I’m not going to be a hypocrite and pretend that I’m back with a vengeance, ready to put up a new post every day, but hell, the Oscar nominations came out today, and some conventions just must be observed. As you diehard loyals (and I DO appreciate that, Rosie, DD, TAFKATA) know, we’ve been batting around whether to do an actual ballot, as in previous years, or just to horse around on Twitter the night of the show, but I have fun making up the MJB exclusive categories, and I love reading everybody’s comments, so for now I’m going to post an old-school ballot, and later this week I’m going to horse around on Tweetchat with my esteemed Technical Advisor (that’s Digital Dame/DD Syrdal) to see if maybe we can combine some new technology with the old on Oscar night. The rules, therefore, are the same as they ever were:
1. Copy the ballot, and erase all nominees except your choice. Send it to my email address no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on February 26. You are all welcome to invite any friends or loved ones you can vouch for, as long as they understand there’s no real prize up for grabs here. I figure by only including those of you who have my email address and/or those whose answers you are willing to forward, we can prevent weird surfers from crashing our party. We have a acquired a couple of Twitter friends this year who appear to be very legit, so if they are interested I might create an email address just for them. If any of you regulars want to invite anybody like that, just let me know and I’ll set up a place for them to send their ballots.
2. Each correct vote counts as one point – in other words, “Best Sound Mixing” is as heavily weighted as “Best Direction.” The tech people work hard, too.
3. No pestering me for results – I’ll do my best to tabulate the answers by the end of that week.
4. In the event of a tie, well – there’ll be a tie. Both winners will receive bragging rights until we all get tired of hearing about it, along with my choice of whatever I may have lying around the next time I see you.
But of course, speaking of ballots, you’re going to need your list of 2012 Academy Award nominees:
Best Picture
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”
Animated Feature Film
“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
“Rango” Gore Verbinski
Art Direction
“The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Cinematography
“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” Janusz Kaminski
Costume Design
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“The Artist” Mark Bridges
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips
Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
“The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick
Documentary (Feature)
“Hell and Back Again” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Pina” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad”James Spione
“Saving Face” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Film Editing
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen
Foreign Language Film
“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote”
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran
Makeup
“Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
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 Williams
Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Short Film (Animated)
“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action)
“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø
Sound Editing
“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
“Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Sound Mixing
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi
and of course, don’t forget to vote for this year’s MJB Exclusive Categories – these “extra credit” points can really help boost your score, and besides, they’re fun! You can increase your chances of winning in these categories by provding an entertaining answer – as always, your bloghostess is the final arbiter of what answers are the most entertaining, i.e. most “correct”
Most Prestigious Film that Nobody Has Seen – every year, I invite a couple of people who are hesitant to participate b/c they haven’t seen any of the films – if that’s you, jump on into the pool – your honesty has already qualified you as an honored guest around here, and besides, you’re not picking the best in every category: you’re picking the person or film you think the Academy will choose. And THOSE people are full of crap – I’m convinced that half of them have already nominated films they have not seen, just to boost their cred as “artistes.” So go on, call them out!
Most Unlikely/Surprising Nomination – this could be a film, a performance, or if you’re feeling particularly geeky, and technical achievement. It can be something you’re slapping your forhead over, the way I still haven’t gotten over Julia Roberts’ even being NOMINATED for Best Actress, or a happy surprise, like the year Marissa Tomei got the nomination and the award for My Cousin Vinny
Most Annoying Celebrity – This can be any actor, director, producer, involved with a film released this year. Go ahead, bare your claws and explain your answer: I can’t wait!
Most Overlooked Performance in a Film Released This Year – This is where we get to show our love for the actors who were not nominated but should have been. Every blogster is permitted to choose one male and one female performance.
Oddest Casting in a Film Released This Year - For example, I’m pretty sure that in 2013 the right answer in this category will be Michael Douglass as Liberace http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1291580/ . Sometimes these performances work (anybody remember Cate Blanchett as “Bob Dylan” in I’m Not There ?) ; sometimes, not so much – think of Anthony Hopkins, who ought to be the right choice for pretty much ANY character in ANY film – except, of course, as an African American college professor passing for white in the terribly disappointing film adaptation of The Human Stain - but they make it interesting for us, and isn’t that the whole point?
I might come up with some post-telecast awards, also, but there’s plenty of time for that. This should be plenty enough to get us started, no?
January 25, 2012 at 12:09 am |
yeah! I love oscar time. Thanks for inviting me, Mary J.
January 25, 2012 at 11:17 am |
Glad to have you, Gypsy! Do you have my email address?
January 25, 2012 at 1:41 pm |
I’ll d/l this at home, good thing we have lots of time to think about these things ’cause you know me. I never see the movies, so it’s all guesswork
January 25, 2012 at 4:49 pm |
That’s never been a requirement, as you know. Fang, who is recusing himself this year b/c he’s won 2 years in a row, sometimes sees the films but often does not. As far as I can figure, he bases his picks on some kind of mysterious voodoo involving word-of-mouth and the entertainment media. I myself won good money in an Oscar pool once, back in the ’90′s, and I’m pretty sure I hadn’t seen any of the nominated films that year.
January 25, 2012 at 10:07 pm |
Hooray. This is one of those events I really dress up for…. if dressing up includes my ratty sweatshirt and comfy slippers! Thanks Dr. Blog for bringing the lights back up.
January 25, 2012 at 10:57 pm |
My pleasure! AC Moore is selling Snoozies slippers for $5 if you need a new outfit
January 28, 2012 at 2:53 pm
I just got me some new slippers to pair with my zebra-stripe Snuggie! And the Oscar-themed Entertainment Weekly just arrived. It really is like the Super Bowl! Is it true Golem-armed Madonna is the half-time entertainment? YECH!