The Oscar Nominees were just announced this morning at 5:30 AM. I seriously can't believe some of these nominees. And I am seriously blown away that Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow were not nominated for Best Director. I know that a lot of people are freaking out right now. I knew that Cloud Atlas would get nothing but I was really hoping a miracle could happen but it did not. The acting categories were all pretty much what we had expected. See how Jackie and I did with our predictions below. I put a "J" for Jackie and a "B" for Brad if we predicted the correct nominee. I gave us a lower case "j" and a lower case"b" if we picked it as one of our strong possiblities...

Best motion picture of the year

• “Amour” B J
• “Argo” B J
• “Beasts of the Southern Wild” b J
• “Django Unchained” B J
• “Les Misérables” B J
• “Life of Pi” B J
• “Lincoln” B J
• “Silver Linings Playbook” B J
• “Zero Dark Thirty” B J

JACKIE=9 OUT OF 9
BRAD=8 OUT OF 9 + 1 POSSIBILITY

Moonrise Kingdom missing out in the 9 picks. It should have been 10 nominees!

Achievement in directing

• “Amour” Michael Haneke b
• “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Benh Zeitlin
• “Life of Pi” Ang Lee B j
• “Lincoln” Steven Spielberg B J
• “Silver Linings Playbook” David O. Russell J

JACKIE=2 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY
BRAD=2 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY

David O. Russell & Benh Zeitlin somehow beats Bigelow, Affleck & Tarantino for directing jobs that are not near as good. But I am so happy that Michael Haneke made it into this category!

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook” b J
• Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln” B J
• Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables” B J
• Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master” B j
• Denzel Washington in “Flight” B J

BRAD=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY
JACKIE=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY

I was really hoping that John Hawkes or Jean-Louis Trintignant would replace Bradley Cooper!

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty” B J
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook” B J
• Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour” B
• Quvenzhané Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild” b J
• Naomi Watts in “The Impossible” B J

BRAD=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY
JACKIED=4 OUT OF 5

I am so happy that Emmanuelle made it into this category. But am a bit surprised that Quvenzhane took the place of Marion Cotillard. And I am of course bummed that Jennifer Lawrence made it into this category. But obviously she was going to.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Alan Arkin in “Argo” B J
• Robert De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook” b J
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Master” B J
• Tommy Lee Jones in “Lincoln” B J
• Christoph Waltz in “Django Unchained” B j

JACKIE=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY
BRAD=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY

I really wanted Leonardo Di Caprio & Samuel L. Jackson to join Christoph Waltz in this category. I am bummed that SLP was able to get each of the four acting nominations!

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in “The Master” B J
• Sally Field in “Lincoln” B J
• Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables” B J
• Helen Hunt in “The Sessions” B J
• Jacki Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook”

BRAD=4 OUT OF 5
JACKIE=4 OUT OF 5

I was really hoping for Ann Dowd to surprise everybody and show up in this movie. I do like Jackie Weaver. I just don't like the movie she was in.

Adapted screenplay

• “Argo” Screenplay by Chris Terrio B J
• “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin b j
• “Life of Pi” Screenplay by David Magee B j
• “Lincoln” Screenplay by Tony Kushner B J
• “Silver Linings Playbook” Screenplay by David O. Russell B J

BRAD=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY
JACKIE=3 OUT OF 5 + 2 POSSIBILITIES

Original screenplay

• “Amour” Written by Michael Haneke B J
• “Django Unchained” Written by Quentin Tarantino B J
• “Flight” Written by John Gatins b J
• “Moonrise Kingdom” Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola B j
• “Zero Dark Thirty” Written by Mark Boal B J

BRAD=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY
JACKIE=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY

I am so disappointed that Perks Of Being A Wallflower did not get nominated for best adapted screenplay. Silver Linings Playbook had such a horrible and predictable script. But I am so happy that Moonrise Kingdom, Django Unchained and Amour all got nominated for original screenplay.

Best animated feature film of the year

• “Brave” Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman B J
• “Frankenweenie” Tim Burton B
• “ParaNorman” Sam Fell and Chris Butler B
• “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” Peter Lord b
• “Wreck-It Ralph” Rich Moore B J

BRAD=4 OUT OF 5 + 1 POSSIBILITY
JACKIE=2 OUT OF 5

FINAL SCORE
BRAD=38 out of 49 correct
+8 strong possibility choices=46 out of 49 correct

JACKIE=36 out of 49 correct
+6 strong possibility choices=42 out of 49 correct

I came out on top this year. Jackie beat me in the predictions last year. Both Jackie and I got 4 out of 5 correct in most categories and we almost always picked the fifth nomination with our strong possibility choice. Jackie made a mistake with picking some foreign picks in the animated category. And we both really messed up in the director category with only getting 2 correct and 1 strong possibility. I would have gotten 48 out of 49 If Bigelow and Affleck had been nominated for best director like everyone expected! And I could have gotten 49 out of 49 correct if I had picked Jackie Weaver as a strong possibility for Best Supporting Actress!


Here is the nominations tally...

LINCOLN=12
LIFE OF PI=11
LES MISERABLES=8
ARGO=7
ZERO DARK THIRTY=5
CLOUD ATLAS=0

The Golden Globes are this Sunday January 13th and the Oscars are on Sunday February 24th.