BAFTA Nominations

Just a day prior to Oscar nomination morning, the BAFTA announced their picks for their favorite films and actors of the past year. This year, they've adopted a nomination system more similar to the Oscars which may mean their picks today could easily repeat tomorrow morning.

Best Film

• Argo
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Les Misérables
• Zero Dark Thirty

Best British Film

• Anna Karenina
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
• Les Misérables
• Seven Psychopaths
• Skyfall

Despite being less enthusiastically received than most of its peers the past few weeks, Les Misérables gets the double honor this year of being nominated in both film categories to go along with its hefty haul of 9 nominations tying it with Life of Pi. Both have to settle for second though as Lincoln notches the most nomination with 10 which I find impressive considering just how "American" the film is relatively. I half-expected Britain's biggest film ever Skyfall to also double up in film categories, but had to settle for being in the British film shortlist and for having the third most nominations with 8.

Best Director

• Michael Haneke, Amour
• Ben Affleck, Argo
• Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
• Ang Lee, Life of Pi
• Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty

The biggest shock here has got to be Steven Spielberg's exclusion considering Lincoln led with the most nominations. Tom Hooper was also ignored by his countrymen making this category all the more intriguing considering both DGA-nominated men were replaced by Haneke and Tarantino. And while it has been Affleck vs. Bigelow all season, I'm very happy that Lee has managed to become a solid #3 and I'm personally hoping he pulls off the surprise win.

Best Actor

• Ben Affleck, Argo
• Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
• Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
• Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables

Best Actress

• Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
• Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
• Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
• Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
• Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

The Affleck love continues here as he gets his first major Best Actor nod of the season knocking off perhaps Denzel Washington or John Hawkes from a spot, though I personally was rooting for Ewan McGregor considering the obvious UK support. In that same vein, I'm more surprised that neither Naomi Watts nor Rachel Weisz was able to crack the Actress shortlist. I still think they have enough heat for Oscars (Watts in particular), but the non-nominations here hurts a bit. Both are fighting it out with Riva and Mirren it seems, who unfortunately seems to also be great in their roles so I can't be too upset.

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, Argo
• Javier Bardem, Skyfall
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams, The Master
• Judi Dench, Skyfall
• Sally Field, Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
• Helen Hunt, The Sessions

My crazy dark horse picks of Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Jude Law, and Tom Holland to get nominated was a bust, but if they were going to be honored somewhere this awards season, this really was the place. Instead the British contingent decided to make Dench the lone Brit in the list eschewing even BAFTA favorite Maggie Smith. What is up with not supporting more English actors this year? Is everyone over Team GB after the Olympics? Unfortunately/fortunately these nominations will most likely reflect Oscar's picks give or take Robert Deniro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Nicole Kidman.

Best Original Screenplay

• Amour
• Django Unchained
• The Master
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Zero Dark Thirty

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

This is pretty much my nightmare scenario for the Oscars tomorrow with two of my favorite screenplays, for Looper and for Perks of Being a Wallflower, getting ignored for more Oscar-y films. The rest of the frontrunners made it in, but it was a great day for Django Unchained, Amour, and especially Beasts of the Southern Wild to get a major nod for their writing after being ineligible for WGA.

Best Foreign Language Film

• Amour
• Headhunters
• The Hunt
• The Intouchables
• Rust and Bone

Best Documentary

• The Imposter
• Marley
• McCullin
• Searching for Sugar Man
• West of Memphis

Best Animated Film

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• ParaNorman

Based on how awards season has gone, the Oscar frontrunners for each category seem to be Amour, Searching for Sugar Man, and ParaNorman. Though Amour does have The Intouchables to deal with while ParaNorman will not only have Frankenweenie, but also perhaps audience-favorite Wreck-It Ralph. As I've said already, I'm Team ParaNorman all the way!

Best Cinematography

• Anna Karenina
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Les Misérables
• Skyfall

Best Production Design

• Anna Karenina
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Les Misérables
• Skyfall

Best Costume Design

• Anna Karenina
• Great Expectations
• Les Misérables
• Lincoln
• Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Film Editing

• Argo
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Skyfall
• Zero Dark Thirty

Best Makeup & Hair

• Anna Karenina
• Hitchcock
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Lincoln
• Les Misérables

Best Original Music

• Anna Karenina
• Argo
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Skyfall

Best Sound

• Django Unchained
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Life of Pi
• Les Misérables
• Skyfall

Best Visual Effects

• The Avengers
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Life of Pi
• Prometheus

The British film everyone thought would make a bigger impact this awards season Anna Karenina saved some face by picking up five technical nominations. Skyfall, Lincoln, and Les Misérables also received 5 nominations. Only Life of Pi got more with 6 nominations. Box office blockbusters Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers showed up in Visual Effects. Finally, it's worth noting that the Cinematography category matched 100% with the nominations of the ASC which announced today as well. Is that your Oscar line-up as well?

Best Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

• Thina Garavi, I Am Nasrine
• Bart Layton and Dimitri Doganis, The Imposter
• David Morris and Jacqui Morris, McCullin
• James Bobin, The Muppets
• Dexter Fletcher and Danny King, Wild Bill

Rising Star Award

• Elizabeth Olsen
• Andrea Riseborough
• Suraj Sharma
• Juno Temple
• Alicia Vikander

Last year, I knew more names in the Best Debut category, but I'm sure all the nominees this year are equally as worthy! As for the annual Rising Award, which the public will vote on, it seems they tried their best to balance out the gender inequality after last year's very testosterone-heavy slate. This year, Sharma is the lone guy. I was hoping Tom Holland or Samantha Barks would show up here as well (Redmayne was cited last year), but alas nope. Last year the ONLY person I didn't know ended up winning, so I won't even pretend to guess who the British public will vote for. Any British reader care to weigh in?