I suppose a year in which there are nine Best Picture nominations and I had no quarrel with seven of them is a pretty good year. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is a movie that I didn't think anyone liked, based on a novel that I KNOW no one liked, yet here it is up for Best Picture for some reason. And while I didn't hate "The Help" as much as some people, and actually really enjoyed its three nominated performances, it has no place in a Best Picture race.
In my rankings of 2011 movies, the nine Best Picture nominees were ranked 1, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 30 and 44; I saw "Extremely Loud" after I made my list but it would've been somewhere in the 70s.
While I was glad to see "Cars 2" shut out of Best Animated Feature, and was pleasantly surprised that the Academy rightly left "J. Edgar" out of the Best Makeup race, I just don't understand some of the acting snubs. Michael Fassbender gave THE performance of the year in "Shame," which was ignored, as was Albert Brooks for "Drive," who deserved to win Best Supporting Actor. And while I detested "Young Adult," Patton Oswalt was very, very good in it. And no Kirsten Dunst for "Melancholia"? Come on.
Was "Certified Copy" not eligible for Best Foreign Language film for some reason? Maybe because it's in multiple languages and "from" multiple countries? The documentary category is a mess, as usual- no "Tabloid," "Senna," "Page One," or "Pearl Jam Twenty"?
And if you're going to choose a song from "The Muppets," why not "Life's a Happy Song"?