OSCAR WATCH: Oscar Nominations

Well, what a morning it was! The Oscar nominations were announced and though they weren't as shocking as last year, they did spring a few unexpected curveballs. Surprisingly, American Hustle lead the field with 10 nominations (along with Gravity), a title that I expected to go to 12 Years A Slave (it only ended up with 9 nods). David O. Russell is clearly on a roll, picking up Best Director and getting 4 acting nominations once again! The campaign for that film has been flawless so far and I think we may be looking at our next Best Picture winner. In terms of surprising nominations, I think the whole world was most befuddled by the nod for "Alone Yet Not Alone" in Best Original Song. Dallas Buyers Club, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Grandmaster also seemed to overperform. The stage is now set for the final phase of the Oscar season. It's gonna be a fight to the finish. Here are all the Oscar nominees:

Best Picture
12 Years A Slave
American Hustle
Gravity
Captain Phillips
Nebraska
Her
The Wolf of Wall Street
Philomena
Dallas Buyers Club

Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
Alexander Payne, Nebraska

Best Actor
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave
Christian Bale, American Hustle

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years A Slave
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years A Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

Best Adapted Screenplay
12 Years A Slave
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street
Captain Phillips
Before Midnight

Best Original Screenplay
Her
American Hustle
Nebraska
Blue Jasmine
Dallas Buyers Club

Best Animated Feature
Frozen
Despicable Me 2
The Croods
The Wind Rises
Ernest and Celestine

Best Foreign Language Film
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Broken Circle Breakdown
Omar
The Missing Picture

Best Documentary Feature
The Act of Killing
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars

Best Original Score
Gravity
Saving Mr. Banks
The Book Thief
Her
Philomena

Best Original Song
"Ordinary Love", Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
"Let It Go", Frozen
"Happy", Despicable Me 2
"The Moon Song", Her
"Alone Yet Not Alone", Alone Yet Not Alone

Best Production Design
12 Years A Slave
The Great Gatsby
Gravity
American Hustle
Her

Best Cinematography
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Prisoners
The Grandmaster

Best Makeup & Hairstyling
The Lone Ranger
Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Best Costume Design
The Great Gatsby
American Hustle
12 Years A Slave
The Invisible Woman
The Grandmaster

Best Visual Effects
Gravity
Iron Man 3
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Star Trek into Darkness
The Lone Ranger

Best Editing
Gravity
Captain Phillips
12 Years A Slave
American Hustle
Dallas Buyers Club

Best Sound Editing
Captain Phillips
Gravity
All Is Lost
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Best Sound Mixing
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Best Documentary Short
CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Best Animated Short
Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Best Live Action Short
A quel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)
Avant De Tout Perdre" (Just Before Losing Everything)
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
The Voorman Problem

Major Snubs:
- Monsters University for Best Animated Feature.
- Blackfish for Best Documentary Feature.
- 12 Years A Slave for Best Cinematography.
- American Hustle for Best Makeup & Hairstyling.
- Pacific Rim for Best Visual Effects