2012 Oscars

The Oscars were quite enjoyable this year! Better than last year's production, I thought. Billy Crystal was an excellent host, told lots of very funny jokes (though I didn't really care for the awkward song he sang at the beginning). And I loved the Cirque du Soleil performance to Danny Elfman music, as well as Hans Zimmer's orchestrations for the whole awards show itself.

I was mostly satisfied with the winners, too. (As you can see below, 10 of the nominees I was rooting for took home gold.) The only thing that really disappointed me was that Harry Potter won nothing. I'm irked that it lost Best Make-Up to The Iron Lady. I think creating countless battle wounds and Voldemort's bald, creepy head look real is a greater achievement than making one actor look like someone else, but maybe that's just me...


YELLOW is the nominee I was rooting for. RED is the nominee who won.
ORANGE is the combination of both, when my favorite got the award.

Best Picture

The Artist  ~Thomas Langmann

The Descendants  ~Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close  ~Scott Rudin

The Help  ~Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan

Hugo  ~Graham King, Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Paris  ~Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

Moneyball  ~Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt

The Tree of Life  ~TBA

War Horse  ~Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy


Lead Actor

Demian Bichir  (A Better Life)

George Clooney  (The Descendants)

Jean Dujardin  (The Artist)

Gary Oldman  (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

Brad Pitt  (Moneyball)


Lead 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)


Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh  (My Week with Marilyn)

Jonah Hill  (Moneyball)

Nick Nolte  (Warrior)

Christopher Plummer  (Beginners)

Max von Sydow  (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)


Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo  (The Artist)

Jessica Chastain  (The Help)

Melissa McCarthy  (Bridesmaids)

Janet McTeer  (Albert Nobbs)

Octavia Spencer  (The Help)


Director

Michel Hazanavicius  (The Artist)

Alexander Payne  (The Descendants)

Martin Scorsese  (Hugo)

Woody Allen  (Midnight in Paris)

Terrence Malick  (The Tree of Life)


Animated Feature

A Cat in Paris  ~Alain Gagnol, Jean-Loup Felicioli

Chico & Rita  ~Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal

Kung Fu Panda 2  ~Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Puss in Boots  ~Chris Miller

Rango  ~Gore Verbinski


Animated Short

Dimanche/Sunday  ~Patrick Doyon

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore  ~William Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg

La Luna  ~Enrico Casarosa

A Morning Stroll  ~Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

Wild Life  ~Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby


Live Action Short

Pentecost  ~Peter McDonald, Eimear O'Kane

Raju  ~Max Zahle, Stefan Gieren

The Shore  ~Terry George, Ooralgh George

Time Freak  ~Andrew Bowler, Gigi Causey

Tuba Atlantic  ~Hallvar Witzo


Documentary Short

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement  ~Robin Fryday, Gail Dolgin

God is the Bigger Elvis  ~Rebecca Cammisa, Julie Anderson

Incident in New Baghdad  ~James Spione

Saving Face  ~Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom  ~Lucy Walker, Kira Carstensen


Documentary Feature

Hell and Back Again  ~Danfung Dennis, Mike Lerner

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front  ~Marshall Curry, Sam Cullman

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory  ~Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky

Pina  ~Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel

Undefeated  ~TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay, Richard Middlemas


Foreign Language Film

Bullhead (Belgium)  ~Michael R Roskam

Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)  ~Philippe Falardeau

A Separation (Iran)  ~Asghar Farhadi

Footnote (Israel)  ~Joseph Cedar

In Darkness (Poland)  ~Agnieszka Holland


Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants  ~Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

Hugo  ~John Logan

The Ides of March  ~George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon

Moneyball  ~Screenplay by Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy  ~Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan


Original Screenplay

The Artist  ~Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids  ~Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig

Margin Call  ~J. C. Chandor

Midnight in Paris  ~Woody Allen

A Separation  ~Asghar Farhadi



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


Original Song

"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets  ~Music & Lyrics by Bret McKenzie

"Real in Rio" from Rio  ~Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyrics by Siedah Garrett


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


Art Direction (Production Design/Set Decoration)

The Artist  ~Laurence Bennett (Design), Robert Gould (Set Deco)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2  ~Stuart Craig (Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Deco)

Hugo  ~Dante Ferretti (Design), Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Deco)

Midnight in Paris  ~Anne Seibel (Design), Helene Dubreuil (Set Deco)

War Horse  ~Rick Carter (Design), Lee Sandales (Set Deco)


Costume Design

Anonymous  ~Lisy Christl

The Artist  ~Mark Bridges

Hugo  ~Sandy Powell

Jane Eyre  ~Michael O'Connor

W. E.  ~Arianne Phillips


Make-up

Albert Nobbs  ~Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston, Matthew W. Mungle

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2  ~Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin

The Iron Lady  ~Mark Coulier, J. Roy Helland


Film Editing

The Artist  ~Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius

The Descendants  ~Kevin Tent

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  ~Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

Hugo  ~Thelma Schoonmaker

Moneyball  ~Christopher Tellefsen


Sound Editing

Drive  ~Lon Bender, Victor Ray Ennis

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  ~Ren Klyce

Hugo  ~Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty

Transformers: Dark of the Moon  ~Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl

War Horse  ~Richard Hymns, Gary Rydstrom


Sound Mixing

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  ~David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Bo Persson

Hugo  ~Tom Fleischman, John Midgley

Moneyball  ~Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco, Ed Novick

Transformers: Dark of the Moon  ~Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Peter J. Devlin

War Horse  ~Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Stuart Wilson


Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2  ~Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, John Richardson

Hugo  ~Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman, Alex Henning

Real Steel  ~Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor, Swen Gillberg

Rise of the Planet of the Apes  ~Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher WHite, Daniel Barrett

Transformers: Dark of the Moon  ~Dan Glass, Brad Friedman, Douglas Trumbull, Michael Fink

If I Could Choose Who Won the Oscars... 2010

Selections in GREEN are the nominees I was rooting for. RED are the actual winners. BLUE means whoever I rooted for DID win!

