85th OSCAR® NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards® were announced today (Thursday, January 10) by this year's Oscar host, Seth MacFarlane, and actress Emma Stone.

MacFarlane and Stone announced the nominees at a 5:38 a.m. PT live news conference attended by more than 400 international media representatives. For a complete list of nominees, visit the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.

Academy members from each of the branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and Foreign Language Film categories, nominees are selected by vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

Official screenings of all motion pictures with one or more nominations will begin for members on Saturday, January 19, at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Screenings will also be held at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood and in London, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Active members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the winners in all categories.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

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Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
• Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables"
• Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
• Denzel Washington in "Flight"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Alan Arkin in "Argo"
• Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
• Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
• Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
• Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
• Quvenzhané Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
• Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in "The Master"
• Sally Field in "Lincoln"
• Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables"
• Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
• Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best animated feature film of the year

• "Brave" Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
• "Frankenweenie" Tim Burton
• "ParaNorman" Sam Fell and Chris Butler
• "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" Peter Lord
• "Wreck-It Ralph" Rich Moore

Achievement in cinematography

• "Anna Karenina" Seamus McGarvey
• "Django Unchained" Robert Richardson
• "Life of Pi" Claudio Miranda
• "Lincoln" Janusz Kaminski
• "Skyfall" Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design

• "Anna Karenina" Jacqueline Durran
• "Les Misérables" Paco Delgado
• "Lincoln" Joanna Johnston
• "Mirror Mirror" Eiko Ishioka
• "Snow White and the Huntsman" Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing

• "Amour" Michael Haneke
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Benh Zeitlin
• "Life of Pi" Ang Lee
• "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg
• "Silver Linings Playbook" David O. Russell

Best documentary feature

• "5 Broken Cameras" Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
• "The Gatekeepers" 
  Nominees to be determined
• "How to Survive a Plague" 
  Nominees to be determined
• "The Invisible War" 
  Nominees to be determined
• "Searching for Sugar Man" 
  Nominees to be determined

Best documentary short subject

• "Inocente" 
  Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
• "Kings Point" 
  Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
• "Mondays at Racine" Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
• "Open Heart" 
  Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
• "Redemption" 
  Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Achievement in film editing

• "Argo" William Goldenberg
• "Life of Pi" Tim Squyres
• "Lincoln" Michael Kahn
• "Silver Linings Playbook" Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best foreign language film of the year

• "Amour" Austria
• "Kon-Tiki" Norway
• "No" Chile
• "A Royal Affair" Denmark
• "War Witch" Canada

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

• "Hitchcock"Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
  Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
• "Les Misérables" Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• "Anna Karenina" Dario Marianelli
• "Argo" Alexandre Desplat
• "Life of Pi" Mychael Danna
• "Lincoln" John Williams
• "Skyfall" Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
  Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
• "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
  Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
• "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
  Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
• "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
  Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
• "Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
  Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best motion picture of the year

• "Amour" Nominees to be determined
• "Argo" Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
• "Django Unchained" Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
• "Les Misérables" Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
• "Life of Pi" Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
• "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
• "Silver Linings Playbook" Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Achievement in production design

• "Anna Karenina"
  Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
  Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
• "Les Misérables" 
  Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
• "Life of Pi" 
  Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
• "Lincoln" 
  Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson 

Best animated short film

• "Adam and Dog" Minkyu Lee
• "Fresh Guacamole" PES
• "Head over Heels" Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
• "Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"" David Silverman
• "Paperman" John Kahrs

Best live action short film

• "Asad" Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
• "Buzkashi Boys" Sam French and Ariel Nasr
• "Curfew" Shawn Christensen
• "Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)" Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
• "Henry" Yan England

Achievement in sound editing

• "Argo" Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
• "Django Unchained" Wylie Stateman
• "Life of Pi" Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
• "Skyfall" Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Paul N.J. Ottosson

Achievement in sound mixing

• "Argo"
  John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
• "Les Misérables" 
  Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
• "Life of Pi"
  Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
• "Lincoln" 
  Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
• "Skyfall" Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in visual effects

• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" 
  Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
• "Life of Pi" Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
• "Marvel's The Avengers" 
  Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
• "Prometheus" Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
• "Snow White and the Huntsman"
  Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Adapted screenplay

• "Argo" Screenplay by Chris Terrio
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
• "Life of Pi" Screenplay by David Magee
• "Lincoln" Screenplay by Tony Kushner
• "Silver Linings Playbook" Screenplay by David O. Russell

Original screenplay

• "Amour" Written by Michael Haneke
• "Django Unchained" Written by Quentin Tarantino
• "Flight" Written by John Gatins
• "Moonrise Kingdom" Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Written by Mark Boal

The Hunger Games Review

"Happy Hunger Games and let the odds be ever in your favor". In a world of Harry Potter and Twilight, being a new book to movie series is hard. The Hunger Games is the new Harry Potter-type movie and book series in the area of fans and greatness, just as you followed the life of the "Boy Who Lived" you will love following the life of "The Girl On Fire".

Many who have read the book before going to the movie will notice some parts of the movie that aren't the same as the book, as I did. Now I don't think that is a bad thing, because I always worry about reading the book before watching the movie or the other way around, this way it is two different takes on the story. In the book you see the story from the view of Katniss Everdeen, in the movie you see both her side and moments of the views of others such as the Capital and Peeta Mellark.

Let's take a moment and meet the people in and outside of the 74th Annual Hunger Games, such as the girl on fire.

First off, let's meet Katniss Everdeen. She comes all the way from District 12, this girl isn't only fast, she is very brave. How she got to the Hunger Games is a heartfilled story (want details??? Hint: Go watch the movie or read the book or both!). Now let's talk about the actress on fire who played the girl on fire, Jennifer Lawrence. The first time I watched Jennifer in a movie it was X-Men First Class, she played Raven/Mystique. Now that wasn't her only role before this movie, she has been in movies such as Like Crazy, Winter's Bone, The Beaver, as well as the TV series "The Bill Engvall Show".  She is one of the top actresses in movies today in my view, her name will be known for years just as others before her. She did a fantastic job bringing Katniss Everdeen to life. When Jennifer says her lines as Katniss, you feel every word as if it was not a movie line. She was Katniss, she was the girl on fire, she was the girl from District 12. She made Katniss Everdeen a real life person, she put a face to the girl on the pages of a book.

Photo Credit: Murray Close

Now on to the boy tribute from District 12, Peeta Mellark. This guy isn't just the son of the baker, he is quick on his feet and strong. There is a great story of Peeta and Katniss and it is all about when... (Okay, did you really think I was going to tell you something that big?). Josh Hutcherson was the face of Peeta, earlier this year he starred along side Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Vanessa Hudgens in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. One of my favorite movies he was in is Bridge to Terabithia, where he worked with AnnaSophia Robb and Zooey Deschanel. He also did a great job bringing Peeta Mellark to the big screen. One of the best parts of what he bought to this movie was how he work well with Jennifer in the Katniss/Peeta scenes, he also did great working with Woody Harrelson.

Gale Hawthorne has been Katniss's best friend for a long time, he is a great hunter and an even better friend. No matter what he always believes in Katniss and her being able to win the Hunger Games, he always has her back. Now Liam Hemsworth first made his start on the big screen in the Nicolas Cage movie "Knowing" in 2009, then in Triangle that same year. In 2010 Liam starred in his third big screen role as Will Blakelee in The Last Song along side his real life girlfriend Miley Cyrus. He will be starring in the upcoming movie The Expendables 2.

Photo Credit: Murray Close

It is hard not to have a soft spot in your heart for the little sister of Katniss aka Primrose Everdeen, you can't help but cry when she worries for her big sister who is heading into the Hunger Games which could mean the life or death of Katniss. This was the very first big screen role for 11 year old Willow Shields, I believe she did an amazing job. She is going to be one to watch as she goes into her movie career. You truly saw how scared Primrose was for Katniss, almost as if Willow was scared for Jennifer.

