84th Annual Academy Award Nominations Announced

Today was the release of Oscar nominees.  It was the moment I would find out what films and actors/actresses would forever be known as Academy Award nominees/winners.  It is also the day I know how many movies I will be seeing the weekends prior to the award ceremony on February 26.  This year it will be a total of nine movies in the AMC Best Picture Nominee Picture Showcase and I have only seen one of the nominees, that being Moneyball.
Hugo received the most nominations with 11.  A bit of a surprise is the lack of a Pixar movie in the Best Animated Picture category.  Since the inception of the Best Animated Picture category in 2001, Pixar has received a nomination for all eight of its films released, winning six Oscars in that time.  Two of those winning films, Up and Toy Story 3, even received Best Picture nominations.  The two movies to not win the Best Animated Picture statuette were Monsters, Inc. and Cars.  As I didn't think Cars 2 was that great a movie, I was sure it wouldn't win the award this year, but to not even be nominated was not expected.
Below are all the nominees for every category.

Best Picture
The Artist - Thomas Langmann
The Descendants - Jim Burke, Jim Taylor, Alexander Payne
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Scott Rudin
The Help - Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Branathan
Hugo - Graham King, Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris - Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum
Moneyball - Michael De Luca, Rachel Horowitz, Brad Pitt
The Tree of Life - Nominees to be determined
War Horse - Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy

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
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as George Smiley
Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane
Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin
Demian Bichir – A Better Life as Carlos Galindo
George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King

Best Actress
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs as Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help as Aibileen Clarke
Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Lisbeth Salander
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help

Best Writing – Original Screenplay
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids - Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
Margin Call - J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

Best Writing – 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, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan

Best Animated Feature
Une vie de chat
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Foreign Language Film
Bullhead - Michael R. Roskam, Belgium
Footnote - Joseph Cedar, Israel
In Darkness - Agnieszka Holland, Poland
Monsieur Lazhar - Philippe Falardeau, Canada
A Separation - Asghar Farhadi, Iran

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 Subject
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami

Best Live Action Short Film
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best 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

Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from Rio – Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

Best Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Best Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

Best Art Direction
The Artist – Laurence Bennett and Robert Gould
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – Stuart Craig and Stephenie McMillan
Hugo – Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
War Horse – Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

Best 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

Best Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Iron Lady

Best Costume Design
Anonymous – Lisy Christl
The Artist – Mark Bridges
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O'Connor
W.E – Arianne Phillips

Best Film Editing
The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants – Kevin Tent
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball – Christopher Tellefsen

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