The 84th Adademy Award Nominations List was released this morning! They are…

Actor in a Leading Role
Demian Bichir – A Better Life
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt – Money Ball

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Actress in a Leading Role
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

Actress in a Supporting Role
Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer – The Help

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

Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

Cinematography
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Costume Design
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Directing
The Artist
The Descendants
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
The Tree of Life

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

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

Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball

Foreign Language Film
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
A Separation

Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady

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 Willams

Music (Original Song)
Man or Muppet from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie
Real in Rio from Rio – Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

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

Short Film (Animated)
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse

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

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The Descendants – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Hugo – John Logan
The Ides of March – George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
Margin Call – J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
A Separation – Asghar Farhadi

My thoughts…Looking at the Best Picture nominees, my first thought was “Wow, I have seen a total of one of these nine movies!” I’m rooting for Midnight in Paris to win until I see a nominee that I like better. I’m not sure if that will happen, just because of how much I loved Midnight in Paris.

My second thought was “Nine movies? Really?” Last year, there were 10 movies nominated for Best Picture. The Academy received some criticism, saying that this watered down the category too much. So their response is to cut it to nine movies? Granted, I haven’t seen 8 of them, so I can’t speak of the overall quality of the field, but I would have been fine with them keeping it at 10 and throwing 50/50 a bone.

My third thought: One of the writing nominees from The Descendants, Jim Rash…that’s Dean Pelton from Community. I really like him on Community and would like to see him win just to hear his acceptance speech.

My fourth thought: Transformers: Dark of the Moon shall now be referred to as “Two-time Oscar nominee Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” Sorry, make that “THREE-time Oscar nominee Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” It was also nominated for Best Sound Mixing.

Homework:

What movie would you want to see included in the Best Picture category if they had left it at 10 nominees?

What are you winners predictions?