Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, The Hunger Games) jointly announced the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards this morning, on Tuesday January 24th. The actual 2012 Oscar ceremony will take place next month, on February 26th at the Kodak theater - with Billy Crystal serving as host, for the ninth time in his career.

In the aftermath of the 2012 Golden Globes ceremony, Hollywood "in-crowd" types like George Clooney and Meryl Streep are favored to take home the gold for acting, while multiple Globe-winning films such as The Artist and The Descendants are considered heavyweight contenders for the coveted Best Picture Oscar.

Martin Scorsese's Hugo led the way with eleven nominations, stacking up many a nod in the technical categories, while Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist was close behind with ten total. Academy members clearly love a good homage to the magic of old-fashioned cinema - be it a Hollywood flick set in Paris or a French production set in Hollywood. Moving on...

Steven Spielberg's War Horse managed to land six nods, but the bulk of its nominations were for technical achievements; by comparison, Alexander Payne's The Descendants raked in five, including (as expected) one for George Clooney as an actor, and others in areas like adapted screenplay and direction. Similar to War Horse, David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo landed mostly technical category nods - though, Rooney Mara was recognized for her performance in the film.

Unlike the Golden Globes, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life was recognized, as was Gary Oldman for his much-praised lead turn in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Notable absences include praised indie titles (and Screen Rant favorites) Shame and Martha Marcy May Marlene in the acting categories, while Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive only managed to land one nod, in the technical categories.

Surprisingly, neither Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin nor Disney's 2D animated critical darling, Winnie the Pooh, is a contender for Best Animated Feature. However, despite Stephen Daldry's critic-dividing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close landing a Best Pic nod over a more universally-beloved title like, say, Warrior, that selection was (unfortunately) expected.

So, all in all, just another year at the Oscars - complete with plenty of obvious choices, surprising snubs, and a handful of unexpected nominations. Whether or not the actual winners list will be quite so predictable - or, perhaps, mix things up a bit - that remains to be seen.

Have a look at the complete list of nominees for the 84th Academy Awards below:

Best Picture

  • "The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
  • "The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
  • "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
  • "The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
  • "Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
  • "Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
  • "Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
  • "The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
  • "War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Directing

  • "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
  • "The Descendants" Alexander Payne
  • "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
  • "Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
  • "The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Actor in a Leading Role

  • Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
  • George Clooney in "The Descendants"
  • Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
  • Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
  • Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
  • Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
  • Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
  • Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
  • Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Actress in a Leading Role

  • Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
  • Viola Davis in "The Help"
  • Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
  • Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
  • Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
  • Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
  • Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
  • Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
  • Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

  • "The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
  • "Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
  • "The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
  • "Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
  • "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)

  • "The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
  • "Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
  • "Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
  • "Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
  • "A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

Animated Feature Film

  • "A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
  • "Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
  • "Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
  • "Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
  • "Rango" Gore Verbinski

Art Direction

  • "The Artist" Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
  • "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
  • "Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
  • "Midnight in Paris" Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
  • "War Horse" Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Film Editing

  • "The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
  • "The Descendants" Kevin Tent
  • "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
  • "Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
  • "Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen

Cinematography

  • "The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
  • "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
  • "Hugo" Robert Richardson
  • "The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
  • "War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design

  • "Anonymous" Lisy Christl
  • "The Artist" Mark Bridges
  • "Hugo" Sandy Powell
  • "Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
  • "W.E." Arianne Phillips

Documentary (Feature)

  • "Hell and Back Again" Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
  • "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
  • "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
  • "Pina" Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
  • "Undefeated" TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)

  • "The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement" Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
  • "God Is the Bigger Elvis" Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
  • "Incident in New Baghdad"James Spione
  • "Saving Face" Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
  • "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Foreign Language Film

  • "Bullhead" Belgium
  • "Footnote" Israel
  • "In Darkness" Poland
  • "Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
  • "A Separation" Iran

Makeup

  • "Albert Nobbs" Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
  • "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
  • "The Iron Lady" Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)

  • "The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
  • "The Artist" Ludovic Bource
  • "Hugo" Howard Shore
  • "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
  • "War Horse" John Williams

Music (Original Song)

  • "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
  • "Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Short Film (Animated)

  • "Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
  • "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
  • "La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
  • "A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
  • "Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)

  • "Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
  • "Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
  • "The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
  • "Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
  • "Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing

  • "Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
  • "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
  • "Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
  • "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
  • "War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing

  • "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
  • "Hugo" Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
  • "Moneyball" Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
  • "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
  • "War Horse" Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects

  • "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
  • "Hugo" Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
  • "Real Steel" Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
  • "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
  • "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

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What do you think of this year's nominations? Agree/disagree?

Source: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences