Eleven Oscar Nominations For Hugo! And Muppet Oscar Talk!

This year's Oscar nominations were announced today. You'll find the full list on just about every site, so I'm not going to waste the 1s and 0s to post it fully here on Medium at Large. Rather, we've got some balloon-dog sharp commentary after scanning over the list ourselves. Firstly, Hugo's come back with an astonishing number of nominations -- eleven total. Giving the list a quick skim, that's more than any other picture this year. We doubt it'll take eleven Oscars home, but with eleven chances, it's going to walk away with at least one little, naked, gold man.

Beyond Hugo, we're ever so pleased that "Man or Muppet" is in the running for Best Original Song, and we're happily stupefied that Bridesmaids got a nod of Best Original Screenplay.

Things then get a bit odd, though, as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has three nominations, including Best Actor (Gary Oldman) and Best Adapted Screenplay, yet it's not in the Best Foreign Film category. Its weight feels missing from Best Foreign Film, and, if nominated, it had a solid shot at winning the Oscar. The Best Animated Film category, as always, is a funny lot. While Best Picture's never a collection of the biggest, loudest films of the year, Best Animated Picture's commonly a stew of the biggest commercial animated flicks. Tintin should have been on this list, and I know there was a campaign for Summer Wars. Wait, no, Summer Wars was last year. Either way, there's sadly no way it would have made it into the final list. Point being, there's some amazing work being put out there, often from Japan, that's neglected here. Redline, for example, should have been a contender.

Let's, though, get back to the real important thing here. The Muppets.

While we're excited it got a nomination for Best Original Song, that's it. The Muppets should be represented in the rankings for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and pretty much everything else. Hell, Kermit should be on the list for Best Supporting Actor.  Was there any other film that more successfully brought back such a cherished, nostalgic icon?  Nope.  Was there any other film that so intelligently commented on the entertainment industry?  Nah.  Was there any other film that so joyously played with formula and delivered a riotous downbeat ending? Not at all.  Was there any other film with as rich as cast -- including Willie Nelson, Alan Arkin, Emily Blunt, James Carville, Bill Cobbs, Zach Galifianakis, Donald Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Sterling Knight, Dave Grohl, Neil Patrick Harris, Judd Hirsch, Ken Jeong, John Krasinski, Jim Parsons, Rico Rodriguez, Mickey Rooney, Kristen Schaal, and Sarah Silverman?  No way.

Eh, fingers crossed Jason Segel gets to perform "Man or Muppet" live at the Academy Awards.