And the Oscar goes to....

Well, the Oscar nominations came out and, boy, was I disappointed. There were the movies we all knew would be big with the Oscar crowd - The Artist, The Descendants, The Help, but I thought there were a good amount that were missing in action.

For one, Tilda Swinton was shut out of the acting categories, as was her movie "We need to talk about Kevin." Also shut out? Ryan Gosling, who had not one by two critically acclaimed performances this year in "Drive" and "Ides of March" and Michaal Fassbender in "Shame." I'm never quite clear what's lead versus supporting, technically speaking, but either one of those could have replaced Brad Pitt's lead actor nom in Moneyball. I watched Moneyball this weekend and while it was good, I wasn't blown away or really drawn into the emotion of the storyline, like I was for The Descendants. I don't think it deserves a best picture nom either, but do agree that Jonah Hill deserves his nod for supporting in the film. Like a lot of other comedians (Will Ferrell/Jim Carrey), I like him much more in calmer roles with a quieter humor.

The ladies of The Help cleaned up with 3 nominations in 2 categories. Although the movie I'm dying to see, Albert Nobbs, scored a nomination for Glenn Close. Her peak acting days were when I was far too young to see her movies (Fatal Attraction came out when I was 3), so I have no basis for previous performances, unlike powerhouse Meryl Streep who is managing to out-do even herself. Rounding out the best actress category are Rooney Mara and Michelle Williams, but I think its clear the race is between Close and Streep.

For best supporting, I think Octavia Spencer is the favorite (however, can't fully judge until I see Albert Nobbs, for which Janet McTeer is nominated), but was very happy to see Melissa McCarthy, cousin to Jenny, get a nomination for Bridesmaids. A raunchy, female-led movie doesn't often get the critical acclaim that Bridesmaids has received and I glad to see the recognition continue.

I was surprised that only 2 songs were nominated for Best Original Song, none of which were nominated in the Golden Globes. There were some big names attached to some of the original songs this year, including Elton John, Madonna, and Mary J. Blige. Even Glenn Close wrote the lyrics for Albert Nobbs' original song. But none of these were nominated, instead the academy stuck to 2 songs from animated features, The Muppets and Rio.

Since such a small range of films got acting nods, leaving off 50/50, We need to talk about Kevin, Drive, Ides of March, Shame, J.Edgar, A Dangerous Method, and Pariah, my to-see list before the Oscars has been trimmed substantially. While I really liked The Descendants, I didn't think it required much stretch of the imagination for George Clooney to play that role. He's a great actor and will make great films. Overall, I don't think the quality of films were included this year, like they were last year. Last year brought us The Fighter, Winter's Bone, Black Swan, and the King's Speech - all just incredibly well made and well acted films. Other than The Artist, I guess I am just left with the feeling that this year's choices just aren't as great.

Either way, I will still plow through the list of movies I want to see. And, hands down, I'm more excited for the Oscars show this year than I am for the dinky Giants/Pats Superbowl, which is ridiculously underwhelming.