Even though a lot of the people I was rooting for didn't end up winning, I was happy with all of the awards that were given. In particular, I'm glad Avatar didn't get anything it didn't deserve--though I'm a little on the edge on whether it should have won for Cinematography.

The only race that really mattered to me this year was Best Director. I REALLY, REALLY wanted Katherine Bigelow to win. I'm SOOOO glad she did.

Actor in a Leading Role:

Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart"

George Clooney in "Up in the Air"

Colin Firth in "A Single Man"

Morgan Freeman in "Invictus"

Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"

Actress in a Leading Role:

Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"

Helen Mirren in "The Last Station"

Carey Mulligan in "An Education"

Gabourey Sibide in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia"

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Matt Damon in "Invictus"

Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger"

Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station"

Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones"

Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds"

Actress in a Supporting Role:

Penelope Cruz in "Nine"

Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air"

Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart"

Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air"

Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

Directing:

James Cameron for "Avatar"

Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker"

Quentin Tarantino for "Inglourious Basterds"

Lee Daniels for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

Jason Reitman for "Up in the Air"

Art Direction:

Avatar (Art Direction: Rick Carter & Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Art Direction: Dave Warren & Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith)

Nine (Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim)

Sherlock Holmes (Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)

The Young Victoria (Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray)

Costume Design:

Bright Star (Janet Patterson)

CoCo before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)

Nine (Colleen Atwood)

The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

Make Up:

Il Divo (Aldo Signoretti, Vittorio Sodano)

Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, Joel Harlow)

The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon, Jenny Shircore)

Cinematography:

Avatar (Mauro Fiore)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bruno Delbonnel)

The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)

Inglourious Basterds (Robert Richardson)

The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)

Visual Effects:

Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones)

District 9 (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, Matt Aitken)

Star Trek (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh, Burt Dalton)

Film Editing:

Avatar (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron)

District 9 (Julian Clarke)

The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski, Chris Innis)

Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (Joe Klotz)

Sound Editing:

Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)

The Hurt Locker (Paul N.J. Ottosson)

Inglourious Basterds (Wylie Stateman)

Star Trek (Mark Stoeckinger, Alan Rankin)

Up (Micheal Silvers, Tom Myers)

Sound Mixing:

Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson)

The Hurt Locker (Paul N.J. Ottosson, Ray Beckett)

Inglourious Basterds (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Mark Ulano)

Star Trek (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson, Peter J. Devlin)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Geoffrey Patterson)

Original Score:

Avatar (James Horner)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat)

The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders)

Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

Up (Michael Giacchino)

Original Song:

"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Music/Lyric by Randy Newman)

"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Music/Lyric by Randy Newman)

"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" (Music by Reinhardt Wagner; Lyric by Frank Thomas)

"Take It All" from "Nine" (Music/Lyric by Maury Yeston

"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" (Music/Lyric by Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett)

Animated Feature Film:

Coraline (Henry Selick)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)

The Princess and the Frog (John Musker, Ron Clements)

The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

Up (Pete Docter)

Animated Short Film:

French Roast (Fabrice O. Joubert)

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Nicky Phelan, Darragh O'Connell)

The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) (Javier Recio Gracia)

Logorama (Nicolas Schmerkin)

A Matter of Loaf and Death (Nick Park)

Live Action Short Film:

The Door (Juanita Wilson, James Flynn)

Instead of Abracadabra (Patrik Eklund, Mathias Fjellstrom)

Kavi (Gregg Helvey)

Miracle Fish (Luke Doolan, Drew Bailey)

The New Tenants (Joachim Back, Tivi Magnusson)

Documentary Short:

China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill)

The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner (Daniel Junge, Henry Ansbacher)

The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert)

Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams, Elinor Burkett)

Rabbit a la Berlin (Bartek Konopka, Anna Wydra)

Documentary Feature:

Burma VJ (Anders Ostergaard, Lise Lense-Moller)

The Cove (Nominees TBA)

Food, Inc. (Robert Kenner, Elise Pearlstein)

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich, Rock Goldsmith)

Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)

Foreign Language Film:

Ajami (Israel)

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina)

The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)

Un Prophete (France)

The White Ribbon (Germany)

Best Picture:

Avatar (James Cameron, Jon Landau)

The Blind Side (Nominees TBA)

District 9 (Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham)

An Education (Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey)

The Hurt Locker (Nominees TBA)

Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender)

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness)

A Serious Man (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

Up (Jonas Rivera)

Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman)

Adapted Screenplay:

District 9 by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell

An Education by Nick Hornby

In the Loop by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, & Tony Roche

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire by Geoffrey Fletcher

Up in the Air by Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

Original Screenplay:

The Hurt Locker by Mark Boal

Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino

The Messenger by Alessandro Camo & Oren Moverman

A Serious Man by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Up by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter (Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, & Tom McCarthy)