The 84th Academy Award nominations (and my predictions).

It’s always an interesting day when the nominations are announced for the Oscars. After The Artist took center stage at the Golden Globes it seems as though this could be the film to beat. This time around I’ll look at the likely winners and the ones I hope win.The likely winners are in green and my hopefuls are in blue.

Keeping in mind that I haven’t seen many of the nominated films, I don’t intend to ignore or criticize the other films nominated. The Academy has a tough job to do when they sort through the hundreds of submitted movies each year. I’m excited to see the show and see who wins this time around. If you want to watch the show don’t forget to tune in to ABC on February 26th at 7E/4P.

Actor in a Leading Role

• Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
• George Clooney in “The Descendants”
• Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” – After the Golden Globes it’s hard to bet against The Artist.
• Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
• Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” – I loved this performance and it would be great to see Pitt get some recognition for a great role.

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
• Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” – This was an outstanding performance and a great movie. 
• Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
• Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” – Plummer has created a lot of buzz with this performance which also got him a Golden Globe this year.
• Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

I would’ve liked to see more recognition for 50/50 in this category. Seth Rogen gave a great performance in an incredible film. It’s also important to note that Albert Brooks outstanding performance in Drive has been overlooked this year.

Actress in a Leading Role

• Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
• Viola Davis in “The Help”
• Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – This is a tough category to choose. Mara played this role incredibly well, but she’s up against some stiff competition.
• Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
• Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn” – Having only seen one movie from this category I’ll go with Williams as the likely winner due to the Golden Globe she pulled in for the role.

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” – This category will hopefully recognize The Help a film that has generated a lot of talk, but little in the way of recognition. If voters aren’t too in love with The Artist, Spencer could bring home a statue like she did at the Golden Globes.
  

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 – Rango has been well received and seems likely to win the category.

I’ve seen none of these films and I’m disappointed that TinTin isn’t even in the mix. I’m not sure that I’d spend money to see any of the movies that were nominated.

Art Direction

• “The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould – Do I need to say anything? This movie should take the category without question.
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2“ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan – This was a visually spectacular movie that shouldn’t have been ignored in some other major categories.
• “Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
• “Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
• “War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography

• “The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth – This is one that could go a number of ways on award day. The camera work in this movie was great, and I hope it wins.
• “Hugo” Robert Richardson
• “The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki – Films by Malick are wonderful to look at, and this could bring home the trophy. 
• “War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design

• “Anonymous” Lisy Christl
• “The Artist” Mark Bridges
• “Hugo” Sandy Powell – The category is pretty self-explanatory.
• “Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor – Having seen only clips of the movie I think this one has a great shot.
• “W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Directing

• “The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” Alexander Payne
• “Hugo” Martin Scorsese
• “Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen – This should be a winner for Woody Allen. From the start the critics and movie goers have loved it. Once again, this all hinges on the voters love affair with The Artist.
• “The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Film Editing

• “The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” Kevin Tent – With all the success at the Golden Globes, this could take home a win here. 
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall – This was one of my top 5 movies of 2011 and I have high hopes for it.
• “Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
• “Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Makeup

• “Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin – If you’ve seen the movie this shouldn’t even be a contest.
• “The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)

• “The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
• “The Artist” Ludovic Bource – I don’t think the other films in the category stand a chance.
• “Hugo” Howard Shore
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
• “War Horse” John Williams – Great score, great movie.

I have to ask, where is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? That was the best score of 2011 and it’s been ignored completely, sad move by the voters.

Best Picture

• “The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer – I don’t see any of the other movies having a chance, with the exception of Midnight in Paris and The Descendants.
• “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers – This isn’t the likely winner, just one I’m pulling for.
• “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
• “The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
• “Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
• “Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
• “Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
• “The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
• “War Horse“ Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Sound Editing

• “Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis – This movie did so many things right, I hope they get something for the work.
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
• “Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl – This movie does more than the other nominees in the sound department.
• “War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing

• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson – This is purely a fan’s pick.
• “Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
• “Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
• “War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson – What a great movie with great sound to go along with it. 

Visual Effects

• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson – Once again, give Potter some love!
• “Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
• “Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
• “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier – These were some good visual effects. 

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – Having not seen the movie, I’ll stick with what I know about all these nominees. This one should pull out a win.
• “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 – What a great look at an incredible true story. 
• “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 – I’m pulling for Woody Allen in this category. This film might be his best in years. 
• “A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi