This year’s Oscars have some strange, if not surprising, nominees. The two most talked about movies of the last year definitely were ‘Moneyball’, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, which only got six nominations, despite huge popularity and critical acclaim, and ‘The Help’, which starred Viola Davis and Emma Stone, and got only four. Another attention grabber of the year (and a truly great film), was Michelle William’s ‘My Week with Marilyn’, which surprisingly got only two nominees, while another critical and audience favorite, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – Part 2′ got only three nominations.  What the Academy jury chooses to nominate never ceases to shock me. The giant in terms of nominees this time is Martin Scorsese’s CGI-ladened family venture named ‘Hugo’, a well-made film based on a remarkable novel called ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’ by Brian Selznick, with 11 nominations. Following Hugo is a Hollywood produced French black and white silent film, ‘The Artist,’ a very lesser known movie that is deemed a strong contender for the Best Picture by movie pundits and critics. So, the best picture nominees are; ‘The Artist’, ‘The Descendants’ (starring George Clooney as a down-to-earth father), ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ (starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, got mixed reviews from both critics and audiences, but still got nominated), ‘The Help’ (I would’ve gone mad if it didn’t got nominated), ‘Midnight in Paris’ (another Woody Allen pic out-of-nowhere indie movie which suddenly got nominated out of thin air), ‘Moneyball’, ‘The Tree of Life’ (another Brad Pitt vehicle but still not quite well known but a good movie indeed), and Spielberg’s ‘War Horse’ (another strictly critic-only favorite). Who Will Win: The Artist (like it or not, I getting a feeling that they’re going to do this again for sure, just like last year with ‘The King’s Speech’—the Oscar jury has a history of shocking disappointments). Who Should Win: Hugo (the film is an experience; it’s a celebration of cinema by one of the greatest directors of our time, it is a remarkable achievement in terms of story-telling and 3D).
What is Missing: ‘My Week with Marilyn’ (I mean seriously–what the heck!?)
The best director nominees include; Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris (really! All of a sudden he comes up with a movie right before the nomination period out of thin air), Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist (nobody actually saw your movie dude, so…), Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life (no comments, enough said), Alexander Payne – The Descendants (finally a deserving nominee), Martin Scorsese – Hugo (who learned a lot from the failure of ‘Shutter Island’ and did not repeat the same mistakes—thankfully–so he kind of deserves it).
Who Will Win: Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Who Should Win: Martin Scorsese – Hugo (after ‘The Departed’, Hugo is the second best recent Scorsese film).
Who is Missing: Paul Feig – Bridesmaids (Oscars neglected yet another deserving director).
Best actor nominees include; Demián Bichir – A Better Life (which movie is that again?), George Clooney – The Descendants (he managed to be both funny and sad in this film, this is definitely his career’s best role), Jean Dujardin – The Artist (ugh), Gary Oldman – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (good performance indeed), Brad Pitt – Moneyball (looked cool, acted cool, and remained cool till the end of the movie).
Who Will Win: Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Who Should Win: Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Who is Missing: Daniel Craig – The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (he took the challenging role very seriously and did it remarkably).
Best actress nominees include; Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs (in this lesser known film, Close played a woman who took a servant job posing as a man—an amazing performance indeed! At times she almost looked and behaved like a real man!), Viola Davis – The Help (great performance, a deserving nominee), Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (that girl is wonderful), Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady (as Margaret Thatcher (if there’s any actress that can play Thatcher, its Streep)), Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn–as Marilyn Monroe (not only the resemblance, Williams portrayed the troubled woman inside Manson to perfection, no two opinions on that).Who Will Win: Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Who Should Win: Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Who is Missing: Emma Stone – The Help, Kristin Wiig – The Bridesmaids (she’s extremely funny and incredibly sad at the same time, not much actresses out there can do that).
Best animated feature category is very shocking this time round; as the animation giant Walt Disney got kicked out totally, and some foreign animated films dominate. Nominees includes; A Cat in Paris (from France, about a young Parisian girl whose cat leads her to unravel a thrilling mystery over the course of a single evening, according to the Big Cartoon Database), Chico and Rita (from Spain, a ‘love story’ set in a 40’s and 50’s jazz music scene), Kung Fu Panda 2 (skadoosh! Enough said), Puss in Boots (this Zorro inspired cat voiced by Antonio Banderas does not fail to amuse), Rango (this reptilian Western starring Johnny Depp is quite funny and entertaining). Though Dream Works did not have to compete with rival Disney this time, those foreign animated films shouldn’t be underestimated either.
Who Will Win: Kung Fu Panda 2
Who Should Win: Puss in Boots
What is Missing: Cars 2 (seriously, it wasn’t that bad, guys).

Published: Saturday, February 25, 2012
Updated: Sunday, February 26, 2012 00:02