Trendy Report: Oscar Nominations Are In!

Star of the upcoming Hunger Games and industry ingénue, Jennifer Lawrence had the pleasure of announcing the Oscar nominees along side Tom Sherak, who happens to the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The nominations were announced on Tuesday, and it was a mixed bag of pleasantries and disappointments with splashes of predictability.

No surprise that The Descendants, The Artist, Hugo and The Help were among the Best Picture noms. It was awesome to see Viola Davis solidify her position in the Best Actress race for her role in The Help, and of course she is in great company with Glenn Close who did a remarkable job in Albert Nobbs, and Meryl Streep who wowed in The Iron Lady. But noticing Michael Fassbender’s name missing from the Best Actor category was quite disappointing considering his inspiring and courageous performance in the NC-17 slapped flick Shame. It is an outrage that he was omitted. Another major blunder is the fact that Melancholia, the stylishly edgy monotone vehicle by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier was completely neglected by the Academy. Perhaps it was his utterly astonishing public display of negligence last spring at the Cannes Film Festival when he announced during his film’s press conference that he was a Nazi that sealed his fate. But the memorable performances by the cast notably Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Charlotte Rampling should have surpassed all the judgments against the creator of this future cult masterpiece.

In the end, this year’s list played right into the hands of the politically correct spectrum but show business is a business and sometimes true talents pay the ultimate price in order to ensure that future deals get made.

Either way Hollywood is now preparing to host the mother of all award shows and with Billy Crystal back as the host on February 26^th,  on ABC, it should promise to be an entertaining night.

For a complete listing of nominees, visit The Hollywood Reporter.