This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach, Chris and Joe talk about British comedies, debate the merits of Series 2 of Luther, UFC on FX, the Oscar nominations, Resident Evil, the epic team up of MC Hammer and Deion Sanders, the new seasons of Archer and Justified and much more.

• Show and Tell: Chris watched Spaced and the IT Crowd and The League, Joe watched the season premiere of Justified, the UFC on FX, The Office and Kindergarten Cop and Zach watched Archer, Haywire, Mission: Impossible, Contraband and Luther Series 2.
• News: Trailer for Resident Evil: Retribution, Oscar Nominations, TMNT game from Rocksteady(?!?), Expendables 2 is definitely PG-13 and Tom Jane, James Marsden and Billy Bob Thorton vs a Bear in Red Machine.  Plus, New Release Round Up.

We want to hear your comments, feedback and, most importantly, suggestions for discussion topics. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, be sure to subscribe to us in the iTunes music store (just do a search for Everything Actioncast in the store) and follow us on twitter @evaction and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/everything.action)

The Oscar nominations were finally announced for the 84th annual awards and it’s about as stodgy and conservative as any Oscars I can recall.  War Horse, Moneyball, The Descendants, The Artist and Hugo were the major nominees while movies like Drive got snubbed hardcore.  We also have to wait another year to see if motion capture will be recognized as a legitimate form of acting as Andy Serkis was not nominated for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, despite heavy campaigning by Fox.  The only interesting category is Best Animated Movie, which is wide open as Cars 2 and Pixar was shut out and two completely unknown movies took it’s place along with Rango, Puss in Boots and Kung Fu Panda 2.  Check out the complete list below.

Best Picture

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Best Director

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

Best Actor In a Supporting Role

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

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
• Jessica Chastain, The Help
• Mellisa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
• Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
• Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Actor in a Leading Role

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

Best Actress in a Leading Role

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

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

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

Foreign Language Film

• Belgium, “Bullhead”, Michael R. Roskam, director
• Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar”, Philippe Falardeau, director
• Iran, “A Separation”, Asghar Farhadi, director
• Israel, “Footnote”, Joseph Cedar, director
• Poland, “In Darkness”, Agnieszka Holland, director

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

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

Art Direction

• The Artist: Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
• Hugo: Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)
• War Horse: Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)

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
• If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
• Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
• Pina
• Undefeated

Documentary Short

• 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

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

Makeup

• Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
• 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

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, Dan Glass, Brad Friedman, Douglas Trumbull and Michael Fink

(http://www.slashfilm.com/84th-academy-award-oscar-nominations/)

This week, Zach, Chris and Joe talk about what they’re looking forward to, movie wise, in February-April and also go on tangents about The Punisher, 90′s cartoons and talk about the Oscar nominations.

• Show and Tell: The guys talk about their adventure with Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus and Joe and Zach also watched Buried.  Joe also watched Paper Man and Independence Day, Chris watched Ed Wood and also a bunch of Ren & Stimpy and Zach watched The Other Guys and The Green Hornet.
• News: Oscar Nominations and Henry Cavill cast as Superman in Zack Snyder’s reboot.
• Spring Movie Preview: The guys talk about some of the movies their looking forward to this Spring including Sucker Punch, Unknown, Battle: Los Angeles and Drive Angry 3D.

We want to hear your comments, feedback and, most importantly, suggestions for discussion topics. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, be sure to subscribe to us in the iTunes music store (just do a search for Everything Actioncast in the store) and follow us on twitter @evaction and on Facebook (search on Facebook for our Everything Action group).

Earlier today the Oscar nominations were announced and it was pretty much what everyone was expecting.  Avatar and The Hurt Locker are the leading contenders and they’re going head to head in Best Picture and Best Director.  Inglourious Basterds and Precious also got a bunch of nominations and the expanded Best Picture category brought in fan favorite District 9 and the shoe in for Best Animated Picture Up.  Check out the complete list of nominees below and be sure to join us on March 8th for our live blog.

BEST PICTURE:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

DIRECTING:
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Neill Blomkamp and – District 9
Nick Hornby – An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche – In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Oren Moverman and – The Messenger
Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
Pete Docter and Bob Peterson – Up

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Ajami  – Israel
El Secreto de sus Ojos – Argentina
The Milk of Sorrow
Une Prophéte  – France
The White Ribbon – Germany

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of the Kells
Up

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Maurio Fiore – Avatar
Bruno Delbonnel – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker
Robert Richardson – Inglourious Basterds
Christian Berger – The White Ribbon

FILM EDITING:
Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron – Avatar
Julian Clarke – District 9
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis – The Hurt Locker
Sally Menke – Inglourious Basterds
Joe Klotz – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire