The Good, The Bad, & The Missing: 2012 Oscar Nominations
A full list of nominations can be found here
Best Picture/Best Director
The good: Pleased to see Hugo and Martin Scorsese receive the recognition they deserve.
The bad: WAR HORSE??? Are you freaking kidding me. That emotional blackmail over-music’d cheese-fest is not even close to being a best picture. Extremely loud and Incredibly Close seems an odd choice as it has no other nominations to support it up there at the top.
The missing: No TGWTDT which is a good omission. The list of bad omissions is long. For a start: Drive, Melancholia, Take Shelter, Shame. I would have loved it if Winding Refn had received a directing nomination, but that was never going to happen.
Acting awards
The good: Gary Oldman!!! It’s about time the Academy recognised this distinguished actor. He is brilliant in Tinker Tailor and this is a much deserved nomination. Rooney Mara is fantastic as Lisabeth in TGWTDT. She gives her all to the role and I’m happy to see her name amongst the nominees.
The bad: Jonah Hill? Really? He was fine in Moneyball, but not at the expense of some of the missing actors. As much as I loved Bridesmaids I don’t get the awards love for it. McCarthy is good but is she better than Carey Mulligan in Shame or Drive? Wiig is slightly more deserving of a nomination, but I still can’t get behind it.
The missing: How the Academy overlooked Micahel Fassbender I do not know. Did they even watch Shame, or were they covering their prudish eyes? Carey Mulligan should have been there for Shame or Drive. The omission of both Micahel Shannon (Take Shelter) and Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia) is ridiculous but not unsurprising. I haven’t seen We Need to Talk About Kevin, but by all accounts Tilda Swinton missing out was not a good thing.
Finally ALBERT BROOKS! He was the 2nd favourite in this race for months and months. He pulled off bad so very very good. I’m astonished that Jonah Hill got a nomination over him.
Best Animated Film
The good: A Cat in Paris is an absolutely charming film
The bad: Puss in Boats?? Really. It was fine, but better than some of the notable omissions? I don’t think so.
The missing: Umm remember that animated film that Speilberg directed?? Yeah that one. How Tintin can not even be nominated is beyond me. Backlash against motion capture??
Art/Sound/Technical Categories
The good: Cinematorgraphy nominations are the one category I can truly get behind for Tree of Life and TGWTDT. Visually these films are astounding and the way they are pieced together is masterful. Great to see Tinker Tailor receive a nomination for it’s score. It really did an awful lot towards creating the atmosphere of distrust in the film. ROTPOTA is very deserving of it’s visual effects nomination.
The bad: War Horse for best original score?? Oh come on. More like ‘Best use of music to induce vomiting. Only two nominations for original song? While I’m happy to see New Zealander Bret Mckenzie nominated, the category seems a bit of a joke.
The missing: Too many to almost bother commenting. No original score nomination for TGWTDT, No editing nomination for Shame or Tree of Life or Drive. I would have loved to see Tinker Tailor pick up a costume or cinematography nomination.
Stray thoughts on the rest
The good: Great to see Pina pick up a nomination for best documentary. Pretty happy that both The Ides of March and Tinker Tailor picked up nominations for best adapted screenplay.
The bad: Bridesmadis for best original screenplay?? Ho..hum..
The missing: No best documentary nomination for Bill Cunningham New York? How can that be?
That’s all from me. A rather mixed bag of Oscar nominations. Now to stew for a month until the ceremony.
