Here are the nominations for this year's Oscar Award

BEST MOVIE:

-The Artist

-The Descendants

-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

-The Help

-Hugo

-Midnight in Paris

-The Tree of Life

-War Horse

BEST ACTOR

-Demian Bichir for A Better Life

-George Clooney for The Descendants

-Jean Dujardin for The Artist

-Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

-Brad Pitt for Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS

-Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs

-Viola Davis for The Help

-Rooney Mara for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

-Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady

-Michelle Williams for My Week With Marylin

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

-Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn

-Jonah Hill for Moneyball

-Nick Nolte for Warrior

-Christopher Plummer for Beginners

-Max von Sydow for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

-Berenice Bejo for The Artist

-Jessica Chastain for The Help

-Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids

-Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs

-Octavia Spencer for The Help

BEST DIRECTOR

-Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris

-Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist

-Terrence Malik for The Tree of Life

-Alexander Payne for The Descendants

-Martin Scorsese for Hugo

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

-The Artist

-Bridesmaids

-Margin Call

-Midnight in Paris

-A Separation

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

-The Descendants, based on the book by Kaui Hart Hemmings

-Hugo, based on the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick

-The Ides of March, based on the play "Farragut North" by Beau Willimon

-Moneyball, based on the book by Michael Lewis

-Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, based on the book by John Le Carre

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

-The Artist

-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

-Hugo

-The Tree of Life

-War Horse


BEST ART DIRECTION

-The Artist

-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

-Hugo

-Midnight in Paris

-War Horse

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

-Anonymous

-The Artist

-Hugo

-Jane Eyre

-W.E.

BEST SOUND MIXING

-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

-Hugo

-Moneyball

-Transformers: Dark of the Moon

-War Horse

BEST EDITING

-The Artist

-The Descendants

-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

-Hugo

-Moneyball

BEST SOUND EDITING

-Drive

-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

-Hugo

-Transformers: Dark of the Moon

-War Horse

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

-Hugo

-Real Steel

-Rise of the Planet of the Apes

-Transformers: Dark of the Moon

BEST MAKEUP

-Albert Nobbs

-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2

-The Iron Lady

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

-"Man or Muppet" by Bret McKenzie, from The Muppets

-"Real in Rio", by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett, from Rio

BEST SCORE

-The Adventures of Tintin

-The Artist

-Hugo

-Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

-War Horse

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

-Dimanche

-The Fantastic Flying Book of Mr. Morris Lessmore

-La Luna

-A Morning Stroll

-Wild Life

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

-Pentecost

-Raju

-Time Freak

-Tuba Atlantic

BEST DOCUMENTARTY SHORT

-The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldiers of the Civil Rights Movements

-Incident in New Baghdad

-Saving Face

-The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

BEST DOCUMENTARY

-Hell and Back Again

-If a Tree Falls: The Story of the Earth Liberation Front

-Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

-Pina

-Undefeated

BEST FOREIGN MOVIE

-Bullhead

-Footnote

-In Darkness

-Monseiur Lazar

-A Separation

BEST ANIMATED MOVIE

-A Cat in Paris

-Chico and Rita

-Kung Fu Panda 2

-Puss in Boots

-Rango

(Yeah, I know that I'm not using the Academy's exact terminology, but I don't care, I like the way I say it)


So, who do you think should win each category?

Well I haven't seen any of the movies, I don't think. But I refuse to see War Horse because it looks incredibly boring and stupid (no offense to the director or anything), and I am very curious as to why the Descendants was nominated for so many things. It looks like an average, not-too-awesome movie.

Maybe it was only nominated because George Clooney was in it. Just like Iron Lady and Meryl Streep. Man if she wins again I'll be annoyed. I actually want Viola Davis to win Best Actress, because she was fabulous and almost made me cry in The Help (guess I saw that movie). But I haven't seen the other movies so I'm not a good judge of that.

Out of interest, did you do any research into the War Horse at all? It's.... not what I would call boring by any stretch (unless they managed to film it wrong).

Agreed. While I haven't yet seen the movie, I did see the New York stage play. I've seen a lot of live stage performances, but this was truly one of the most moving and amazing -- and it inspired me to find out more about man and horse in World War I. When you think you already know plenty about a subject, there's always something more to learn, and The War Horse opened up a facet I hadn't previously considered.

I only hope that the movie does justice to the stage play. ETA: I haven't read the novel that both play and movie were based on.

-- Nephele

I've only seen some of the films up for the technical awards, but I was shocked to find Michael Fassbender and Shame weren't nominated for anything, but maybe the films and actors up for their respective awards are amazing and deserve to be there instead of them, I just don't know at this point.

Arquinsiel: No I haven't. I dunno, I hate movies about animals for some reason (maybe because I'm scared of most of them), because they always end up boring. And the animal always dies at the end. Or it gets sick. Or the person who liked/befriended the animal dies.

Meh, it'll just be one of those movies that, when it's on TV I'll watch it, but if I have to pay money I won't. I'd probably like if I saw it, though, if it's really "moving".

Ittybitty, I know what you mean, and I'm not too fond of those kind of movies, either. You know, the Old Yeller kind.

But I think you might like The War Horse -- at least, maybe an itty bitty bit. What I really liked about the stage play was that the "horse" (a marvelous handspring puppet, actually) wasn't anthropomorphized. Also, the story was as much about the people as it was about the horse. And I think the play did a superb job of conveying the horror of war.

-- Nephele

I might watch it, then. War movies are interesting, usually.