We interrupt New Year’s Resolutions to bring you some quick (for me) thoughts on the Oscar nominations that were announced today:

• Like the rest of the internet, I am shocked that Ben Affleck nor Kathryn Bigelow scored Best Director nominations for Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, respectively. Though I have not yet seen ZDT, those much smarter than me that have say it is the best movie of the year. As for Mr. Afflect, I thought he really came into his own with Argo, so maybe this perceived snub will take him to the next level with his film making.
• I was surprised to see no love for Looper in any category, which was probably one of the five best movies that I saw last year. (I reserve judgement on that until I catch up on the five Best Picture nominations I have yet to see.)
• The Best Picture nomination of Les Miserables was probably warranted even though I didn’t really care for the movie that much.* Looper might have been a better fit, but what do I know?

*As a caveat, I started to watch the theatrical version of The Phantom of the Opera a few weeks ago and I couldn’t get through even 30 minutes of it. I was distracted by the obvious lip syncing for the songs, as opposed to Les Mis and its live singing on the sound stage. Really created a different experience in my humble opinion, though I may be biased to the Michael Crawford/Sarah Brightman Phantom recordings of my youth.

• With Bigelow out of the running for Best Director, I can see Steven Spielberg winning  for Lincoln, but who knows at this point. 
• Prior to seeing all of the nominated performances, I would probably vote the acting performances this way: Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln (Best Actor); TBD (haven’t seen any performances) (Best Actress); Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained (Sorry Tommy Lee Jones) (Best Supporting Actor); and Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables (Best Supporting Actress), though I did love Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln.
• Most of the other categories I don’t really care about, though I did enjoy Best Animated Feature nomination Wreck-It Ralph.

I’ll delve deeper into my thoughts on 2012 in movies after I watch the 8-10 movies that I really want/need to watch prior to the actual award ceremony, but I thought I should get something out while it was fresh on my mind.

Until next time…