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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
AWARDS SEASON 2012
"Hugo" Leads The Way With 11 Oscar Nominations
Asa Butterfield and Sir Ben Kingsley in Martin Scorsese's "Hugo",
which won eleven Oscar nominations today.
Paramount Pictures
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Tuesday,
January 24, 2012
The Academy Award nominations this morning were dominated by two films dedicated
to the magic of cinema and movie memories and nostalgia: Martin Scorsese's
"Hugo",
in part about the life of cine-magician and legend Georges Méliès, and
"The Artist", a
silent comedy that sees a national silent-era movie star eclipsed by the talking
pictures and a vivacious actress. Michel Hazanavicius directed the film.
"The Artist" was hardly a surprise contender, though it was clipped by
"Hugo", which led the field with the most Oscar nominations (11), including best
picture, director, original score, adapted screenplay, art direction and visual
effects.
Traditionally the film that has the most nominations and including a best picture nod goes on to win
the Academy's top prize. "The Artist" had ten nominations. Over the last two months Mr. Hazanavicius has won
many accolades for his silent film, which was most recently named best picture by the
Producers' Guild Of America last weekend.
The rise of "Hugo" today may be seen by some as a re-emergence of a film that
has had a somewhat muted showing in the more significant film awards ceremonies
thus far, and its status as the new Oscar front-runner may be a signal of awards
fatigue for "The Artist", or a sign that some in the Academy took note of Kim
Novak's outspoken disapproval of the film's use of Bernard Herrmann's "Vertigo"
score ("The Artist" was nonetheless nominated for original score), or -- on a
more cynical note -- that some Academy voters didn't like the idea of Harvey
Weinstein winning best picture two years in a row. ("The King's Speech"
won last year.) Be that as it may (or may not), "The Artist" still has a
strong shot of taking home best picture.
A total of nine best picture nominees were announced, and the big surprise here
was the inclusion of
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close". The
film, about a boy's search for a key that his late father, who was killed on
9/11/01 left behind, clearly resonated with many in the Academy. Stephen
Daldry's film won three nods including Max Von Sydow as best supporting actor.
Though impressive in the drama, Mr. Von Sydow's inclusion for playing a silent
man was a very mild surprise. After "Hugo" and "The Artist", "War Horse"
and "Moneyball"
were the next two highest nominees with six each, including best picture.
"Midnight In
Paris" finished with only four nominations including best picture and
Woody Allen for best director, but is expected to win at least one, Mr. Allen's
best original screenplay nod.
"The Help" had four nominations, including top
prize, and for
Viola Davis, who is widely expected to win best actress.
The acting categories went to form, with Ms. Davis, Meryl Streep, Michelle
Williams and Glenn Close all nominated for lead actress Oscar. The lone
surprise, perhaps a mild one, was Rooney Mara for
"The Girl
With The Dragon Tattoo". Tilda Swinton was also not named for
her effective work in
"We Need To Talk About Kevin". On the
lead men's side, a pleasant surprise was
Demián Bichir,
included for his fine work in
"A Better Life". Gary Oldman finally
received a nomination (for his work in
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy") in a 30
year-career of great work. Michael Fassbender's absence for
"Shame"
may be a huge omission for some, but the Academy often has trouble nominated
hard-edged character work like Mr. Fassbender's sex addict in
Steve McQueen's
film. Michael Shannon was also left off for his work in
"Take Shelter".
Jean Dujardin ("The Artist"), George Clooney ("The Descendants") and Brad Pitt
("Moneyball") made the final cut as lead actors.
Left off Oscar's mantle: Michael Fassbender in "Shame", Tilda Swinton in
"We Need To Talk About Kevin".
Not pictured: Albert Brooks in "Drive", Michael Shannon in "Take Shelter".
Fox Searchlight, Oscilloscope Labs
The biggest surprise of the morning in the supporting acting categories, if not
all of the Oscar nominations, was the no-show of Albert Brooks for
"Drive"
as a gangster in the car-racing business. Mr. Brooks was a critical
darling at many pre-Oscar award film critics ceremonies but the Academy
obviously weren't impressed enough to include him this morning. Last night
Mr. Brooks tweeted whether he'd have to attend another awards event where
Christopher Plummer, who was nominated for his work in
"Beginners"
today, won. The answer, after this morning, was a resounding, "no".
Mr. Plummer is now all but assured of winning his first Oscar, in an illustrious
career that has spanned six decades.
Melissa McCarthy was included for her work in
"Bridesmaids", and it is rare for comedic performances to be
recognized, but today's exception proved the rule. Octavia Spencer was
nominated for "The Help", joining Ms. Davis as the two lone African-American
Oscar nominees: two more than in last year's Oscar nominations. Both are
expected to prevail next month. Jessica Chastain, who had a remarkable
year of work on the big screen, was also a supporting nominee for "The Help".
In other notable news
"The Tree Of Life" did decently though not as
great as some may have liked, as with many films largely shunted aside each year
from the finalists. Still, Terrence Malick's film won three Oscar
nominations: Mr. Malick as best director (strangely the Directors Guild left him
off its list two weeks ago), best picture, and best cinematography, the one
category it is expected to win. The film was not nominated for visual
effects, which were engineered by Douglas Trumbull. Mr. Trumbull however,
was recently announced as a special recipient of a pre-Oscars ceremony Oscar at
the Scientific And Technical Oscars, and that may well have been a tip-off that
Mr. Malick's film wouldn't be nominated in the visual effects category, which it
had been shortlisted for.
In the documentary feature field, Wim Wenders' 3-D documentary "Pina", on ballet
master and legend Pina Bausch, made the cut, as did "Undefeated", about an
unbeaten football team, among others documentaries. "We Were Here", a
documentary about the AIDS crisis in San Francisco, was omitted.
Finally, Asghar Farhadi's "A Separation" was among the nominees for best foreign
language film, and the Iranian drama is expected to win amidst tough competition
in the category. The film was also nominated for its script in the
original screenplay category, written by director Farhadi. The film is
about a separation of parents and the controversial events that surround it.
J.C. Chandor won a best original screenplay nod for "Margin Call", his first
feature film screenplay, and Peter Straughan and his late wife Bridget O'Connor
were nominated for their adapted screenplay for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy".
"The Ides Of
March" was a surprise inclusion in the adapted category, but "Moneyball",
written by last year's adapted screenplay winner Aaron Sorkin along with Steven
Zaillian made the final five in the category.
"Rango"
made the cut in the animated feature field, and Gore Verbinski's film is
expected to win next month.
Included: Demián Bichir in "A Better Life", Jessica Chastain for "The Help".
Ms. Chastain is pictured above in "The Tree Of Life", which won three
nominations including best picture and best director (Terrence Malick).
Not pictured: Gary Oldman, who finally received his first Oscar nomination
("Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy").
Summit, Fox Searchlight
The 84th Annual Academy Awards take place on Sunday, February 26 at 8:30pm
Eastern/5:30pm Pacific U.S. time at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood And Highland
in Los Angeles.
Previous Awards Season 2012:
Predicting
this year's Oscar nominees
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