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Oscar nominations 2012: the Academy's picks for best films

The Oscar nominations are announced, with a few surprises.

6. Best Picture

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
'The Tree of Life' was considered to have less of a chance of scoring a Best Picture nomination, but is one of nine films that may have its name read on Oscar night.

  • By Molly Driscoll

– "The Artist"

– "The Descendants"

– "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"

– "The Help"

– "Hugo"

– "Midnight in Paris"

– "Moneyball"

– "The Tree of Life"

– "War Horse"

Upsets: For the ceremony honoring 2009 films, the Academy famously expanded its Best Picture nomination list to 10 nominees and received complaints that the list had filler films that would otherwise have not gotten a nomination. So now anywhere between five and 10 films can be nominated. This year, it was nine, with "Artists" and "Descendants" considered shoo-ins, as well as "The Help," "War Horse," "Hugo," and "Midnight in Paris." "Moneyball" was considered a possibility and had a pretty good shot, however, "The Tree of Life" had lost some of its momentum since awards season began and was thought to have less of a chance. And "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" was considered by most critics, after tepid reviews, not to have a chance of getting close to this prize. With "Tree" and "Extremely Loud" getting nominations, strong contenders like "Bridesmaids" and "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" lost out.

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Mark Sappenfield
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