THE DESCENDANTS

EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE

THE HELP

HUGO

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

MONEYBALL

THE TREE OF LIFE

WAR HORSE

As expected, THE ARTIST emerged as a well-deserved winner here!

Woody Allen (MIDNIGHT IN PARIS)

Terrence Malick (THE TREE OF LIFE)

Alexander Payne (THE DESCENDANTS)

Martin Scorcese (HUGO)

It's Michel Hazanavicius vs. Alexander Payne! I'm happy to know that Hazanavicius grabbed a well-deserved win here.

Demian Bichir (A BETTER LIFE)

George Clooney (THE DESCENDANTS)

Gary Oldman (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY)

Brad Pitt (MONEYBALL)

It's Jean Dujardin vs. George Clooney. But the Academy made the right choice to award Jean Dujardin for his charming performance as George Valentin in THE ARTIST, which also made him the first Frenchman to win the coveted Oscar for Best Actor!

Glenn Close (ALBERT NOBBS)

Rooney Mara (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)

Viola Davis (THE HELP)

Michelle Williams (MY WEEK WITH MARILYN)

This category is narrowed down between Viola Davis or Meryl Streep for the win. Many might have rooted for Viola Davis to nab the Oscar here, especially given her recent winning streak in other awards. But Meryl Streep has finally broke the jinx after being nominated for a record 12th time since 1983's SILKWOOD, with her spot-on performance as Margaret Thatcher in THE IRON LADY.

Kenneth Branagh (MY WEEK WITH MARILYN)

Jonah Hill (MONEYBALL)

Nick Nolte (WARRIOR)

Max von Sydow (EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE)

Another shoo-in win. Enough said.

Berenice Bejo (THE ARTIST)

Jessica Chastain (THE HELP)

Melissa McCarthy (BRIDESMAIDS)

Janet McTeer (ALBERT NOBBS)

No surprise here. Octavia Spencer is a shoo-in win for this category.

A CAT IN PARIS

CHICO & RITA

KUNG FU PANDA 2

PUSS IN BOOTS

A shoo-in win. Gore Verbinski's loving tribute to the classic western is an inventive and colorful animated feature is worthy of an award here.

Michel Hazanavicius (THE ARTIST)

Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo (BRIDESMAIDS)

J.C. Chandor (MARGIN CALL)

Woody Allen (MIDNIGHT IN PARIS)

Asghar Farhadi (A SEPARATION)

Another undeserved win. While many have hailed MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is Allen's finest movie he's ever made in years, I beg to differ. (read: overrated). Personally Michel Hazanavicus or Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo should bag the win instead.

John Logan (HUGO)

George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon (THE IDES OF MARCH)

Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin (MONEYBALL)

Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY)

THE DESCENDANTS is a hugely overrated movie with sadly average plot. Of all the nominees in this category here, I think Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin should win this instead for crafting a unpopular subject matter into something intriguing in MONEYBALL.

Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius (THE ARTIST)

Kevin Tent (THE DESCENDANTS)

Thelma Schoonmaker (HUGO)

Christopher Tellefsen (MONEYBALL)

John Williams (THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN)

Howard Shore (HUGO)

Alberto Iglesias (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY)

John Williams (WAR HORSE)

Ludovic Bource's layered score is one of the best accomplishments that drives the artistic success of THE ARTIST. Bravo!

Guillaume Schiffman (THE ARTIST)

Jeff Cronenworth (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)

Emmanuel Lubezki (THE TREE OF LIFE)

Janusz Kaminski (WAR HORSE)

Robert Richardson won Best Cinematography for HUGO? As good as he is, I still figured either Jeff Cronenworth or Emmanuel Lubezki deserved a better win here.

Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould (THE ARTIST)

Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2)

Anne Seibel, Helene Dubreuil (MIDNIGHT IN PARIS)

Rick Carter, Lee Sandales (WAR HORSE)

Lisy Christl (ANONYMOUS)

Sandy Powell (HUGO)

Michael O'Connor (JANE EYRE)

Arianne Phillips (W.E.)

Mark Bridge's splendid recreation of the 1920s glamorous fashion in THE ARTIST is a well-deserved win here.

NOMINEES:

Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, John Richardson (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2)

Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Danny Gordon Taylor, Swen Gillberg (REAL STEEL)

Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Daniel Barrett (RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES)

Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew E. Butler, John Frazier (TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON)

This is really a surprise. I was expecting RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES would be a shoo-in win for this category. But HUGO? Seriously?

Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnson, Matthew W. Mungle (ALBERT NOBBS)

Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2)

Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland's excellent makeup effect over Meryl Streep's character as Margaret Thatcher is spot-on convincing. A well-deserved win.

David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Bo Persson (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)

Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco, Ed Novick (MONEYBALL)

Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Peter J. Devlin (TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON)

Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Stuart Wilson (WAR HORSE)

Lon Bender, Victor Ray Ennis (DRIVE)

Ren Klyce (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO)

Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl (TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON)

Richard Hymns, Gary Rydstrom (WAR HORSE)