Now someone has to go to the district and tell the new Tributes who is going, that person is Effie Trinket. Now Effie doesn't have an easy job as most would think, it isn't all putting names out of a bowl. She works along side the District 12 Tributes as they get ready for the games, she also has to put up with past District 12 winner Haymitch Abernathy. The person behind all the make-up of Effie is Elizabeth Banks, who has starred in movies such as the Spider-Man movie series. Now she is a great actress, because it can't be easy to play the nice but sometimes over worried Effie. She really brings life to the role and her voice in the movie fits what I would think Effie would sound like by reading the book.

Photo Credit: Murray Close

If there is a bar near by, you most likely will find Haymitch Abernathy. When he was around the age of Katniss and Peeta, he won the Hunger Games. He has a habit of drinking, but when it counts he can be a great friend. Now there maybe a reason that Haymitch is good with making a drink in movie, that reason is the actor who plays him aka Woody Harrelson. Harrelson knows a thing or two about making drinks on screen from his days as Woody Boyd on the classic TV Series Cheers.

Photo Credit: Murray Close

Cinna is the man who helped Katniss become "The Girl On Fire". He lives in the Captial and works for the head people of the Hunger Games. Now even though that Cinna lives in the Captial and Gale lives in District 12, there is one thing the have in common, they both believe in Katniss. Lenny Kravitz stars in his second live action movie role as Cinna, I have to say I think he and Jennifer work wonderfully with each other in the scenes and bring the Katniss/Cinna story to life in a epic way. He really is the best choice for Cinna because of how he brings the caring side of him to life by talking so soft and nice to Katniss, he just seems like he really does care and is not just acting like Cinna does.

Photo Credit: Murray Close

Rue is one of the youngest Tributes in the games, she is fast and can climb trees without being seen. She is a very loyal friend and one of the nicest people you will meet. Amandla Stenberg brings so much to the role of Rue, she has the look of the sweet young girl as well as the fast tree climbing Tribute.

Just a quick view on what the other cast members bought to the film and their roles.

Donald Sutherland was fantastic as President Snow, his deep voice and being able to keep a straight face were the best reasons for him being President Snow.

Stanley Tucci is great at being a straight face actor as well, but he is also known for his jokes and laughs. That is most of the reason he is amazing at playing Caesar Flickerman one of the hosts of the Hunger Games. During the games his co-host is Claudius Templesmith played by Toby Jones. I think the fact that the cast seemed to get along so well is a main part of how the movie worked as it did.

There were a few scenes not in the movie which were in the book as I said before, but I didn't find that a real issue. When I first saw how Katniss got the pin in the movie and noticed it wasn't the same as the book, I was worried it wouldn't work. I was wrong, the way she gets it in the movie is even more heartfelt and tearful.

Directing this film was Gray Ross, who also co-wrote the movie along side the author of the Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, and screenplay writer, Billy Ray. The way he bought the story to life and pulled us all into the story as if we were walking along side Katniss makes you love the movie. Special effects were fantastic and really jumped off the screen (No it isn't 3D).

Photo Credit: Murray Close

Now I would like to give a big thanks to Suzanne Collins for writing the Hunger Games book series. I couldn't put the book down. I can't wait to see where Katniss and Peeta go next, I hear that "Catching Fire" the second book will be hitting the big screen next year.

If you are a fan of the book series or just thinking about going to see the film, make your way to your local theater and catch "The Hunger Games".

Again "Happy Hunger Games and let the odds be ever in your favor"

Thank you to ESSEX CINEMAS and T-REX for being the theater of choice for my movie reviews. When you are looking for the best place to check out a movie, make it ESSEX CINEMAS and T-REX at the Essex Outlets Center in Essex, VT! http://www.essexcinemas.com

The T-Rex Theater is AMAZING!!! With the 60 foot curved screen and 124 speakers which is part of 7.1 Digital Surround Sound, there are 401 extra wide luxury seats with memory-foam headrests making a movie theater trip you will never forget! T-Rex stands for “Theatre Real Extreme”