Personal thoughts at the end of every category ...

* = I've seen it
' = I want to see it
strong = My favorite for winning the Oscar in this category

(as always lots of those aren't even out here in Germany yet -.-)


Best Picture

"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer '
"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers '
"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers '
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers *
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined '
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers '

OK, so this is quite unfair now. Most of these haven't hit German theatres yet. But I'd really love to see most of these, and I'd love to see "The Help" or "The Artist"  get the Oscar here.


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"

Again, this is really really unfair. Haven't seen a single one of these ...


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"

*sigh*


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"

I heard that Viola Davis is the favorite for this category, and I simply can't wait to see the movie. But in my opinion, Rooney Mara also has a great chance.


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" '

Hard one - can't decide!


Animated Feature Film

"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli '
"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal '
"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson *
"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller *
"Rango" Gore Verbinski *

Although Kung Fu Panda 2 has a great chance to win this, I really really hope for Rango, as it was my favorite movie of 2011. Sadly, I haven't seen or heard about the other two yet!


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 '

All of these are beautiful or I expect them to be extremely beautiful, but Hugo isn't the movie with most nominations for nothing


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 '


Costume Design

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


Directing

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

Since it's most likely that Best Film and Directing go to the same movie, I'll go with the same suggestions.


Documentary (Feature)

"Hell and Back Again" Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Pina" Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel '
"Undefeated" TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Of course I'm for Pina, because it's a German movie and a little patriotism at the Oscars should be allowed


Documentary (Short Subject)

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


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


Foreign Language Film

"Bullhead" Belgium
"Footnote" Israel
"In Darkness" Poland
"Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
"A Separation" Iran


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 '

Again, unfair. My most favorite section next to special effects and I have only seen one single movie. Can't wait for the others to come out here! But I think The Artist has great chances, because writing a soundtrack for a black and white silent movie in our time must be quite hard!


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 *

OK, THAT's rare! Normally this Oscar always goes to songs of drama movies, but these are family movies! And although I disliked the music in Rio (mostly because of the terrible German lyrics), I have to admitt that this one song is quite catchy


Short Film (Animated)

"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon '
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg '
"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa '
"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe '
"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby '

Still have to watch these!!! They are always so creative!


Short Film (Live Action)

"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø


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 '

If Transformers is really amazing in something, it's the sound editing and the special effects. So I'd love to see the Oscar go to the big robo cars!


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 '


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 *

Here's my problem: Transformer's visual effects were amazing. The 3D was mindblowing and I've watched this movie three times in theatres just to get blown away again and again and again. Other than that, I know people who have worked on the effects for Hugo, so without haven seen the movie, I can already tell that these are some crazy sh*t. BUT. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was also fantastic. The motion capture was so real, credits to Andy Serkis and all those digital composers and 3D artists who made this happen. Wow!


Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

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


Writing (Original Screenplay)

"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius '
"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig *
"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor *
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen *
"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

Can't believe I see Margin Call in here O.o But ok. Different tastes. I'm quite sure this one will go to The Artist!



A few things to discuss:

I miss a lot of things in this list. First - Andy Serkis. Come on! His Oscar nomination has been overdue already since he impersonated Gollum!
And I can't believe that I've seen 38 movies last year and only a small couple of them can be found in this list of nominations. I'm missing Melancholia and Carnage for example, I'm missing Tintin in the special effects department (since it's not an animated feature by Oscar standarts), and I'm missing X-Men: First Class.
Also, I'm so angry that I haven't had a chance to watch the best movies of the year yet just because they need months to release them here!!!

What are your thoughts?