Oscar nominations yield a few surprises
Some afterthoughts on the 84th Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday morning in Hollywood:
Three nominated movies did not deserve to make the shortlist for Best Picture.
Of these, I have the least objections to Steven Spielberg's "War Horse," a visually stunning work (by Columbia College cinematographer Janusz Kaminski) that never finds its delicate balance between a gritty war movie and a heartwarming family horse opera.
Academy voters fell for the messy, tedious and baldly manipulative 9/11 drama "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," which has no chance to take home the Oscar.
However, the popular "The Help" could win, despite that a white character and a black character fight over who's actually telling this account of a savior figure (Emma Stone's white Southern writer) who tells the stories of the black domestics and certifies that their lives have meaning.
Movies that should have been nominated instead: The family drama "Warrior," the adults-only "Shame," the neo-noir "Drive," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," and yes, over those movies, even "The Muppets."
Wisely, Academy voters refused to honor Spielberg for Best Director, despite "War Horse" getting a Best Picture nomination. The deserving Woody Allen, riding high on his comeback-again comedy "Midnight in Paris," took the slot next to heavily favored Martin Scorsese ("Hugo"), Alexander Payne ("The Descendants"), Terrence Malick ("The Tree of Life") and Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist").
Once more, Academy voters found not a single woman filmmaker deserving of a Best Director nomination. Or a woman-directed movie worthy of a Best Picture nomination.
The bold and plucky Rooney Mara scored a major victory with her Best Actress nomination as the sexually abused computer genius in the mostly ignored remake of the Swedish thriller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." (It also nabbed a cinematography nod that frankly should have gone to "Drive.")
Her slot might have gone to leading contenders Tilda Swinton in "We Need to Talk About Kevin" (opening here Friday) and Charlize Theron in "Young Adult."
No surprise, Meryl Streep earned her 17th nomination as Best Actress for her role as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the disappointing bio-drama "The Iron Lady." Streep last won the Oscar for 1982's "Sophie's Choice."
Right now, Streep is the front-runner in a three-way Best Actress heat along with heavy contenders Michelle Williams in "My Week With Marilyn" and Viola Davis in "The Help." Glenn Close is also up for her role in "Albert Nobbs."
Michael Fassbender didn't make the Best Actor cut for his brave, edgy role as a sex addict in Steve McQueen's "Shame," not unexpected given the image-conscious Academy's nervousness over adults-only movies.
Academy voters also rejected Leonardo DiCaprio as Best Actor for his portrait of the FBI's founder in Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar." DiCaprio, considered a shoo-in, was a shoo-out. Mexican actor Demian Bichir in the immigrant drama "A Better Life" took the slot that might have gone to Fassbender and DiCaprio.
As expected, Plainfield native Melissa McCarthy is up for Best Supporting Actress in the rude comedy "Bridesmaids," but right now she hasn't got a chance against heavily favored Octavia Spencer's brassy, funny housemaid in "The Help."
Missing from the Supporting Actress category: Carey Mulligan's needy, sensitive sister to Michael Fassbender's sex addict in "Shame." We all know why, don't we?
Albert Brooks, who should have been nominated for his murderous crime boss in "Drive," tweeted his dissatisfaction Tuesday: "To the Academy, you don't like me! You really don't like me!" At least the Chicago Film Critics voted him Best Supporting Actor.
Wisely, Oscar voters ignored Spielberg's atrocious motion-capture "The Adventures of Tintin" in the animation category. Sorry, but until motion-capture characters stop resembling reanimated zombies with makeup, the other styles of animation will win out.
Meanwhile, what are those two nominees - "A Cat in Paris" and "Chico & Rita" - in with "Kung Fu Panda 2," "Puss in Boots" and "Rango"? I haven't seen them and they haven't opened here, yet.
At least the Academy voters gave a shout-out to Terrence Malick's longshot art house drama "The Tree of Life" as one of the nine Best Picture nominees. To have "The Help" and "Extremely Loud" lumped into the same category as "Tree of Life" should be considered an artistic violation of some sort.
Here's a list of the 2011 Oscar nominations:
1. Best Picture: "The Artist," "The Descendants," "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," "The Help," "Hugo," "Midnight in Paris," "Moneyball," "The Tree of Life," "War Horse."
2. Actor: Demián Bichir, "A Better Life"; George Clooney, "The Descendants"; Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"; Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"; Brad Pitt, "Moneyball."
3. 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."
4. Supporting Actor: Kenneth Branagh, "My Week with Marilyn"; Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"; Nick Nolte, "Warrior"; Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"; Max von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."
5. Supporting Actress: Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"; Jessica Chastain, "The Help"; Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"; Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"; Octavia Spencer, "The Help."
6. Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"; Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"; Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"; Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"; Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life."
7. Foreign Language Film: "Bullhead," Belgium; "Footnote," Israel; "In Darkness," Poland; "Monsieur Lazhar," Canada; "A Separation," Iran.
8. Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants"; John Logan, "Hugo"; George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"; Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, "Moneyball"; Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."
9. Original Screenplay: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"; Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"; J.C. Chandor, "Margin Call"; Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"; Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation."
10. Animated Feature Film: "A Cat in Paris"; "Chico & Rita"; "Kung Fu Panda 2"; "Puss in Boots"; "Rango."
11. Art Direction: "The Artist," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," "Hugo," "Midnight in Paris," "War Horse."
12. Cinematography: "The Artist," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "The Tree of Life," "War Horse."
13. Sound Mixing: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "Moneyball," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "War Horse."
14. Sound Editing: "Drive," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "War Horse."
15. 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.
16. Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets," Bret McKenzie; "Real in Rio" from "Rio," Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett.
17. Costume: "Anonymous," "The Artist," "Hugo," "Jane Eyre," "W.E."
18. Documentary Feature: "Hell and Back Again," "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front," "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," "Pina," "Undefeated."
19. 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 and the Cherry Blossom."
20. Film Editing: "The Artist," "The Descendants," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "Moneyball."
21. Makeup: "Albert Nobbs," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," "The Iron Lady."
22. Animated Short Film: "Dimanche/Sunday," "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," "La Luna," "A Morning Stroll," "Wild Life."
23. Live Action Short Film: "Pentecost," "Raju," "The Shore," "Time Freak," "Tuba Atlantic."
24. 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.'"
Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire will talk about the Oscars on ABC 7 News at 11:20 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 26