And the nominees are...

The nominees for the Best and Worst Movies of 2012 were revealed this past week with the announcement of the 85th Academy Award nominations and 33rd annual Golden Raspberries, respectively. The Oscar award show will be held on 24 February (hosted this year by Seth "Family Guy" MacFarlane), while the Razzie winners are set to be announced this year on 23 February.

I don't have much to say about this year's Oscar nominations. I enjoyed Life of Pi but didn't find it nearly as emotionally affecting as it should have been. Steven Spielberg's historical epic Lincoln currently seems the film to beat, with the highest number of nominations this year (12). However, as excited as I am to see Daniel Day-Lewis playing one of America's greatest presidents, I don't know if I can stomach 3 hours of arguing over 19th Century US government policy? *yawn* The same goes for 3 hours of desperation and high intensity singing, sans intermission, in Les Misérables. 

For the record, this year's biggest snubs have been in the Best Director category, with Katherine Bigelow and Ben Affleck both failing to score nominations despite the fact that their movies, Zero Dark Thirty and Argo are Best Picture Nominees and critical darlings. Personally I'm very disappointed that Cloud Atlas (my review) wasn't recognised in the category of Best Make-Up, where it absolutely excelled.

Anyway, I don't have particularly strong feelings (yet) about this year's list of Oscar nominees. I am however throwing my support behind young Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild (my review) and Frankenweenie (my review) in the category of Best Animated Film.

P.S. For all of this year's Golden Globes winners - which are regarded as good Oscar indicators - the ceremony took place last night and the results are here.

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST PICTURE
Amour
Argo
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook

BEST DIRECTOR
Life Of Pi - Ang Lee
Lincoln - Steven Spielberg
Amour - Michael Haneke
Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell
Beasts Of The Southern Wild - Benh Zeitlin

BEST ACTOR
Denzel Washington – Flight
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin - Argo
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln

BEST ACTRESS
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Naomi Watts - The Impossible

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams - The Master
Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Sally Field - Lincoln
Jacky Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Brave
Frankenweenie
Paranorman
The Pirates! A band of misfits
Wreck-it-Ralph

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chris Terrio - Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin - Beasts Of The Southern Wild
David Magee - Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner - Lincoln
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Michael Haneke - Amour
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola - Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty
John Gatins – Flight

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Anna Karenina - Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained - Robert Richardson
Life Of Pi - Claudio Miranda
Lincoln – Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall - Roger Deakins

COSTUME DESIGN
Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables - Paco Delgado
Lincoln - Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror - Eiko Ishioka
Snow White And The Huntsman - Colleen Atwood

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague
The Invisible War
Searching For Sugar Man

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays At Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

BEST FILM EDITING
Argo - William Goldenberg
Life Of Pi - Tim Squyres
Zero Dark Thirty - Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg
Lincoln - Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook - Jay Cassidy & Crispin Struthers

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Amour - Austria
Kon-Tiki - Norway
No - Chile
A Royal Affair - Denmark
War Witch - Canada

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Hitchcock - Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
Les Misérables - Lisa Westcott

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli
Argo - Alexandre Desplat
Life Of Pi - Mychael Danna
Lincoln - John Williams
Skyfall - Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
‘Before My Time’ from Chasing Ice
‘Everybody Needs A Best Friend’ from Ted
‘Pi’s Lullaby’ from Life Of Pi
‘Skyfall’ from Skyfall
‘Suddenly’ from Les Miserables

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson In “The Longest Daycare”
Paperman

BEST LIVE FILM SHORT
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death Of A Shadow
Henry

BEST SOUND EDITING
Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

BEST SOUND MIXING
Argo
Les Miserables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life Of Pi
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman

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GOLDEN RASPBERRY AWARD NOMINATIONS

The Razzies are a joke. They have their favourite high profile targets and they latch nominations onto them time and time again. Case in point: The Twilight Saga. Finally the series became fun with Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (my review) but now the most well-received of the films scores the most Razzie nominations ever.

So take the following list of nominees with a pinch of salt. They aren't necessarily an accurate reflection of the biggest disappointments of the year. Although, yes, some are massive turkeys...

Worst Picture
“Battleship”
The Oogieloves in Big Balloon Adventure”
“That’s My Boy”
“A Thousand Words”
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”

Worst Director
Sean Anders – “That’s My Boy”
Peter Berg – “Battleship”
Bill Condon – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”
Tyler Perry – “Good Deeds” / “Madea’s Witness Protection”
John Putch – “Atlas Shrugged: Part II”

Worst Actress
Katherine Heigl – “One for the Money”
Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil: Retribution”
Tyler Perry – “Madea’s Witness Protection”
Kristen Stewart – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II” / “Snow White and the Huntsman”
Barbra Streisand – “The Guilt Trip”

Worst Actor
Nicolas Cage – “Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance” /” Seeking Justice”
Eddie Murphy – “A Thousand Words”
Robert Pattinson – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”
Tyler Perry – “Alex Cross / Good Deeds”
Adam Sandler – “That’s My Boy”

Worst Supporting Actress
Jessica Biel – “Playing For Keeps / Total Recall”
Brooklyn Decker – “Battleship / What to Expect When You’re Expecting”
Ashley Greene – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”
Jennifer Lopez – “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”
Rihanna – “Battleship”

Worst Supporting Actor
David Hasselhoff – “Pirannha 3-DD”
Taylor Lautner – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”
Liam Neeson – “Battleship / Wrath of the Titans”
Nick Swardson – “That’s My Boy”
Vanilla Ice – “That’s My Boy”

Worst Screen Ensemble
“Battleship”
“The Oogieloves in Big Balloon Adventure”
“That’s My Boy”
“The Twilight Saga: Eclipsed Part II”
“Madea’s Witness Protection”

Worst Screenplay
“Atlas Shrugged Part II”
“Battleship”
“That’s My Boy”
“A Thousand Words”
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”

Worst Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel
“Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance”
“Pirannha 3-DD”
“Red Dawn”
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”
“Madea’s Witness Protection”

Worst Screen Couple
Any two cast members from “Jersey Shore” in “The Three Stooges”
Mackenzie Foy and Taylor Lautner in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”
Tyler Perry and his drag in “Madea’s Witness Protection”
Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg, Leighton Meester, or Susan Sarandon in “That’s My Boy”