Oscars 2012 Nominees – ‘Hugo’ Grabs 11, ‘The Artist’ 10

My predictions were a bit rough this year, but I did correctly guess that “Hugo” and “The Artist” would lead the nominees. Both Best Picture nominees received more than 10 nominations, with “Hugo” earning 11.

In the unpredictable Best Picture race, nine films were nominated, so not much change from last year’s set 10. The big surprise was “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” which had been ignored during the entirety of Awards Season ’til now. It ended up with just two nominations.

Other major nominees were “Moneyball” and “War Horse” with six a piece, both of which earned a couple technical nominations to boost their totals. Right behind them with five a piece are “The Descendants” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” The latter film managed to do so without a nomination for Best Picture, Best Director or Best Adapated Screenplay, instead riding the performance of star Rooney Mara and four technical nominations.

Other notables were fan favorites “The Help” with four nominations (though no love for writer/director Tate Taylor) and “Bridesmaids” with two. “Midnight in Paris,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Tree of Life” and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” each received three nominations.

See the rest below along with how I did:

Best Motion Picture of the Year

• “The Artist”
• “The Descendants”
• “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
• “The Help”
• “Hugo”
• “Midnight in Paris”
• “Moneyball”
• “The Tree of Life”
• “War Horse”

Movie Muse Prediction: 6/9 Correct. I only predicted seven, so my one wrong guess was “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” I’m shocked as many are that “Extremely Loud” made the list, but I do have a theory that every major studio has to have a dog in the race, I just didn’t know it would still happen with the new rules. Warner Bros.’ film had one other nomination and still made Best Picture, which is wrong. Then again, if my theory were correct, “Bridesmaids” would’ve made the list for Universal.

Best Achievement in Directing

• Woody Allen – “Midnight in Paris”
• Michel Hazanavicius – ”The Artist”
• Terrence Malick – “The Tree of Life”
• Alexander Payne  – “The Descendants”
• Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

• Bérénice Bejo – “The Artist”
• Jessica Chastain – “The Help”
• Melissa McCarthy – “Bridesmaids”
• Janet McTeer – “Albert Nobbs”
• Octavia Spencer – “The Help”

Movie Muse Predictions: 4/5 Correct. I went against my gut and lost a perfect category chance. I didn’t think much of Shailene Woodley’s performance yet I put her in anyway. McCarthy will be a big story this year.

Best Performance by an 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 & Increibly Close”

Movie Muse Predictions: 4/5 Correct. And here begins my trend of getting one major sneak-in right but failing to get the second. I had Nolte for “Warrior” but didn’t think the Academy would overlook Albert Brooks for “Drive” like the Screen Actors Guild did.

Best Performance by an 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”

Movie Muse Prediction: 4/5 Correct. I was correct in guessing Rooney Mara would snag a nomination, but I did not think Tilda Swinton would be robbed for “We Need to Talk About Kevin.” Obviously not enough folks saw it and it didn’t receive much of an Oscar push.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

• Demian Bichir – “A Better Life”
• George Clooney – “The Descendants”
• Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”
• Gary Oldman – “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
• Brad Pitt – ”Moneyball”

Movie Muse Prediction: 4/5 Correct. Once again, I was correct in the snub of DiCaprio for Gary Oldman, but most figured Michael Fassbender would get a nomination for his harrowing role in “Shame,” as did I. Looks like another independent film (see “We Need to Talk About Kevin” above) got screwed.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

• “The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius
• “Bridesmaids” – Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumulo
• “Margin Call” – J.C. Chandor
• “Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen
• “A Separation” – Asghar Farhadi

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

• “The Descendants” – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• “Hugo” – John Logan
• “The Ides of March” – George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• “Moneyball” – Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, Stan Chervin
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” – Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

• “A Separation” (Iran)
• “Bullhead” (Belgium)
• “In Darkness” (Poland)
• “Monsieur Lazhar” (Canada)
• “Footnote” (Israel)

Movie Muse Prediction: 4/5 Correct. Always go with Israel, yet I failed to here. I’m impressed at guessing the others. I had read that “Bullhead” was kind of quirky and the Academy has gone in that direction lately with “Dogtooth” a perfect example last year. “Pima” must’ve lost out because it got nominated for Best Documentary

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

• “A Cat in Paris”
• “Chico and Rita”
• “Puss in Boots”
• “Rango”
• “Kung Fu Panda 2”

Movie Muse Prediction: 2/5 Correct. I did badly here. Given the weakness of many films in this category, it’s no surprise two foreign entries made it, but I really didn’t think the Academy would overlook “Cars 2.” And perhaps not enough people saw “The Adventures of Tintin” as animated since it’s motion capture.

Best Achievement in 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

Movie Muse Prection: 4/5 Correct. Notice a trend? I went with a riskier choice in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” when the next best option was clearly multiple-Oscar-winner Janusz Kaminski.

Best Achievement in Art Direction

• “The Artist” – Laurence Bennett; Robert Gould
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” – Stuart Craig; Stephenie McMillan
• “Hugo” – Dante Ferretti; Francesca Lo Schiavo
• “War Horse” – Rick Carter; Lee Sandales

Best Achievement in 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

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, 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

Movie Muse Prediction: 3/5 Correct. Many thought John Williams would indeed get two noms and low and behold, he did. I was surprised to not see Oscar winner Dario Marianelli in the mix either, but did find the score to “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” to be quite good. Nevertheless, modern scores continue to lose as nothing for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross again, or for The Chemical Brothers and “Hanna.”

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

• “Muppet or Man” by Bret McKenzie from “The Muppets”
• “Real in Rio” by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Siedah Garrett from “Rio”

Best Documentary, Features

• “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 Short Film, Live Action

• “Pentecost”
• “Raju”
• “The Shore”
• “Time Freak”
• “Tuba Atlantic”

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

• “Drive” – Lou Bender and Victory Ray Ennis
• “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 Aadahi
• “War Horse” – Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Overall Movie Muse Predictions: 57/81 Correct.

Rough year. I knew it would be hard, in addition to the uncertainty of the Best Picture category. I should’ve guessed 10 to be safe. My bad. Stay tuned all month for the most detailed Oscar category coverage out there!