Today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its nominees for the 85th Academy Awards. Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” was the most nominated film of the year; receiving 13 nominations while David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook” and Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” both received 11. Read the full list of nominees and most blatant snubs below.
Best Picture
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
“Lincoln”
“Les Misérables”
“Life of Pi”
“Amour”
“Django Unchained”
“Argo”
Though none of the above nominees are surprising, it’s ridiculous that “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Silver Linings Playbook” beat “The Master” and “Moonrise Kingdom.” While “Silver Linings” and “Southern Wild” had more Oscar buzz – largely due to their closer to end of year release dates, I suspect – but “Moonrise” and “The Master” are unequivocally better films
Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
Denzel Washington, “Flight”
Hugh Jackman, “Les Misérables”
Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”
Holy Motors star Denis Lavant should have taken Bradley Cooper’s place. The French actor’s mesmerizing, chameleonic performance is one for the ages and while Cooper gives a credible performance, it’s just not in the same class.
Best Actress
Naomi Watts, “The Impossible'
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”
Quvenzhané Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
No major issues here, though “Compliance’s” Ann Dowd receive some recognition. Her performance as a fast food manager who’s deeply ingrained societal conditioning and obliviousness is chilling in its reliability.
Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Robert De Niro, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Alan Arkin, “Argo”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”
Leonardo DiCaprio was robbed. The “Django Unchained” actor gave his best performance ever in the film and his not receiving an Oscar nomination is stunning. Samuel L. Jackson also turned in amazing work “Django.”
Best Supporting Actress
Sally Field, “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables”
Jacki Weaver, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”
Amy Adams, “The Master”
No complaints here.
Best Original Song
"Before My Time," “Chasing Ice”
"Pi’s Lullaby," “Life of Pi”
"Suddenly," “Les Misérables”
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend," “Ted”
"Skyfall," “Skyfall”
While Skyfall was the best original song of the year, Rick Ross’ “100 Black Coffins” and John Legend’s “Who Did That To You?” from the “Django Unchained” soundtrack were also tremendous. And how amazing would it have been to see Rick Ross on the Academy’s stage? “Ted” having more Oscar nominations than “Holy Motors” is a travesty.
Best Animated Feature Film
“Frankenweenie”
“Pirates! Band of Misfits”
“Wreck-It Ralph”
“Paranorman”
“Brave”
“Frankenweenie” is my personal favorite but I’ll be happy if anything breaks Pixar’s hold on the category.
Best Foreign Language Film
Austria: “Amour”
Chile: “No”
Canada: “War Witch”
Denmark: “A Royal Affair”
Norway: “Kontiki”
Again the “Holy Motors” exclusion is shocking.
Best Director
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Ang Lee, “Life of Pi”
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
Michael Haneke, “Amour”
Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Obviously the Kathryn Bigelow snub is inconceivable but seeing Benh Zeitlin and David O. Russell there instead makes it much worse. Also snubbed: Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Paul Thomas Anderson. If the Best Picture category includes nine nominees, so should Best Director.
Best Original Screenplay
John Gatins, “Flight”
Mark Boal, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”
Michael Haneke, “Amour”
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, “Moonrise Kingdom”
Paul Thomas Anderson’s script for “The Master” should have been included but its hard to say what should have taken its place.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Chris Terrio, “Argo”
Tony Kushner, “Lincoln”
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”
David Magee, “Life of Pi”
No major omissions here but it’s still annoying to see “Southern Wild” and “Playbook” book up there, especially since neither film has a particularly exceptional screenplay.
Best Cinematography
Seamus McGarvey, “Anna Karenina”
Robert Richardson, “Django Unchained”
Claudio Miranda, “Life of Pi”
Janusz Kaminski, “Lincoln”
Roger Deakins, “Skyfall”
Mihai Malăimare, Jr. gorgeous 70mm cinematography for “The Master” should have been nominated but this was a competitive year. And it was a long shot, but Wally Pfister tremendous work on “The Dark Knight Rises” should have been recognized.
Best Costume Design
Jacqueline Durran, “Anna Karenina”
Paco Delgado, “Les Misérables”
Joanna Johnston, “Lincoln”
Eiko Ishioka, Mirror Mirror
Colleen Atwood, “Snow White and the Huntsman”
I would have liked to have seen Jany Temime get nominated for “Skyfall” but the Academy is notorious for overlooking modern day films in this category.
Documentary Feature
“5 Broken Cameras”
“The Gatekeepers”
“How to Survive a Plague”
“The Invisible War”
“Searching for Sugar Man”
Bart Layton’s “The Imposter” should have been nominated but it’s unconventional structure probably kept it out of consideration.
Documentary Short
"Inocente," Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
"Kings Point," Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
"Mondays at Racine," Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
"Open Heart," Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
"Redemption," Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
Film Editing
William Goldenberg, “Argo”
Tim Squyres, “Life of Pi”
Michael Kahn, “Lincoln”
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, “Zero Dark Thirty”
“Zero Dark Thirty” had the best editing of the year, period.
Makeup and Hairstyling
Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel, “Hitchcock”
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, “Les Misérables”
How did “The Hunger Games” not receive a nomination?
Best Original Score
Dario Marianelli, “Anna Karenina”
Alexandre Desplat, “Argo”
Mychael Danna, “Life of Pi”
John Williams, “Lincoln”
Thomas Newman, “Skyfall”
While there was a lot of fine work done in this category Jonny Greenwood’s haunting and beautiful score for “The Master” was the best of the year. Also Hans Zimmer’s thundering soundtrack for “The Dark Knight Rises” should have been nominated.
Best Production Design
Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, “Anna Karenina”
Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent and Simon Bright, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson, “Les Misérables”
David Gropman and Anna Pinnock, “Life of Pi”
Rick Carter and Jim Erickson, “Lincoln”
Ed Verreaux’s excellent work on “Looper” should have garnered a nomination.
Best Animated Short
"Adam and Dog," Minkyu Lee
"Fresh Guacamole," PES
"Head over Heels," Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
"Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare,'" David Silverman
"Paperman," John Kahrs
Best Live Action Short
"Asad," Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
"Buzkashi Boys," Sam French and Ariel Nasr
"Curfew," Shawn Christensen
"Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)," Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
"Henry," Yan England
Best Sound Editing
Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn, “Argo”
Unchained Wylie Stateman, “Django Unchained”
Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton, “Life of Pi”
Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers, “Skyfall”
Paul N.J. Ottosson, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Best Sound Mixing
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia, “Argo”
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes, “Les Misérables”
Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin, “Life of Pi”
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins, “Lincoln”
Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson, “Skyfall”
Best Visual Effects
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott, “Life of Pi”
Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick, “Marvel’s The Avengers”
Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill, “Prometheus”
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson, “Snow White and the Huntsman”
“Prometheus” should win both because it deserves to and to silence all the haters.
The 85th Academy Awards, hosted by Seth McFarlane, airs on February 24, 2013 on ABC.
Mario McKellop has written about film on Examiner for the last three years and can be reached directly at mmckellop@hotmail.com
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