The Oscars

So......the Academy has once again dished out its shiny gold statuettes for another year, with The Artist and Hugo leading the pack with five apiece, but yet again, the results are controversial. Before I go on, I must confess that I haven't seen The Artist or The Descendants, so can't really give my two-pennies worth, but nevertheless, the rant must go on. It seems the Oscars are snubbing better and better performances / films every year, and I for one believe the 'sweepstake winners' of latter years didn't deserve half the awards they won, but instead it's just easier for the Oscar voters to go with the film in vogue, such as The King's Speech, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country For Old Men, Chicago, American Beauty and Titanic.

However, although I am pleased to see The Artist doing so well, and I'm sure it's deservedly so, it has to be said that the nominations themselves are seriously lacking any thought at all! There is very little or no love for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? Drive? Martha Marcy May Marlene? Shame? We Need to Talk About Kevin? Olivia Colman? Tilda Swinton? Carnage?

Having been through most of 2011's films and seeing what was missing, the following seem like glaring omissions to me:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Film, Director, Film Editing, Art Direction

Benedict Cumberbatch - Supporting Actor

Drive - Film, Director, Score, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay

Albert Brooks - Supporting Actor

All four actors in Carnage deserved serious consideration, especially Reilly and Foster.

Shame - Director, Original Screenplay, Film Editing

Michael Fassbender - Actor (Shame)

We Need to Talk About Kevin - Film, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Sound Editing

Tilda Swinton - Actress (perhaps one of the biggest oversights!!)

Carnage - Adapted Screenplay 

Olivia Colman - Actress (Tyrannosaur) 

David Wenham - Supporting Actor (Oranges and Sunshine) - a worthy winner I would think! 

Elizabeth Olsen - Actress (Martha Marcy May Marlene)

John Hawkes - Supporting Actor (Martha Marcy May Marlene)

The Skin I Live In - Foreign Film

Cell 211 - Foreign Film

  

Below is a list of last night's winners:

BEST PICTURE
The Artist

BEST DIRECTOR
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius

BEST ACTOR
Jean Dujardin - The Artist

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer - Beginners

BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer - The Help
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Rango

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants - Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen

ART DIRECTION
Hugo - Production Design: Dante Ferretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Hugo - Robert Richardson

COSTUME DESIGN
The Artist - Mark Bridges

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Undefeated

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Saving Face

BEST FILM EDITING
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Separation - Iran

BEST MAKEUP
The Iron Lady - Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Artist - Ludovic Bource

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Man or Muppet - The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore - William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

BEST LIVE SHORT
The Shore - Terry George and Oorlagh George

BEST SOUND EDITING
Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

BEST SOUND MIXING
Hugo - Tom Fleischman and John Midgley

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Hugo - Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning

The Columnist's choice of winners for the Big ones:

BEST PICTURE
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

BEST DIRECTOR
Tomas Alfredson - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

BEST ACTOR
Michael Fassbender - Shame

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
David Wenham - Oranges and Sunshine

BEST ACTRESS
Olivia Colman - Tyrannosaur

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Evan Rachel Wood - The Ides of March

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris