The Oscars: 85th Academy Award Nominations

The Oscars: 85th Academy Award Nominations

Soon-to-be 85th Academy Awards ceremony host (and Family Guy creator) Seth MacFarlane and actress Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man) revealed the nominations for this year’s Oscars at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills this morning.

The Academy Awards for outstanding achievements in film during 2012 will air on ABC on Sunday, February 24th 2013 and be televised around the globe. Scroll on down for both our breakdown of the nominations and the full list.

Director Michael Haneke’s foreign-language drama Amour and Benh Zeitlin’s indie darling Beasts of the Southern Wild are surprise Best Picture contenders; while the pair have been showered with critical praise, there’s been little to no major Oscar buzz for either in recent months (compared to fellow nominees Argo, Lincoln, etc.). Similarly, Haneke and Zeitlin’s directing recognition means favored contenders like Ben Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow, Tom Hooper and Quentin Tarantino (all of which have films up for the top prize) aren’t in the running.

Then again, Hooper’s controversial approach to filming Les Misérables (read our review) probably accounts for his exclusion. Similarly, Django Unchained has been very well-received by moviegoers, but there’s been some debate about whether or not it truly represents Tarantino’s finest hour; or, rather, his finest 2 hours and 45 minutes (see: the SR Underground Podcast discussion of that topic).

The Oscars: 85th Academy Award Nominations
Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ landed multiple nominations

Some other things worth noting:

  • Wes Anderson’s acclaimed Moonrise Kingdom (read our review) landed a Best Original Screenplay nod, but was otherwise ignored by the Academy.
  • Young Quvenzhané Wallis was recognized for her Beasts performance as Hushpuppy, one of our Most Memorable Movie Characters of 2012.
  • Helen Hunt was nominated for her strong performance in The Sessions (read our review), but costar John Hawkes didn’t make the cut in the competitive Best Actor category.
  • No Best Director nod for Paul Thomas Anderson on The Master, but cast members Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams are all in contention for awards.
  • No Best Picture nods for blockbusters Skyfall and The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, Christopher Nolan’s much-debated Batman trilogy finale was even shut out in the technical categories, despite Warner Bros.’ campaign.

Overall, though, the nominations are in line with expectations, as titles like Lincoln, Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook are all poised to walk away with an award or two (or maybe a lot more than that). Kind of boring and predictable, truth be told, but that’s the Academy for you.

Which choices do you agree/disagree with? What films do you felt were unfairly snubbed (or over-recognized)? Let us know in the comments section.

CLICK ON THE NEXT PAGE FOR THE FULL OSCAR NOMINATIONS LIST

Best motion picture of the year

“Amour” Nominees to be determined

“Argo” Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers

“Django Unchained” Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers

“Les Misérables” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers

“Life of Pi” Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers

“Lincoln” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

“Silver Linings Playbook” Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers

“Zero Dark Thirty” Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Achievement in directing

“Amour” Michael Haneke

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” Benh Zeitlin

“Life of Pi” Ang Lee

“Lincoln” Steven Spielberg

“Silver Linings Playbook” David O. Russell

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”

Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln”

Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables”

Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”

Denzel Washington in “Flight”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Alan Arkin in “Argo”

Robert De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook”

Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Master”

Tommy Lee Jones in “Lincoln”

Christoph Waltz in “Django Unchained”

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty”

Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook”

Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour”

Quvenzhané Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Naomi Watts in “The Impossible”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Amy Adams in “The Master”

Sally Field in “Lincoln”

Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables”

Helen Hunt in “The Sessions”

Jacki Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best animated feature film of the year

“Brave” Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman

“Frankenweenie” Tim Burton

“ParaNorman” Sam Fell and Chris Butler

“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” Peter Lord

“Wreck-It Ralph” Rich Moore

Achievement in cinematography

“Anna Karenina” Seamus McGarvey

“Django Unchained” Robert Richardson

“Life of Pi” Claudio Miranda

“Lincoln” Janusz Kaminski

“Skyfall” Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design

“Anna Karenina” Jacqueline Durran

“Les Misérables” Paco Delgado

“Lincoln” Joanna Johnston

“Mirror Mirror” Eiko Ishioka

“Snow White and the Huntsman” Colleen Atwood

Best documentary feature

“5 Broken Cameras”

Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

“The Gatekeepers”

Nominees to be determined

“How to Survive a Plague”

Nominees to be determined

“The Invisible War”

Nominees to be determined

“Searching for Sugar Man”

Nominees to be determined

Best documentary short subject

“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

Achievement in film editing

“Argo” William Goldenberg

“Life of Pi” Tim Squyres

“Lincoln” Michael Kahn

“Silver Linings Playbook” Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers

“Zero Dark Thirty” Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best foreign language film of the year

“Amour” Austria

“Kon-Tiki” Norway

“No” Chile

“A Royal Affair” Denmark

“War Witch” Canada

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

“Hitchcock”

Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane

“Les Misérables”

Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“Anna Karenina” Dario Marianelli

“Argo” Alexandre Desplat

“Life of Pi” Mychael Danna

“Lincoln” John Williams

“Skyfall” Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice”

Music and Lyric by J. Ralph

“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted”

Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane

“Pi’s Lullaby” from “Life of Pi”

Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri

“Skyfall” from “Skyfall”

Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth

“Suddenly” from “Les Misérables”

Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Achievement in production design

“Anna Karenina”

Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright

“Les Misérables”

Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson

“Life of Pi”

Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

“Lincoln”

Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best animated short film

“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 film

“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

Achievement in sound editing

“Argo” Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn

“Django Unchained” Wylie Stateman

“Life of Pi” Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton

“Skyfall” Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers

“Zero Dark Thirty” Paul N.J. Ottosson

Achievement in sound mixing

“Argo”

John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia

“Les Misérables”

Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes

“Life of Pi”

Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin

“Lincoln”

Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins

“Skyfall”

Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in visual effects

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White

“Life of Pi”

Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott

“Marvel’s The Avengers”

Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick

“Prometheus”

Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill

“Snow White and the Huntsman”

Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Adapted screenplay

“Argo” Screenplay by Chris Terrio

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin

“Life of Pi” Screenplay by David Magee

“Lincoln” Screenplay by Tony Kushner

“Silver Linings Playbook” Screenplay by David O. Russell

Original screenplay

“Amour” Written by Michael Haneke

“Django Unchained” Written by Quentin Tarantino

“Flight” Written by John Gatins

“Moonrise Kingdom” Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola

“Zero Dark Thirty” Written by Mark Boal