[mtlmouth]

Full list here.
Highlights:

Best Picture
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"Moneyball"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis in "The Help"
Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

Animated Feature Film
"A Cat in 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

Directing
"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Alexander Payne
"Hugo" Martin Scorsese
"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
"The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
"Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
"The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
"Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

[Role Modlin]

I have not seen a single film on that list...not even the ones in the Actor/Actress categories.

[Epaphras]

Moneyball was good but I didn't consider it Oscar-worthy.

[Role Modlin]

Looking back at it...The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the only one I really want to see.

[SupaNova]

Originally Posted by Role Modlin

I have not seen a single film on that list...not even the ones in the Actor/Actress categories.

Same here. I recognized half of the big names, but I haven't seen any of those films.

[MtlMom]

I've seen quite a few of them, and my goal is always to see them all before the awards. My favorite movie of the year was The Help, but the only award I expect it to win is best actress for Viola Davis.

[Ted Logan]

Ooh. I can't WAIT to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy! I'm about 75% through the book and it's been awesome.

[Thrash]

Originally Posted by Ted Logan

Ooh. I can't WAIT to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy! I'm about 75% through the book and it's been awesome.

This is the only movie I have actually wanted to see for a while. I couldn't find it anywhere near me, which was very disappointing.

[Art]

I've seen Moneyball and The Help. Both were fantastic. I look forward to seeing the rest of the nominees soon.

[bowstaff981]

Pretty underwhelming list of nominations for what, honestly, has been a pretty underwhelming year of movies IMO

[corporate]

Originally Posted by MtlMom

I've seen quite a few of them, and my goal is always to see them all before the awards. My favorite movie of the year was The Help, but the only award I expect it to win is best actress for Viola Davis.

Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher and Michelle Williams playing Marilyn Monroe, it's got to be between them.

Originally Posted by bowstaff981

Pretty underwhelming list of nominations for what, honestly, has been a pretty underwhelming year of movies IMO

Not as much if you include indie and foreign films. But yes, still not a great year.

Michael Shannon should be up there instead of Brad Pitt. Tree of Life should win Cinematography. A Separation deserved a nod for Best Film, will probably win the Foreign category. Great to see Bullhead get a nod as well. And Jonah Hill? Seriously? Moneyball was good, but not Oscar worthy.

[mtlmouth]

Originally Posted by corporate

Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher and Michelle Williams playing Marilyn Monroe, it's got to be between them.

Definitely agreed. I haven't seen The Iron Lady yet, but I expect it to be another quality Meryl Streep performance. Michelle Williams was great in My Week With Marilyn, though, and I expect them to be the primary competitors for the award. It's nice to see some recognition for Rooney Mara also, though she does still have two more movies to fill out the role of Lisbeth Salander.


The love for Moneyball is kind of surprising and confusing to me as well. It was good, yes, but not that good. I think that Brad Pitt getting a nomination for that role is somewhat unwarranted, especially since Leonardo DiCaprio didn't receive a nomination for J. Edgar (a film I left fully expecting him to win Best Actor for). And Jonah Hill? I don't get it.

I still need to catch a couple of the Best Picture nominees, but as of now, I'm predicting The Artist will win it.

Also, I still don't have a good sense of what goes into some of the other categories. How can I, as a moviegoer, tell if a film has great cinematography, or just good art direction? Even more to the point, how can I tell if the pace of a movie comes from good directing or a good screenplay? Anyone have any insight on this?

[dogfood]

Hey what about the New Zealander in the Original song category????

[corporate]

Originally Posted by mtlmouth

Also, I still don't have a good sense of what goes into some of the other categories. How can I, as a moviegoer, tell if a film has great cinematography, or just good art direction? Even more to the point, how can I tell if the pace of a movie comes from good directing or a good screenplay? Anyone have any insight on this?

Cinematography is camerawork; art direction is production design, basically.

Blame the director. It's a collaboration between director and editor.

[Lego Master]

I know that this year the number of nominees for best picture could have been anywhere from 5-10, so they could have added Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 as a tenth nominee but oh well.
As for the actual movies nominated for best picture, the only one I have seen is The Help, and I thought it was pretty good. I also really need to see Hugo sometime, since it was nominated for almost every academy award there is (minus acting categories).