TOP 10: Favorite Craft Nominations 2012

I posted my thoughts on the nominations in big six categories yesterday. I was going to go through the craft categories in a similar way, but frankly, the thought of it exhausts me. So in accordance with my plea for positivity, I'm sharing the ten non-picture/non-director/non-acting nominations that made me happiest yesterday.

10.) Margin Call (Best Original Screenplay)
Happy I predicted it. Happier that such a strong piece of writing found a spot at the Oscars. And it's always nice to see first-timers get noticed.

9.) The Ides of March (Best Adapted Screenplay)
I know a lot of people were down on this movie when it came out, but it's stuck with a while, and I'm really excited to revisit it now that it's on DVD. This seemed like it's only legitimate shot at Oscar recognition, and I'm happy it got something.

8.) A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita (Best Animated Feature)
I haven't seen this films, but I'm happy they got in for two reasons. One: They kept really weak big studio fare like Cars 2 out of the race. Two: More people will see them. For better or worse, I'll always be glad when the Oscars are able to give little movies a visibility boost.

7.) Drive (Best Sound Editing)
I've got an ulterior motive on this one. If I'm being honest, I don't remember a thing about the sound editing in Drive. I remember the score, but that's about it. So why am I happy? Because nothing, NOTHING, annoys me more when people say something to the effect of "X film (Transformers 3, Real Steel) can now be labeled as Oscar-nominated, while Y film (Shame) can't." You sound stupid when you say that. And if Drive didn't get any Oscar nominations and these other films did, I know my Twitter feed would have collectively murdered someone. So a life was saved yesterday with this nomination.

6.) Only Two Best Original Song Nominees
Another ulterior motive. I hate this category and how much time it usually wastes at the Oscar ceremony. Only having two nominees does two things. We only have to potentially sit through two performances, and with such an embarrassing showing, one can only hope they just put this category out of its misery next year.

5.) Moneyball (Best Sound Mixing)
I, like many others, really overlooked Moneyball on first viewing, and I think one of the biggest reasons is that a lot of the craft is subtle. Observant watchers, however, will note the skill involved in putting this film together. We'll start my Moneyball love fest with a celebration of the film's sound, which blends a noteworthy score with the sounds of the stadium very well.

4.) Moneyball (Best Editing)
We continue said Moneyball love fest by congratulating the Academy for nominating Christopher Tellefsen. This story is a complex one. It includes aspects of an underdog story, a real behind-the-scenes look at baseball, a character study (complete with flashbacks), and some family drama. Throw in all the archival baseball footage used, and Tellefsen has a tough task on his hands. That Moneyball is so coherent and compelling is a credit to its Tellefsen's outstanding work. Again, not as flashy as other films, but perhaps the most deserving nominee in that category.

3.) If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (Best Documentary Feature)
A weird and surprising list of nominees in this category. A lot of people thought Buck looked strong, and plenty (myself included) assumed Project Nim was the frontrunner. Instead, we got surprise nominees Undefeated and this, one of my favorite documentaries of the year, about environmental terrorism.

2.) A Separation (Best Original Screenplay)
What a pleasant surprise it was to find out that your screenplay doesn't need to be in English to get Oscar recognition! Asghar Farhadi's domestic drama works on so many levels that this nomination should have been a no-brainer. But that's not how things looked going into Tuesday morning. Chalk this one up to good taste.

1.) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Best Adapted Screenplay)
Ditto this one. Gary Oldman's nomination was definitely the highlight of Tuesday morning for me, but this was probably a close second. It's one of my favorite films of the year, and though I knew it wouldn't get every nomination I thought it deserved (Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Art Direction, etc.), I held out hope the film's expert adaptation would sneak it. And it did, at the expense of The Help no less. Bravo, Academy!