Midnight in Paris  

Moneyball  

The Tree of Life  

War Horse

Directing

 The Artist  - Michel Hazanavicius

 The Descendants  - Alexander Payne

 Hugo –  Martin Scorsese

 Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen

 The Tree of Life – Terrence Malick

Actor in a Leading Role

Demián Bichir –  A Better Life  

George Clooney –  The Descendants

Jean Dujardin –  The Artist

Gary Oldman –  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt –  Moneyball

 

Actress in a Leading Role

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

 

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh –  My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill –  Moneyball

Nick Nolte –  Warrior

Christopher Plummer –  Beginners

Max von Sydow –  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

 

Actress in a Supporting Role

Bérénice Bejo –  The Artist

Jessica Chastain –  The Help

Melissa McCarthy –  Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer –  Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer –  The Help

 

Animated Feature Film

 A Cat – Paris  Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli

Chico & Rita – Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Puss in Boots  - Chris Miller

Rango  - Gore Verbinski

 

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

 The Descendants  - Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Hugo  -  John Logan

The Ides of March  -  George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon

Moneyball  -  Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin  Story by Stan Chervin

 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy  - Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

 

Writing (Original Screenplay)

The Artist  -  Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids  -  Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig

Margin Call  -  J.C. Chandor

Midnight in Paris  -  Woody Allen

 A Separation  -  Asghar Farhadi

 

Visual Effects

 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2  

 Hugo  

 Real Steel  

 Rise of the Planet of the Apes  

 Transformers: Dark of the Moon  

 

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 (Original 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)

 

Art Direction

 The Artist  

 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2  

 Hugo  

 Midnight in Paris  

 War Horse

 

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

The Artist

Hugo

 Jane Eyre

 W.E.

 

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  - Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

 Pina  - Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel

 Undefeated  - TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

 

Documentary (Short Subject)

“ The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin

“ God Is the Bigger Elvis” – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson

“Incident – New Baghdad” – James Spione

“ Saving Face” – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

“ The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

 

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

 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2  

 The Iron Lady

 

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

“Raju” – Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren

“The Shore” – Terry George and Oorlagh George

“Time Freak” –  Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey

“Tuba Atlantic” –  Hallvar Witzø

 

Sound Editing

 Drive  

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 Hugo

 Transformers: Dark of the Moon

 War Horse

 

Sound Mixing

 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  

 Hugo  

 Moneyball  

 Transformers: Dark of the Moon  

 War Horse