Black Elephant Films

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”

First Impressions:

A lot of people may say that the biggest snub in this category is Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar, but I strongly disagree. J. Edgar wasn’t Clint Eastwood or DiCaprio’s best work (mainly because of a weak script) so it would have discredited the other nominees to simply nominate a work just based on reputation.

My biggest snub this year is Ryan Gosling in Drive (and I could even argue for Ides of March). Gosling has had a fantastic year, and it would have been nice to see him receive the recognition he deserves for an incredibly memorable performance.

Another snub in this category has to be Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 50/50. Levitt delivers a wonderfully down to earth and relatable performance in 50/50 that was clearly worthy of a nomination at least. With all due respect to George Clooney (who scored another much deserved nomination this year) if Levitt was George Clooney, he would be the odds-on favorite to take home the trophy this year  - but this is certainly a résumé building role for him – I get the feeling we’ll be seeing him receive a much deserved nomination in the near future.

Gary Oldman’s nomination seems to be more based on merit than on his actual performance, which I can respect; Oldman has a wonderful body of work, and it is nice to see him finally receive a nomination, even if it isn’t for his best work (not his fault, I blame the execution of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.)

I’m glad to see Brad Pitt receive a nomination for Moneyball (one of the feel good movies of the year) even though a part of me was hoping to see him get nominated for Tree of Life, but I’m perfectly fine with him receiving recognition for another wonderful performance.

George Clooney is fantastic. That’s all that needs to be said.

Jean Dujardin may have delivered one of the best modern performances I’ve ever seen – the fact that he is so convincing, charismatic, and relatable in a SILENT FILM really speaks (no pun intended) to how talented he is. This nomination is much deserved.

Based solely on word-of-mouth, a major snub seems to be Michael Fassbender in Shame. But it can be assumed that maybe the academy didn’t want to endorse an NC-17 rated movie about sex addiction.

There seems to have been a shift in recent academy ideology where nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role are granted to those playing historical figures, extremely tormented characters, or incredibly real and down-to-earth characters. I’m perfectly fine with this.

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”

First impressions:

                Overall, this seems to be a solid group. Anyone who has seen Jonah Hill progress over the years can’t help but to be happy for him to score an Oscar nomination. Arguments can be made that Ryan Gosling should have been recognized for Ides of March, Seth Rogen in 50/50, and there was even a strong campaign pushed for Andy Serkis for his role in the motion capture of Caesarin Rise of the Planet of the Apes (just watch the movie, and you’ll see how the argument is valid.)

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”

First impressions:

                It’s a pleasant surprise to see Rooney Mara receive a nomination for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was otherwise snubbed this year (I’ll get into that more later). Overall, this is probably the most prolific category this year aside form Best Picture. The deciding factor may be the merit and résumé of Meryl Streep who scored her 17^th Oscar nomination.

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”

First impressions:

                Everyone who saw Bridesmaids was crossing their fingers to see Melissa McCarthy score a nomination for her memorable role. This is the equivalent for a couple years ago when Robert Downey Jr. received a nomination for his role in Tropic Thunder. This is the nomination that the Academy needed in order to bring in by-the-wayside viewers.

                However, this award seems to be Octavia Spencer’s to run away with .

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

First impressions:

                Every single producer of each of these animated films is glad that they aren’t up against Toy Story 3. Based purely on how fantastic the animation was, my early instinct is to go with Rango.

Art Direction

• “The Artist” 
  Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” 
  Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “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

First impressions:

                Oscar voters may give this award to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 just out of pity and/or respect for the franchise. With all the buzz that The Artist has been generating, more people are likely to start seeing it, and more people are likely to fall in love with it. Not the way Potter fans wanted to see the franchise end in regards to the Academy Awards,

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

First impressions:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, War Horse, and The Artist all seem to be deserving of this award any other year. Tree of Life has been wrongfully snubbed at multiple awards this year, but luckily, Oscar voters love Terrence Malick Many people have mixed reactions about Tree of Life, but one thing that can’t be disputed is that the cinematography is once-in-a-lifetime type of fantastic. I hope this movie gets all the credit it deserves. Years from now, Tree of Life will be used as a teaching tool for upcoming cinematographers. It’s a travesty if anything other than Tree of Life takes home this award.

Costume Design

• “Anonymous” Lisy Christl
• “The Artist” Mark Bridges
• “Hugo” Sandy Powell
• “Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
• “W.E.” Arianne Phillips

First impressions:

                Yeah. Looks about right.

Directing

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

First impressions:

                What does The Academy have against David Fincher? I feel like he should have easily won the Oscar for best director for last years The Social Network and the fact that he didn’t even get nominated this year for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo feels as if The Academy is trying to make a statement. Then again, Fincher flat out said that there was too much rape in his movie to be recognized by the Oscars – so I guess this could probably be a ripple effect of his theory. The dark horse in this race is easily Terrence Malick, don’t give this award away just yet!

                When the first trailer for War Horse was released, it seemed almost as if this was Steven Spielberg’s Oscar bait, so it’s somewhat surprising to see he didn’t score a nomination.

Documentary (Feature)

• “Hell and Back Again” 
  Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
• “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” 
  Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
• “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” 
  Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
• “Pina” 
  Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
• “Undefeated” 
  TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

First impressions:

                Yeah…I should probably see at least one of these.

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” 
  Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
• “God Is the Bigger Elvis” 
  Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
• “Incident in New Baghdad” 
  James Spione
• “Saving Face” 
  Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
• “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” 
  Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

First impressions:

                Are these on Netflix instant? I’d watch them if they were on Netflix instant.

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

First impressions:

I promise, I’m not on Terrence Malick’s payroll, but Tree of Life should at least be nominated in this category.

Foreign Language Film

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

First impressions:

                Early indications are that they might as well have just given the statue to A Separation, but with the rest of these films receiving nominations, look for all four to start picking up steam as more people will start seeing them.

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
• “The Iron Lady” 
  Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

First impression:

                Another seemingly pity nomination for Deathly Hallows. Probably does have a chance to take home the award, but the one this The Iron Lady has in its favor is that their makeup was done in a Meryl Streep movie. Always a good résumé booster.

Music (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

First impression:

                It’s probably only fair to assume that this award will be given to a movie that features such a wide selection of original music, not to mention the fact that in this particular movie, 99% of what the audience hears is music. *cough* The Artist *cough*

Music (Original Song)

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

First impression:

                Two nominations? Really? I should have written a song this past year.

Best Picture

• “The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
• “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
• “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

First impressions:

                Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is one of the lowest critically reviewed movies EVER to receive a nomination for best picture. But then again, it may be the topic that scored it the nominations – wouldn’t exactly look good to snub a movie about one of the biggest tragedies in American History with two beloved actors (Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock).

                I can’t even explain how excited I am to see Tree of Life on this list. More on that in my next blog post.

                David Fincher was probably right – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has too much rape to be recognized by the academy. Wrong type of movie for the wrong year also – the theme of the Best Picture nominees this year seem to be less dark than in years past.

                Harry Potter fanatics will surely go on about how “wrong” it is that the final installment of the globally loved franchise was essentially forgotten aside from technical categories. They shouldn’t be; I’m a fan of both the books and movies, and I honestly don’t feel as if they were Oscar material. Just because the last movie was the best of the series, doesn’t mean it was the best movie of the year. What fans in uproar are forgetting is that the Oscars honor individual films – not series’, and as a stand-alone film completely independent of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 isn’t one of the best movies of the year.

Short Film (Animated)

• “Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
• “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
• “La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
• “A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
• “Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)

• “Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
• “Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
• “The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
• “Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
• “Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing

• “Drive” Lon Bender and Victor 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 Aadahl
• “War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing

• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” 
  David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
• “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

Visual Effects

• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” 
  Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
• “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

First impression

                This is the most realistic chance that Deathly Hallows Part 2 has at taking home an Oscar statue, but with all the support for the motion capture quality of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, don’t be surprised if there’s an upset.

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

First impression:

                Yet another snub for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I understand the nomination of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy because it was probably a great idea… on paper.

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

First impression:

                They didn’t see 50/50 did they? Bridesmaids was good, but 50/50 was far more deserving in that slot.