A few surprises find their way into this year's Academy Awards nominations

The nominees have been announced for this year's Academy Awards, and I think for once there were a few genuine surprises to be found, perhaps inspired by the more adventurous(and more fun) Golden Globes. The Artist continued it's dominant run, earning five nominations, including Best Picture, Director, and Actor. Deciding to go with nine Best Picture nominees rather than the maximum ten, the one that may shock some folks was the inclusion of 9/11 drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, although I've been saying for weeks that the weepy, artificial drama was a shoe in.

On a positive note, Bridesmaids got the validation it so deserved, earning a Best supporting actress nomination for Melissa McCarthy, as well as Best Original Screenplay for Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. Good job, Academy. The same with including Damien Bachir for A Better Life. But leaving The Adventures of Tintin out of the Best Animated category? Bad job, Academy. The rest of the major categories are below...

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

Best supporting actress:
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

Best supporting actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week With Marilyn”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Max von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

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

Best actor
Demian Bachir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Best director

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

Best original screenplay
“The Artist”
“Bridesmaids”
“Margin Call”
“Midnight in Paris”
“A Separation”

Best adapted screenplay
“The Descendants”
“Hugo”
“The Ides of March”
“Moneyball”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best foreign language film
“Bullhead”
“Footnote”
“In Darkness”
“Monsieur Lazhar”
“A Separation”

Best animated feature
“A Cat in Paris”
“Chico & Rita”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”










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