Bonus Oscar Post!

After spending this past week griping about how terrible this year's Academy Award nominations are, I felt it was appropriate to showcase how I, Simon V. Irving, would have arranged the major categories. The following list presumes that the Academy's tastes perfectly mirrored my own. Thus, this list is as flawed as any other, but it's personal. This should show you the movies, performances and scripts that resonated with me in 2011.

(Disclaimer: It should be noted that, while this list draws from the 56 films I saw from 2011, there are some important gaps. A handful of films, namely Shame, Young Adult, We Need to Talk About Kevin and Meek's Cutoff, probably deserve consideration. Especially in the case of Shame, I worry that Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan turned in nominate-able performances that I simply haven't seen yet. If that's the case, Oldman would be bumped from Best Actor and Anaya from Supporting Actress. Have any other suggestions? Suggest away!)

Winners are bolded.

BEST PICTURE

• A Separation
• The Artist
• Attack the Block
• Drive
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Rango
• Take Shelter
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• The Tree of Life

DIRECTION

• Tomas Alfredson - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Asghar Farhadi - A Separation
• Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
• Terrence Malik - The Tree of Life
• Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• Jean Dujardin as “George Valentin” - The Artist
• Ryan Gosling as “The Driver” - Drive
• Peyman Moadi as “Nader” - A Separation
• Gary Oldman as “George Smiley” - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Michael Shannon as “Curtis LaForche” - Take Shelter

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

• Viola Davis as “Aibileen Clark” - The Help
• Leila Hatami as “Simin” - A Separation
• Rooney Mara as “Lisbeth Salander” - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Elizabeth Olsen as “Martha” - Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Michelle Williams as “Marilyn Monroe” - My Week with Marilyn

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Kenneth Branagh as “Sir Laurence Olivier” - My Week with Marilyn
• Albert Brooks as “Bernie Rose” - Drive
• Bryan Cranston as “Shannon” - Drive
• Brad Pitt as “Mr. O’Brian” - The Tree of Life
• Andy Serkis as “Ceasar” - Rise of the Planet of the Apes

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Elena Anaya as “Vera Cruz” - The Skin I Live In
• Berenice Bejo as “Peppy Miller” - The Artist
• Jessica Chastain as “Celia Foote” - The Help
• Jessica Chastain as “Samantha LaForche” - Take Shelter
• Octavia Spencer as “Minnie Jackson” - The Help

SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL)

• Joe Cornish - Attack the Block 
• Asghar Farhadi - A Separation
• Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
• John Logan - Rango 
• Jeff Nichols - Take Shelter 

SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED)

• Pedro Almodovar - The Skin I Live In, from Tarantula by Thierry Jonquet
• Hossein Amini - Drive, from Drive by James Sallis
• Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
• Steven Zaillian - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin - Moneyball, from Moneyball by Michael Lewis