Oscar Noms Are In - Mike the Greek Special

Today’s the day, folks, the best day of the year – the start of Oscar Pool season.

Every year in offices across the country Normal Petes and Regular Susans just barf up cold, hard cash onto the ground, picking The Mean Bat Fighter Starring Laughing Scar Face to win best picture.

Idiots.

They don’t do the math. They don’t do the statistical analysis necessary to realize that having an English dude die in the second act of your movie increases your odds by 74%.

They don’t know that the Academy favours actresses with two-syllable last names 4-1 over their longer-and-shorter-named co-stars (note: analysis pending, that’s a hot but as-yet unproven theory).

Who knows this stuff? I do. We do. If you listen to me talk about it with my mouth and the computer, you will to. And then welcome to you-got-your-money-took town, Normal Pete. Sorry about the Bat Picture, and how you’re a huge loser.

Here’s your first absolutely mortal lock pick of the day: Chris Plummer’s takin’ it home for Canada, and Beginners. Book it. 

Anywho, here’s the list of nominees:

 

BEST PICTURE

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

 

BEST DIRECTOR

 

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorcese -  Hugo
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life

BEST ACTOR

Demián Bichir – A Better Life
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt - Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud & 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 ANIMATED FEATURE

A Cat in Paris
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Chico & Rita
Rango

BEST DOC FEATURE

Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

BEST SHORT DOC

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 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Bullhead – Belgium
Footnote – Israel
In Darkness – Poland
Monsieur Lazhar – Canada
A Separation - Iran

BEST 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

ART DIRECTION

The Artist (Prod. Design: Laurence Bennett, Set Dec: Robert Gould)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 (Prod. Design: Stuart Craig, Set Dec: Stephenie McMillan)
Hugo (Prod. Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Dec: Francesca Lo Schiavo)
Midnight in Paris (Prod. Design: Anne Seibel, Set Dec: Hélène Dubreuil)
War Horse (Prod. Design: Rick Carter, Set Ce. Lee Sandales)

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

COSTUME DESIGN

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

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 Hellan

ORIGINAL SCORE

The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams
The Artist – Ludovic Bource
Hugo – Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Inglesias
War Horse – John Williams

ORIGINAL SONG

Man or Muppet – The Muppets
Real in Rio – RIO

ANIMATED SHORT

Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

LIVE ACTION SHORT

Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

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 Rydstro

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

BEST 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 Straugha

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Artist- Written by Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmairds - 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