The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its Oscar nominations honoring films released in 2011 and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo topped the list with 11 nominations followed by the black-and-white homage to silent films, The Artist, which landed 10. Notable snubs include the final Harry Potter film, which didn’t receive a “Best Picture” nod (while the flop Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close did), Pixar’s Cars 2, which was ignored in the “Best Animated Feature” category, the first time in memory that Pixar has been shut out of that category—and Steven Spielberg’s Adventures of Tintin, which did not get a nod there either, though composer John Williams did receive a nomination for “Best Score” for his work on the film.

 

Superhero films typically don’t land “Best Picture” or “Best Director” nods (though The Dark Knight Rises might next year), but they do usually collect some technical awards due to the elaborate special effects involved in their production.  But this year’s quartet of Thor, X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, and Captain America were shut out entirely even from the technical awards, though the robot saga, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, received nominations for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects awards.  The final Harry Potter film, arguably the most successful film in the highest-grossing franchise in film history, only received “Visual Effects,” “Makeup” and “Art Direction” nominations, while the only genre movie to get a nod (outside of Transformers) was Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which received a well-deserved nomination for its “Visual Effects.”  It was probably too much to expect that the Academy would honor Andy Serkis for his excellent motion-capture performance as Caesar, but it would have been nice to see the Oscar establishment looking to the future instead of the past.

 

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, which is based on a quasi-graphic novel by Brian Selznick, undoubtedly benefited from its director’s track record, and theexpensive, elaborate 3-D movie, which has so far earned less than $56 million domestically, desperately needs the kind of boost that 11 Oscar nominations should give it at the box office.  Hugo is worthy of these nominations, and the notoriety should help the film get the audience it deserves, but how was The Adventures of Tintin, which also could have benefited greatly from a “Best Animated Feature” nod, ignored in favor of Chico & Rita and A Cat in Paris?

 

Here’s a complete list of the Oscar Nominations: