84th Academy Awards Winners

Winners are in *Blue.

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2/20
Yes is true, I got really upset and disgusted with these nominations (LOL!) but as the awards ceremony is next Sunday I better fix the post to keep it “clean” in the database. This year will go into my cinema history as the year that Academy members had no clear idea of what to do as only thinking that their minds got cloudy makes me feel a bit at ease or ease enough to write the proper post. Sigh.

To check the list at the official site go here.

Best Picture
*The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Alexander Payne
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Stephen Daldry
The Help, Tate Taylor
Hugo, Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
Moneyball, Bennett Miller
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
War Horse, Steven Spielberg

Animated Feature Film
Une vie de chat (A Cat in Paris), Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli, France, Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium
Chico & Rita, Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando, Spain and UK
Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, USA
Puss in Boots, Chris Miller, USA
*Rango, Gore Verbinski, USA

Foreign Language Film
Rundskop (Bullhead), Michaël R. Roskam, Belgium
הערת שוליים (Footnote), Joseph Cedar, Israel
W ciemności (In Darkness), Agnieszka Holland, Poland
Monsieur Lazhar, Philippe Falardeau, Canada
جدایی نادر از سیمین* Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader and Simin, A Separation), Asghar Farhadi, Iran

Directing
*Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
Alexander Payne for The Descendants
Martin Scorsese for Hugo
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life

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

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

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

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

Writing Original Screenplay
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
Margin Call, J.C. Chandor
*Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
A Separation, Asghar Farhadi

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

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

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

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

Costume Design
Anonymous, Lisy Christl
*The Artist, Mark Bridges
Hugo, Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre, Michael O'Connor
W.E., Arianne Phillips

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

Documentary
Hell and Back Again, Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner, USA, UK, Afghanistan
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman, USA and UK
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, USA
Pina, Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel, Germany, France and UK
*Undefeated, TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas, USA

Short Film Live Action
Pentecost, Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane, Ireland
Raju, Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren, Germany and India
*The Shore, Terry George and Oorlagh George, UK
Time Freak, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey, USA
Tuba Atlantic, Hallvar Witzø, Norwegian

Short Film Animated
Dimanche (Sunday), Patrick Doyon, Canada
*The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, USA
La Luna, Enrico Casarosa, USA
A Morning Stroll, Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe, UK
Wild Life, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Canada

Short Film Documentary
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin, USA
God Is the Bigger Elvis, Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson, USA
Incident in New Baghdad, James Spione, USA
*Saving Face, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, USA and Pakistan
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen, UK and Japan

Actress is the only category that I really care and this year got really messed with a nominee that truly doesn’t belong there considering not only her performance but also comparing her performance with the likes of Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin, Charlize Theron in Young Adult, and even Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene. But most important for me is that IF Academy members would have seen Noomi Rapace in the original Män som hatar kvinnor they will never even consider Mara performance as near to what Lisbeth Salander should be and is in the screen. Sigh. Still I know that there are two actresses with possibilities Viola Davis and Meryl Streep; wish Davis wins as even when Streep performance is very good she should not get an award for such a bad movie that not even her great performance can save. I really disliked The Iron Lady.

I know that everyone is expecting The Artist to win and according to the multiple honors that have already collected around the world, it would not be a surprise if a French film wins the top award. Yesterday the film won a Goya and I was laughing hard when Spanish people twitted about Spain giving an award to a French film when France is their enemy; I know is not really funny but at least the Spaniards, the British admit is a French movie while the Americans tend to “believe” is an American movie just because Weistein has the distribution rights and does great movie marketing. Sigh. The other movie that maybe has a change is The Descendants and to be honest I believe this movie gives viewers a better cinematic experience than The Artist.

Two pieces of fun Oscar trivia.

Ms. Streep’s nomination cemented her position as the most-nominated actor in Academy Awards history, with 17 nominations — far more than the next-most nominated, Jack Nicholson and Katharine Hepburn, with 12 each. Ms. Streep last won an Oscar in 1983, for best actress for “Sophie’s Choice,” and she was previously best supporting actress in 1980, for “Kramer vs. Kramer.”

Kenneth Branagh is the first actor to be nominated for five Oscars in five different categories, as pointed out by Mark Harris. Branagh's been nominated for Best Director (Henry V), Best Leading Actor (Henry V), Best Live-Action Short Film (1992's Swan Song), Best Adapted Screenplay (Hamlet), and now Best Supporting Actor for My Week With Marilyn.

Last, one piece about remakes that I regret that filmmakers try to improve on what Selznick knew since the late thirties. Sigh

In 1936 the Hollywood mogul David O Selznick bought the Swedish movie Intermezzo, signed up its star Ingrid Bergman and remade it in 1939 under the same title with Bergman repeating her original role in an otherwise British and American cast. During pre-production he sent a three-page memo to his chief producer about such adaptations. "I want to impress on you strongly," he wrote, "that the most important saving to be effected in remaking foreign pictures – a saving that more than offsets the doubtful foreign markets that have been used up by the original version, and that makes these remakes uniquely desirable – is in the shooting, by actually duplicating, as far as possible, the [earlier] film." And he added: "Granted a good cast, direction as good as Molander's on the original, a somewhat faster tempo than his, for I think the pace is much too slow for an Anglo-Saxon audience, and some cuts – we can duplicate the picture."