BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR WINNER
THE ARTIST
NOMINEES:
THE DESCENDANTS
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
THE HELP
HUGO
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MONEYBALL
THE TREE OF LIFE
WAR HORSE
As expected, THE ARTIST emerged as a well-deserved winner here!
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
WINNER
Michel Hazanavicius (THE ARTIST)
NOMINEES:
Woody Allen (MIDNIGHT IN PARIS)
Terrence Malick (THE TREE OF LIFE)
Alexander Payne (THE DESCENDANTS)
Martin Scorcese (HUGO)
It's Michel Hazanavicius vs. Alexander Payne! I'm happy to know that Hazanavicius grabbed a well-deserved win here.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
WINNER
Jean Dujardin (THE ARTIST)
NOMINEES:
Demian Bichir (A BETTER LIFE)
George Clooney (THE DESCENDANTS)
Gary Oldman (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY)
Brad Pitt (MONEYBALL)
It's Jean Dujardin vs. George Clooney. But the Academy made the right choice to award Jean Dujardin for his charming performance as George Valentin in THE ARTIST, which also made him the first Frenchman to win the coveted Oscar for Best Actor!
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
WINNER
Meryl Streep (THE IRON LADY)
NOMINEES:
Glenn Close (ALBERT NOBBS)
Rooney Mara (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)
Viola Davis (THE HELP)
Michelle Williams (MY WEEK WITH MARILYN)
This category is narrowed down between Viola Davis or Meryl Streep for the win. Many might have rooted for Viola Davis to nab the Oscar here, especially given her recent winning streak in other awards. But Meryl Streep has finally broke the jinx after being nominated for a record 12th time since 1983's SILKWOOD, with her spot-on performance as Margaret Thatcher in THE IRON LADY.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
WINNER
Christopher Plummer (BEGINNERS)
NOMINEES:
Kenneth Branagh (MY WEEK WITH MARILYN)
Jonah Hill (MONEYBALL)
Nick Nolte (WARRIOR)
Max von Sydow (EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE)
Another shoo-in win. Enough said.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
WINNER
Octavia Spencer (THE HELP)
NOMINEES:
Berenice Bejo (THE ARTIST)
Jessica Chastain (THE HELP)
Melissa McCarthy (BRIDESMAIDS)
Janet McTeer (ALBERT NOBBS)
No surprise here. Octavia Spencer is a shoo-in win for this category.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
WINNER
RANGO
NOMINEES:
A CAT IN PARIS
CHICO & RITA
KUNG FU PANDA 2
PUSS IN BOOTS
A shoo-in win. Gore Verbinski's loving tribute to the classic western is an inventive and colorful animated feature is worthy of an award here.
BEST WRITING, SCREENPLAY WRITTEN DIRECTLY FOR THE SCREEN
WINNER
Woody Allen (MIDNIGHT IN PARIS)
NOMINEES:
Michel Hazanavicius (THE ARTIST)
Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo (BRIDESMAIDS)
J.C. Chandor (MARGIN CALL)
Woody Allen (MIDNIGHT IN PARIS)
Asghar Farhadi (A SEPARATION)
Another undeserved win. While many have hailed MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is Allen's finest movie he's ever made in years, I beg to differ. (read: overrated). Personally Michel Hazanavicus or Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo should bag the win instead.
BEST WRITING, SCREENPLAY BASED ON MATERIAL PREVIOUSLY PRODUCED OR PUBLISHED
WINNER
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (THE DESCENDANTS)
NOMINEES:
John Logan (HUGO)
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon (THE IDES OF MARCH)
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin (MONEYBALL)
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY)
THE DESCENDANTS is a hugely overrated movie with sadly average plot. Of all the nominees in this category here, I think Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin should win this instead for crafting a unpopular subject matter into something intriguing in MONEYBALL.
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING
WINNER
Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)
NOMINEES:
Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius (THE ARTIST)
Kevin Tent (THE DESCENDANTS)
Thelma Schoonmaker (HUGO)
Christopher Tellefsen (MONEYBALL)
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES, ORIGINAL SCORE
WINNER
Ludovic Bource (THE ARTIST)
NOMINEES:
John Williams (THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN)
Howard Shore (HUGO)
Alberto Iglesias (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY)
John Williams (WAR HORSE)
Ludovic Bource's layered score is one of the best accomplishments that drives the artistic success of THE ARTIST. Bravo!
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
WINNER
Robert Richardson (HUGO)
NOMINEES:
Guillaume Schiffman (THE ARTIST)
Jeff Cronenworth (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)
Emmanuel Lubezki (THE TREE OF LIFE)
Janusz Kaminski (WAR HORSE)
Robert Richardson won Best Cinematography for HUGO? As good as he is, I still figured either Jeff Cronenworth or Emmanuel Lubezki deserved a better win here.
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
WINNER
Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo (HUGO)
NOMINEES:
Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould (THE ARTIST)
Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2)
Anne Seibel, Helene Dubreuil (MIDNIGHT IN PARIS)
Rick Carter, Lee Sandales (WAR HORSE)
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
WINNER
Mark Bridges (THE ARTIST)
NOMINEES:
Lisy Christl (ANONYMOUS)
Sandy Powell (HUGO)
Michael O'Connor (JANE EYRE)
Arianne Phillips (W.E.)
Mark Bridge's splendid recreation of the 1920s glamorous fashion in THE ARTIST is a well-deserved win here.
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
WINNER
Robert Legato, John Williams, Ben Grossman, Alex Henning (HUGO)
NOMINEES:
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, John Richardson (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2)
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Danny Gordon Taylor, Swen Gillberg (REAL STEEL)
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Daniel Barrett (RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES)
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew E. Butler, John Frazier (TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON)
This is really a surprise. I was expecting RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES would be a shoo-in win for this category. But HUGO? Seriously?
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
WINNER
Mark Coulier, J. Roy Helland (THE IRON LADY)
NOMINEES:
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnson, Matthew W. Mungle (ALBERT NOBBS)
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2)
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland's excellent makeup effect over Meryl Streep's character as Margaret Thatcher is spot-on convincing. A well-deserved win.
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
WINNER
Tom Fleischman, John Midgley (HUGO)
NOMINEES:
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Bo Persson (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco, Ed Novick (MONEYBALL)
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Peter J. Devlin (TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON)
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Stuart Wilson (WAR HORSE)
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
WINNER
Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty (HUGO)
NOMINEES:
Lon Bender, Victor Ray Ennis (DRIVE)
Ren Klyce (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)
Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl (TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON)
Richard Hymns, Gary Rydstrom (WAR HORSE)
