It's Oscar nominations day! The day when the world suddenly looks a little more glamorous, new stars are born, Oscar parties everywhere are scheduled, and the crown jewel of awards shows takes over.

Oh, Jennifer Lawrence. Bright-eyed, poised, with expertly tousled hair and a fitted pencil skirt, she looks much better at 5:38 AM than I do. Also impressive: I'd wager she can pronounce Michel Hazanavicius at any time of day if she can successfully do it at that time of day.

As of minutes ago, considering the polished, very together way she's managing to deliver the most exciting news of the year, I’ve concluded that Hunger Games cannot come soon enough. I want to see more of her. I might even want to BE her. But that’s looking forward, and right now we need to focus on the accomplishments of the movie year past.

The Artist
Before seeing this film, I heard swooning cinephiles declare that this brilliant cast acts with their faces alone. Didn’t know what to expect or what that meant, but I did conclude halfway through that at breakfast the next day I would try to order a croissant using just my eyebrows. Then I would act like I was eating it with my mouth.

Lastly, quick offer here—if dogs aren’t allowed at the Governors Ball I’d be happy to look after Uggie.

The Help
There is little better satisfaction than watching Minny serve up her famous pie to the deserving. We should all be as brash, or at least we all should have a friend like Minny. Seriously: We should all get to see more daring take-this-job-and-shove-it behavior in our lifetimes. If I can’t have it in real life, I’m glad I got to witness it on the big screen.

The Descendants
Ah Hawaii. The 50th state. Land of Don Ho, luaus and island-style bliss. Despite its sad subject matter, this wonderful movie makes me want to move there. It only takes a movie. Anyone can actually go somewhere on vacation and say, "I think I'm gonna move here, man." (C'mon, you know you've done it.) For me, all it took was watching The Descendants.  Yes, I want to move to Hawaii and live next door to George Clooney and help him ward off his greedy—albeit somehow sort of cuddly?—cousin Beau Bridges. I’m brushing up on my contractual law smarts, learning how to play the ukulele and deciding what flavor syrups to order on my shaved-ice frozen treats. What more do I need?

War Horse
2011 was the Year of the Animal Performance, and while Uggie the dog from The Artist is grabbing all the attention, how about a little love for Joey the War Horse? Is it weird how all those people kept falling in love with the War Horse? Though I suppose you can't really blame them—that was one impressive horse. Also,  if they can get the War Horse onto the stage at the Kodak to present Best Documentary, Uggie from The Artist might need to get a new agent.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Let's hear it for a potential Oscar for Oskar’s tale! Did you know they found said lead actor Thomas Horn (who is only 14) on Teen Jeopardy? True story. And now he gets to share the screen with Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks.

Trivia Bonus points: Did you know that this is his first ever stab at acting? It's OK if you feel bad about the quality of your high school play performances now. He's a wunderkind!

Moneyball
Who doesn't love a sharply-written Cinderella story, especially when Brad Pitt is Cinderella? Here's a pro tip for your Oscar night party: find a friend who understood the statistical analysis proffered by nominee Jonah Hill in Moneyball and have them fill out your Oscar pool ballot. They've got the inside info!

The Tree of Life
A sweeping epic about family, life, death and the power of childhood memories. And just for good measure, it's about the origin of the Earth as well. Because when you team up Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Sean Penn, no story is too big.

Midnight in Paris
I think it's best that I let the film's incomparable Ernest Hemingway speak for it here:

Every night the clock struck midnight, and we felt as though we were immersed in a dream of Scott and Zelda's Paris. And it was good. I'm no fan of wistful nostalgia, but Gil's was powerful enough to drive a grand story. I respect that. Many of Gil's literati pals were afraid of losing love, many were afraid they were holding onto the wrong love, but in the end, it was courage that prevailed. Now, who wants to fight?

Hugo
This right here elevates ‘family film’ to true work of visual art with aplomb. And here I thought 3-D should be reserved for showing me all angles of Ryan Gosling. I don't know—that Scorsese, I think he might amount to something. Next he should try a gangster film, or a mobster one. Don’t want to get him stuck in a rut with movies for all ages when he could be brilliant with heavier fodder. Seriously, though, that train station looked like actual dreams I've had. Not that I've had dreams of Sacha Baron Cohen. That you know of.

Your thoughts on the Best Picture nominees? Tell us in the comments!

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