2012 Oscar Nominees: The Critic's Picks

Yesterday, the nominees for the 84th Annual Academy Awards were announced. It was a great year for film. When I say that, I don't mean it was nine months of filth and three months of quality movies, but it was a nice spread of great films from late spring to the present, which are being honored with nominations. As usual, I'll give my two cents over who should get the Oscar in the categories of acting, directing, and best film whilst griping about who was left out of the category (0r not).

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Berenice Bejo- The Artist

Jessica Chastain - The Help

Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Octavia Spencer - The Help

Janet McTeer - Alfred Nobbs

The best supporting actor/actresses are usually dead set after the Broadcast Film Critics have made their choices. In this case, Octavia Spencer is sure to win as the rebellious housemaid in The Help as her performance had a mix of sass, attitude, and heart that blended well with the rest of the cast. No doubt that she will get the top honor.

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill - Moneyball

Nick Nolte - Warrior

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Winner: Christopher Plummer gave an incredible performance in Beginners as a widower who reveals to his son (Ewan McGregor) that he is gay on top of struggling with terminal cancer. His performance is calm as his presence is on and off screen. Plummer, whose career has ranged from classic roles in The Sound of Music to The Insider, gives a subtle and heartfelt performance to a film that is luckily getting more recognition since its under-the-radar release last summer.

Who got left out?: Patton Oswalt for Young Adult. Although Jason Reitman's film is flawed in its storytelling, Oswalt gives a dark and funny performance as a former high school student who shares a few glasses of home-brewed bourbon with Charlize Theron.

Best 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

Winner: Viola Davis for The Help. Davis gave a remarkable performance as Aibileen Clark, a housekeeper to the head of a racist family in Mississippi, circa 1963. She doesn't grandstand, yet sets the tone for a woman wanting respect, whilst holding on to her dignity.

Grips and Tangents: The Hollywood Foreign Press renewed my hatred (what else is new) for awarding best actress to Meryl Streep. She already has two on her shelf on top of the Kennedy Center Honor she received last month for a performance that has British film critics baying over and American audiences squirming over her role as Margaret Thatcher. Don't get me wrong, she succeeded with imitating Thatcher, but Oliver Stone would've made a more bombastic biopic than what was on screens last month.

That being said, the biggest robbery of this year was Tilda Swinton not getting nominated for her stunning performance in We Need To Talk About Kevin. It was bad enough she didn't get praise by the Broadcast Film Critics or the Golden Globes, but could the Academy have given some clemency for giving Swinton the nomination?

Best Actor:

Demian Bichir - A Better Life

George Clooney - The Descendants

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Gary Oldman - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Winner: Its boiled down to either Clooney or Pitt in the eyes of those who didn't hit the independent theaters last month (No offense to the performances they gave on screen). However, I think Gary Oldman deserves the Oscar for his chilling portrayal as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Oldman's timbre has ranged from being Sid Vicious, Dracula, to a drug dealer who thinks he's black, yet has not received one nomination. The subtlety and intonation in his voice sounds like he's reciting Shakespeare, rather than John le Carre. If anything, Oldman deserves the honor rather than the aforementioned actors.

Best Director:

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

Michael Hazanavicius - The Artist

Terrence Malick - The Tree of Life

Alexander Payne - The Descendants

Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Winner: If only they awarded all the nominees for the great films they've produced this year. If I had to chose, its a neck-to-neck race between Hazanavicius and Scorsese for both films paying homage to the origins of film history, an age before sound came into the picture. If Scorsese wins, I'm sure The Artist will win Best Picture and vice versa. Either that, or it could be clean sweep. However, in my hearts of hearts, it would be nice to see Malick in the flesh holding an Oscar.

Best Picture:

The Artist

The Descendents

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Winner: It can boil down to either The Artist, which would be the first silent film (well, almost silent film) to win an Oscar for Best Picture in over 80 years, or Hugo. There is no dead set winner in this category since the blend of nominated films have been worthy of the praise each has received.

Well, tune in on February 26th to either agree or disagree with my picks, or write your choices for the illusive statue; the stuff dreams are made of (or damaged).