Snap Judgments: 18th Annual SAG Award Nominations

The Screen Actors Guild Award nominees were announced this morning. This is the first guild to announce their annual nominations and a predictor of what else may come. (Side note: The Broadcast Film Critics nominations were announced yesterday. The Artist and Hugo received 11 nods each. That’s all you need to know.)

As usual there were surprise nominees and a few snubs. None of these snubs were too egregious (except for Parks and Recreation getting zero nominations on the television side of things, but I digress).

The Help continues to (unexpectedly?) receive accolades, receiving four SAG nominations. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy The Help – Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are fantastic – I just don’t think it deserves all the praise it has received.

Here are the nominees with my snap judgments below.

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
Midnight in Paris

Hugo is noticeably absent. Or is it? To me, Hugo is only winning multiple awards because it is a technological achievement courtesy of Martin Scorsese. No film has won the Academy Award for best picture without winning the SAG in 15 years, so the odds are against Hugo and any other film you hoped would be nominated.

Also, it would have been a nice gesture to see the final Harry Potter film nominated but I’m glad it wasn’t. (Side bar: Should Harry Potter series receive special awards? Or am I the only person who thinks that should happen?)

BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

The three actors winning multiple critical praise – Michael Shannon (Take Shelter), Michael Fassbender (Shame and a bajillion other movies) and Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) have all been overlooked. Anyone one of them should replace DiCaprio or Pitt. Demián Bichir’s nomination is a nice surprise.

BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Why is Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) continually being overlooked? Someone please explain this to me. Other than that, this category is fine, as long as Tilda Swinton wins.

I should probably see Albert Nobbs.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Armie Hammer, J. Edgar
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Albert Brooks (Drive) is noticeably absent in this category but his chances for an Oscar nomination are hardly over. Because let’s be honest for a second: While Jonah Hill’s nomination is interesting development, it is ridiculous.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

My hang ups about the The Help‘s four nominations comes down to this. Jessica Chastain should be nominated for supporting actress but her work in The Tree of Life and a few other films this year is stronger.