Should I Watch These? Oscars 2012

I remember a year when the nominees were announced I had seen all of the films except the one's which had yet to be released. This year, not so.

From whittiling out the films I have seen, I can see a list of films that - for the most part - I don't want to see. Tree of Life I have just purchased on Amazon, so its only a matter of time with that bad boy. The Descendants hasn't been released in the UK - and I will watch it when it is released. And I guess its inevitable that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be viewed. But everything else, I could easily argue my reasons against.

But can you convince me? I have edited down all the nominee's to only the film's I haven't seen. So, according to my list, I only have four Best Picture nominations ...

If you scan down the list to the other categories - and it seems that for Original Score and Best Art Direction I am all over them - you will see the films and actor nominated which I know nothing about, as I have not seen the film.

Which of these should I be making a real effort to hunt down? Which of these are worth finding at a matinee, at a cinema on the other side of London, purely to 'tick-off' on the list of Films-to-see-in-2011? I have roughly one-month to make the effort!

Best Picture:
THE DESCENDANTS
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
THE HELP
MONEYBALL

Best Director:
Alexander Payne, THE DESCENDANTS
 Terrence Malick, THE TREE OF LIFE

Best Actress:
Viola Davis, THE HELP
Meryl Streep, THE IRON LADY
Glenn Close, ALBERT NOBBS
Rooney Mara, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Best Actor:
George Clooney, THE DESCENDANTS
Brad Pitt, MONEYBALL
Demian Bichir, A BETTER LIFE

Best Supporting Actress:
Octavia Spencer, THE HELP
Jessica Chastain, THE HELP
Janet McTeer, ALBERT NOBBS

Best Supporting Actor:
Christopher Plummer, BEGINNERS
Jonah Hill, MONEYBALL
Nick Nolte, WARRIOR
Max Von Sydow, EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE

Best Original Screenplay:
MARGIN CALL
A SEPARATION

Best Adapted Screenplay:
THE DESCENDANTS
MONEYBALL
THE HELP
THE IDES OF MARCH

Best Animtaed Feature:
A CAT IN PARIS
KUNG FU PANDA 2
PUSS IN BOOTS
RANGO

Best Foreign Language Feature:
BULLHEAD
FOOTNOTE
IN DARKNESS
MONSIEUR LAZHAR
A SEPARATION

Best Cinematography:
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
THE TREE OF LIFE

Best Editing:
THE DESCENDANTS
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
MONEYBALL

Best Art Direction:

As an Art teacher, I am quite proud I watched all of these. Says something about what type of film I am attracted to!

Best Costume:
ANONYMOUS
JANE EYRE

I told you W.E. would get something for this!

Best Make-Up:
ALBERT NOBBS
THE IRON LADY

Best Original Score:

I also love music and film scores - purchasing The Adventures of Tintin too! Again, I think this represents me a little.

Best Original Song:
“Man or a Muppet”, THE MUPPETS
“Real in Rio” RIO

Best Sound Mixing:
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
MONEYBALL
TRANSFORMERS: THE DARK OF THE MOON

Best Sound Editing:
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
TRANSFORMERS: THE DARK OF THE MOON

Best Visual Effects
REAL STEEL
TRANSFORMERS: THE DARK OF THE MOON

Best Documentary Feature:
HELL AND BACK AGAIN
IF A TREE FALLS
PARADISE LOST 3
PINA
UNDEFEATED

Best Documentary Short:
THE BARBER OF BIRMINGHAM
INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD
SAVING FACETHE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM

Best Animated Short:
DIMANCHE
THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. LESSMORE
LA LUNA
A MORNING STROLL
WILD LIFE

Best Live Action Short:
PENTACOST
RAJU
THE SHORE
TIME FREAK
TUBA ATLANTIC