84th Academy Award Nominations: 'The Artist,' 'The Descendants,' 'Hugo' And 'Moneyball' Honored In Many Categories

This morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards. Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, The Hunger Games) read the new Oscar nods, with by Academy President Tom Sherak.

The big nominees were The Descendants, The Artist, and Hugo, all which come as no surprise. But Moneyball scored four big nominations, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy also walked away with a couple big nods, and The Muppets is now Oscar-nominated. The Adventures of Tintin was shut out of the Best Animated Film category, and Andy Serkis did not end up with a nomination for his work in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

As is so often the case with the Oscars, you can make a list of snubs that is almost longer than the nomination list. Indie faves got nothing: Michael Fassbender's performance in Shame is not recognized, and Martha Marcy May Marlene and Melancholia are both absent any nominations. But indies and challenging films don't often do well at the Oscars, so no big surprise there.  Drive did score a sound editing nod, but got no love for Albert Brooks in the Best Supporting Actor category.

And the Best Animated Film category is just wild: Pixar loses out, and two films that few audiences will be aware of, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita, get nominated. I expect there will be a lot of conversation over that list. But I like animated films get nominated when they're not big splashy family and marketing affairs. Take a look at footage from Chico & Rita — it's beautiful.

Here are the 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
  • Alexdander Payne, The Descendants
  • Martin Scorsese, Hugo
  • Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
  • Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
  • Best Actor In a Supporting Role

  • Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
  • Jonah Hill, Moneyball
  • Nick Nolte, Warrior
  • Christopher Plummer, Beginners
  • Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
  • Best Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
  • Jessica Chastain, The Help
  • Mellisa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
  • Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
  • Octavia Spencer, The Help
  • Best Actor in a Leading Role

  • Demian Bichir, A Better Life
  • George Clooney, The Descendants
  • Jean Dujardin, The Artist
  • Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
  • Brad Pitt, Moneyball
  • Best Actress in a Leading Role

  • 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
  • Animated Feature Film

  • A Cat in Paris, Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
  • Chico & Rita, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
  • Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh Nelson
  • Puss in Boots, Chris Miller
  • Rango, Gore Verbinski
  • Cinematography

  • The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman
  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
  • Hugo, Robert Richardson
  • The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
  • War Horse, Janusz Kaminski
  • Foreign Language Film

  • Belgium, "Bullhead", Michael R. Roskam, director
  • Canada, "Monsieur Lazhar", Philippe Falardeau, director
  • Iran, "A Separation", Asghar Farhadi, director
  • Israel, "Footnote", Joseph Cedar, director
  • Poland, "In Darkness", Agnieszka Holland, director
  • Music (Original Song)

  • "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
  • "Real in Rio" from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
  • Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

  • The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
  • Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan
  • The Ides of March, Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
  • Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.  Story by Stan Chervin
  • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan
  • Writing (Original Screenplay)

  • The Artist, Written by Michel Hazanavicius
  • Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
  • Margin Call, Written by J.C. Chandor
  • Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen
  • A Separation, Written by Asghar Farhadi
  • Art Direction

  • The Artist: Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
  • Hugo: Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)
  • War Horse: Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)
  • Costume Design

  • Anonymous, Lisy Christl
  • The Artist, Mark Bridges
  • Hugo, Sandy Powell
  • Jane Eyre, Michael O'Connor
  • W.E., Arianne Phillips
  • Documentary Feature

  • Hell and Back Again
  • If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
  • Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
  • Pina
  • Undefeated
  • Documentary Short

  • The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
  • God is the Bigger Elvis, Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
  • Incident in New Baghdad, James Spione
  • Saving Face, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
  • The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
  • Film Editing

  • The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
  • The Descendants, Kevin Tent
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
  • Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
  • Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen
  • Makeup

  • Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
  • The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
  • Music (Original Score)

  • The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
  • The Artist, Ludovic Bource
  • Hugo, Howard Shore
  • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
  • War Horse, John Williams
  • Short Film (Animated)

  • Dimanche/Sunday, Patrick Doyon
  • The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
  • La Luna, Enrico Casarosa
  • A Morning Stroll, Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
  • Wild Life, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
  • Short Film (Live Action)

  • Pentecost, Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
  • Raju, Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
  • The Shore, Terry George and Oorlagh George
  • Time Freak, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
  • Tuba Atlantic, Hallvar Witzø
  • Sound Editing

  • Drive, Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Ren Klyce
  • Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
  • War Horse, Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
  • Sound Mixing

  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
  • Hugo, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
  • Moneyball, Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
  • War Horse, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
  • Visual Effects

  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
  • Hugo, Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
  • Real Steel, Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Dan Glass, Brad Friedman, Douglas Trumbull and Michael Fink
  • The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal and a host of guests at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday February 26.