well, this is going to be a weird Oscars

First, I have to start with my biggest question: How on earth did Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots get nominated and Steven Spielberg directed, Speilberg and Peter Jackson produced, Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright written, and Golden Globe winner The Adventures of Tintin not get nominated for Best Animated Feature????  What world do we live in?!?!?!

The Best Animated Feature category doesn’t ever get me riled up.  I have no idea what A Cat in Paris or Chico & Rita are so I can’t say anything about them, but The Adventures of Tintin more than deserved to be nominated instead of Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, and Rango.  Especially since it won the Golden Globe for the exact same category.

Now that that’s out of the way, there were only a few huge surprises to me on the nomination list.

For one, why are there only 9 Best Picture nominees?  They couldn’t nominate say Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 to fill that 10th spot?  Speaking of, I am extremely beyond disappointed that Deathly Hallows Part 2 was only nominated for Art Direction, Makeup, and Visual Effects.  It had better win all 3 or I will punch someone in the face.

As for the actual nominees, I’m not going to lie…I’m not really excited about any of the movies.  But that might be because I’ve only seen 2 of them: The Descendants and Midnight in Paris.  Right now, I want Midnight in Paris to win.  I still want to see The Artist and Hugo, but I really don’t want to see any of the other ones.  Yes, I’m sure The Help is amazing.  It just does not appeal to me.  Or Moneyball…or The Tree of Life…or Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.  Does it make me a terrible person?  Not really, but I might be cynical.

I’m actually really surprised that The Tree of Life was nominated for both Best Picture and Best Director.  Only because I haven’t read anything about it since it came out and people were complaining about it and asking for their money back.

The best surprises on the nominees list were that Melissa McCarthy got nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig got nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Bridesmaids.  When does a comedy like that get nominated for an Oscar??  NEVER.  I’m so happy for these women.  They really did something special with this movie and I’m so glad they’re getting the recognition they deserve for it.  Also, Jonah Hill nominated for Best Supporting Actor?  I think that’s great for him.  I haven’t seen the movie, but I’m excited for him.

The biggest snubs I noticed were, besides Harry Potter, Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender.  What Ryan Gosling did in Drive should have earned him a nomination, if not the win.  AND he was awesome in Crazy, Stupid, Love and I hear he was great in The Ides of March.  How does he not get a nomination??  And then Michael Fassbender is just amazing.  If George Clooney thanks you in his Golden Globes Best Actor acceptance speech, albeit in a humorous way, you deserve to be nominated.  I’m so mad I didn’t get to see Shame or A Dangerous Method when they were showing right around the corner from me, but just by going off what he did in X-Men First Class this year and in Inglourious Basterds 2-3 years ago, I know he should have been nominated.

Oh, and Steven freaking Spielberg.  How does the king of Hollywood not get a nomination for directing with 2 movies out there?  Again, I thought Tintin was great and War Horse got a Best Picture nod, so you would think he would get a nomination for that at least.  Oh well.

I’m super happy for John Williams getting 2 nominations.  I think he should always win.  I’m also happy that a song from The Muppets got nominated for Best Original Song, even if it wasn’t written by Jason Segel.  Also, I’m happy that Madonna didn’t get nominated for anything because I hated her conceited acceptance speech at the Golden Globes.

I’ll post my predictions at a later time, but right now, the only thing I’m looking forward to about these Oscars is Billy Crystal hosting.