Dozens of popular movies came out in 2011, and now they are competing for 2012 Oscars. Tune in February 26 at 6PM on ABC for the live showing—with the Best Picture spot still completely up for grabs, this year’s Academy Awards are bound to be exciting.

                Nominations for best picture don’t come lightly. Last year, The King’s Speech won the title, with competition from hits like Black Swan, The Social Network, Inception, and True Grit.

This year, nominees for Best Picture include 2011’s best.

 Hugo tells the sci-fi story of a young boy and an automaton living in 1930s Paris. Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz star as main characters Hugo and Isabelle.  

Owen Wilson plays a nostalgic film writer in Midnight in Paris, in which he wishes his modern vacation to Paris were set in the 1920s. His experience causes him to doubt his relationship with his unimaginative fiancée.

 Moneyball follows the Oakland Athletics baseball team after the 2001 loss to the New York Yankees. The main characters (played by Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill) decide to employ a success-based algorithm to choose future players.

Jack O’Brien’s (also played by Brad Pitt) story of growing up and how it connects with his new family in the present day comes to life in The Tree of Life.

War Horse follows the tragic life of a boy and his horse in WWI-era England. Actor Jeremy Irvine was propelled to fame thanks to this drama.

Black and white film The Artist is the first quasi-silent film since the 1930s. Starring French actors Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, this movie shows the life of a fading silent film star in 1920s Hollywood and the rise of his new dancer friend.

George Clooney is the king of comedy, but his new movie The Descendants lends a serious side to his acting. Clooney’s character Matt King owns a successful law firm in Hawaii, but after his wife dies, he struggles to find peace in his newly chaotic life.

Eleven-year-old Oskar Schell’s father died on September 11, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close follows his quest to find answers. Also starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, this film goes inside the tragedy of the attack from the eyes of this autistic boy.

The last nominee, The Help, brings the audience back to 1960s Mississippi, where racial tensions are high and segregation is at its peak. Emma Stone stars as the young white girl who convinces the maids to share their stories about the social inequality they face every day.

However, the competition is mainly between the last—Extremely Loud and The Help.

“I heard Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close makes you cry,” says junior Anastasia Pjevach. “A lot.”

Senior Peter Sawall agrees. “My mom and aunt went there with a box of Kleenex and came back with the empty box.”

However, both movies are popular around Arrowhead Union High School.

“I haven’t seen either yet, but they are both on my list,” says junior Annika van Ryzin. “They both look so good!”

I have my money on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close solely because it showcases such a pivotal event in American history that many people haven’t gotten over yet. Nothing with that much emotion can come in second place.