Every year the Academy Awards Nominations are sure to piss people off, and this year is no exception.  Hugo dominated receiving 11 nods, including Best Picture and Best Director, for Martin Scorsese’s movie that I called the best movie of 2011. The Artist however is getting a lot of love too (10 nods) for all the right reasons so it will be a showdown of cinematic appreciation for sure.

So my questions this year are as follows:  Where is Drive? Why didn’t Michael Shannon get a nomination for Take Shelter? Why is Bridesmaids in any of these categories? Why isn’t Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part II?  Why didn’t David Fincher or Steven Spielberg get a best director nod?  Why didn’t The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo get a best picture nod?

That’s all I can think of for now, I will likely be live blogging the Oscars this year, Sunday February 26th, so this list will be re-posted, my bold predictions are not always my favorite choice, it’s what the Academy voters will likely choose.

Let’s take a look at the list of major nominations:

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best Actor
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Original Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Jim Rash & Nat Faxon, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon, The Ides of March
Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian, Moneyball
Peter Straughan & Bridget O’Connor, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the trailer for the 84th Academy Awards with Funny Or Die, and it couldn’t die quicker.  The trailer features Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox, William Fichtner and Vinnie Jones.  Why?  Because you’re parents will laugh is why.

The 2012 Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 24th, the show airs Sunday, February 26th at 7pm EST on ABC.

• Screen Gems confirms The Raid remake is a go [see cool trailer here]. [comingsoon]
• Billy Crystal is the host of the The Academy Awards. [deadline]
• Beauty and the Beast 3D has a new theatrical poster [image]
• The Simpsons arcade game is coming to home consoles, finally. [gamespot]
• Bruce Campbell talks new ‘Evil Dead’ and confirms Ash is not in the movie. [tvguide]
• Steve Carell set to star in ‘Lunatics’ [deadline]
• Buzz Lightyear and ‘Toy Story’ gang return for ‘Small Fry’. [usatoday]

Watch Darren Aronofksy’s terrifying anti-meth PSA’s below:

The franchise is over, the dust has settled, and what we have been left with is one remarkable movie franchise to look back on with mostly praise.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was a great movie, now it’s time to consider it for awards.  Is it really good enough to be considered for a “Best Picture” at the Oscars?

Well, Warner thinks so, they released a promotional “For Your Consideration” video, which is very powerful.  You can watch it below as well as a list of nominations Warner Bros. is going for:

Over the weekend it was revealed that Oscar producer Brett Ratner wanted Eddie Murphy to host the 84th Oscars, today it’s been officially announced that Murphy has agreed to do it.

It’s easy to call out the man for making a pile of awful movies over the last decade or more, but if we put that all aside for a moment and remember what it was like when Murphy ever took the stage, we have every reason to be excited.  The actor/comedian and SNL alum will host the Academy Awards show on Sunday, February 26, 2012

“I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Award hosts from Hope and Carson to Crystal, Martin and Goldberg, among others,” said Murphy. “I’m looking forward to working with Brett and Don on creating a show that is enjoyable for both the fans at home and for the audience at the Kodak Theatre as we all come together to celebrate and recognize the great film contributions and collaborations from the past year.”

Who’s ever heard of a hosting gig set as a comeback?  This could very well be it.

• Gillian Anderson wants X-Files 3 for 2012, as do I Gillian. [moviehole]
• Diablo Cody-written, Jason Reitman-directed ‘Young Adult’ has a poster. [THR]
• Empire Strikes Back deleted scene, more hype for the butchered Blu-ray release. [ew]
• Abigail Breslin takes role in ‘A Virgin Mary’. [variety]
• Jean Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris join ‘Expendables 2′?  The question mark means don’t take this seriously. [firstshowing]
• Eddie Murphy In Talks To Host 84th Oscars. [deadline]

Australian Teaser For Tom Six’s THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2: FULL SEQUENCE (watch below):

I can still remember when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated five films every year for the Best Picture Oscar.  It was nice; they didn’t have to reach too far to please everyone. Two years ago the Academy decided to revisit the days when ten films were nominated.

So it’s changing again, now the Academy will make “between five and ten” nominations.  Do you think this is because they have been looking at the movies this year and figure they might be struggling come crunch time?  A 3D nomination would make me sick.  I like the fact they are not just arbitrarily choosing a number like 10 and filling in gaps.  They will choose 5 and see if any other fills merit a nomination.
In addition to this, a few changes have been made to the way that Oscar contenders are nominated for visual effects awards, and for Best Animated Film too, see the full press release:

Beverly Hills, CA — The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted on Tuesday (6/14) to add a new twist to the 2011 Best Picture competition, and a new element of surprise to its annual nominations announcement. The Board voted to institute a system that will now produce anywhere between five and 10 nominees in the category. That number won’t be announced until the Best Picture nominees themselves are revealed at the January nominations announcement.

During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5. After much analysis by Academy officials, it was determined that 5% of first place votes should be the minimum in order to receive a nomination, resulting in a slate of anywhere from five to 10 movies.

“In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies,” said Davis. “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.”

If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.

The final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the preferential system, regardless of the number of nominees, to ensure that the winning picture has the endorsement of more than half of the voters.
Other rules changes approved by the Board include:

In the animated feature film category, the need for the Board to vote to “activate” the category each year was eliminated, though a minimum number of eligible releases – eight – is still required for a competitive category. Additionally, the short films and feature animation branch recommended, and the Board approved refinements to the number of possible nominees in the Animated Feature category. In any year in which eight to 12 animated features are released, either two or three of them may be nominated. When 13 to 15 films are released, a maximum of four may be nominated, and when 16 or more animated features are released, a maximum of five may be nominated.

In the visual effects category, the “bakeoff” at which the nominees are determined will expand from seven to 10 contenders. The increase in the number of participants is related to a change made last year in which the number of films nominated in the visual effects category was increased from three to five.

Previously, the Board approved changes to the documentary feature and documentary short category rules that now put those categories’ eligibility periods in line with the calendar year and thus with most other awards categories. The change means that for the 84th Awards cycle only, the eligibility period is more than 12 months; it is from September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Click here to view the embedded video.