Wednesday 25 January 2012

Road to the Oscars

ROAD TO THE OSCARS


With the nominations of the 84th Academy Awards released yesterday morning, a few people were left scratching their heads as Scorceses’ Hugo swept the board with a dominating 11 nominations. Critic’s favourite The Artist met expectations and closely followed with an impressive 10 but its suggested rival The Descendants fell drastically behind with only 4. Speilberg was surprisingly overlooked in the Best Directors category for his dramatic and compelling adaptation of War Horse, not to mention the exclusion not only of Leonardo Di Caprio in the Best Actor category but J.Edgar’s overall dismissal. Instead, Bichir received this nomination for his role in A Better Life (perhaps not expected, but deserved) -surprisingly left out of Best Foreign Film alongside A Separation. No stand-outs appear to be headlining the Best Animated Picture and Bridesmaid’s 2 nominations appear a distant hope for success.

A big cheer for film fans was the announcement of Gary Oldman’s Best Actor nomination for his leading role in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Oldman, never to have received a nomination previously- a shocking revelation in itself- and left our of last month’s Golden Globes is reported to have been shocked but overwhelmed by the news- ‘It is extremely humbling, gratifying and delightful to have your work recognised by the Academy.’ Fingers crossed for his long-awaited triumph!


However, where there’s revelations, there’s always the certainties that pull through! Meryl Streep’s genius performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady gained a firm nod for Best Actress and favourite Jean Dujardin’s history-making role in silent movie, The Artist, met its “dead-cert” expectations for Best Actor. Best Picture is a tough category this year. With the rules changed this year meaning that anywhere between 5-10 pictures could be nominated, the competition is rife for the chosen 9- no shocks there in particular regarding chosen nominees. The Harry Potter series picked up its usual nominations for Best Art Direction & Best Visual Effects with its Deathly Hallows Part 1 and the latest Transformer franchise (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) picked up similar recognition for its artistic and visual success.

Also seeming to be welcomed with good reception is the nominations picked up by Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (one of the few films nominated that I have not seen yet) who is up for Best Picture. Are we in for an "extremely loud" upset? Critics however have panned this movie since its release and it could be equally up for, and perhaps more likely to succeed in, the film worse reviewed that has achieved an Oscar nomination (or so the rumours say!)



Below, the Academy nominations across the board (as on BBC website):


BEST PICTURE

War Horse

The Tree of Life

The Artist

Moneyball

The Descendants

Midnight in Paris

The Help

Hugo

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


BEST DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life


BEST ACTOR

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Demian Bichir - A Better Life

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

George Clooney - The Descendants

Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy


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


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


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo - The Artist

Jessica Chastain - The Help

Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer - The Help


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Bullhead - Belgium

Footnote - Israel

In Darkness - Poland

Monsieur Lazhar - Canada

A Separation – Iran


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids - Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig

Margin Call - JC Chandor

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen

A Separation - Asghar Farhadi


BEST ANIMATION

A Cat in Paris

Chico and Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and 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 Solider Spy - Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan


BEST ART DIRECTION

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

War Horse


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Artist

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

The Tree of Life

War Horse


BEST SOUND MIXING

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse


BEST SOUND EDITING

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse


BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Man or Muppet from The Muppets - music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie

Real in Rio from Rio - music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown and lyrics by Siedah Garrett


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Adventures of Tintin

The Artist

Hugo

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

War Horse


BEST COSTUMES

Anonymous

The Artist

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Undefeated


BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

God is the Bigger Elvis

Incident in New Baghdad

Saving Face

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom


BEST FILM EDITING

The Artist

The Descendants

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball


BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Dimanche/Sunday

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore

La Luna

A Morning Stroll

Wild Life


BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Penecost

Raju

The Shore

Time Freak

Tuba Atlantic


BEST 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


BEST MAKE-UP

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The Iron Lady



Certainly an interesting and anticipated line-up with plenty of room for further bomb-shells to be dropped! The live broadcasting of the 84th Academy Awards will be held on the 26th February.

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