OSCAR SURPRISES/SNUBS 2014!

"Bad Grandpa" and "Lone Ranger" Oscar nominees? Tom Hanks shutout of everything?!? There are nine nominees...AGAIN?!? This morning's Oscar nominations didn't exactly provide an abundance of surprises, mostly a lot of exclusions from already established award show favorites! Without further ado, here is a full list of the Oscar nominations, and here are buzzed about movies that got COMPLETELY shut out by the Academy:

SHUTOUT: Rush, Fruitvale Station, Mud, Blue is the Warmest Color, Enough Said, The Butler

PICTURE:

SNUBS: Where to begin? And why don't they ever use the full 10 slots?! "Fruitvale," "Prisoners," "Mud," "Blue Jasmine," "Saving Mr. Banks," "Inside Llewyn Davis" to name a few. But I was very pleased with all but "Hustle's" astonishing 10 nominations, matching "Gravity" for the most nods. What are critics seeing that I'm not?

SURPRISES: I love seeing indies like "Her," "Nebraska" and "Philomena" included among these other giants, especially the latter, which I thought to small to crack the big leagues. "Wolf of Wall Street" blew me away with the nominations it got, I was ecstatic. Goes to show people can indeed stomach several hundred f-words and a brothel's worth of hookers and coke. 

ACTOR:

SNUBS: Hanks! Where is Hanks?!? Those last five minutes were Oscar
worthy by themselves, but going into this category we all knew there'd be exclusions. Rest in peace to the Oscar dreams of Hugh Jackman, Robert Redford, Forest Whitaker, Joaquin Phoenix and Oscar Isaac. We barely knew ye.

SURPRISES: The happiest moment of the morning for me was hearing Leo's name announced. For this I salute you, Academy. I was sort of surprised by Bale's nod, but seeing his three other pals on here, it all made sense. This David O. Russell's second consecutive movie where his 4/5 main actors are all nominated, and one of them's left out (last year it was poor Chris Tucker, and this year it was Jeremy Renner). 

ACTRESS:

SNUBS: Brie Larson got a Critics Choice nom for "Short Term 12," but perhaps the movie was too under the radar. Perhaps the biggest shock is Emma Thompson's absence. The role was the tiniest bit one note, but I could have swapped her Dench's place anyway.

SURPRISES: Not really. These are all heavy-hitters, with years and years of Oscar history between the five of them. And, just so you know, this is Streep's 18th nomination. (Mouth drops open)

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

SNUBS: If Leo hadn't gotten the nomination for "WOWS," I would've accepted the equally insane substitute for James Franco in "Spring Breakers." I guess gun-toting wangsters aren't the Academy's speed. Frequently acknowledged Daniel Bruhl was unacknowledged for his role in "Rush." And, naturally, there was no justice for Sam Rockwell's lack of a nod for "The Way Way Back."

SURPRISES: Jonah Hill, who starred in movies like "Click," "Grandma's Boy" and "The Sitter" is now a double Oscar nominee. In my review I raved of his role as Donnie. Well deserved, and I'm also relieved to see Barkhad Abdi's Muse make the shortlist!

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

SNUBS: The Big O was left in the dust! Oprah was arguably the best part about "The Butler," which itself got completely left in the cold. I was also sad to see Octavia Spencer left out for "Fruitvale Station."

SURPRISES: These list of nominations are the exact same as the Globes, but I was quite happy that Sally Hawkins got a nod for "Blue Jasmine" after being overlooked for her role in "Happy-Go-Lucky."

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

SNUBS: "Fruitvale," "Way Way Back," "Prisoners" and especially "Mud" were a shame to see left off the list. The Coens usually get nominated in this category, but "Llewyn Davis" was more on the outside than the inside this year.

SURPRISES: None stick out except Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack's script for "Dallas Buyers Club," which was the underdog this year that really skyrocketed to the forefront of the race.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

SNUBS: "August: Osage County" seemed ready to grab a nom for its play-script, but failed. I know the teen drama "The Spectacular Now" was getting some speculation in this field.

SURPRISES: Not sure if this is of note, but Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy has now got 2/3 Oscar nominations for its scripts. That's an accomplishment. The film was a critical darling, and was in the IMDb top 250 for a while.

DIRECTOR: 

SNUBS: Ryan Coogler for "Fruitvale Station" (do you see a theme here?) Spike Jonze for "Her," Woody Allen for "Blue Jasmine," Paul Greengrass for "Captain Phillips," Baz Lurhmann for "Great Gatsby," though that did secure a few technical nods.

SURPRISES: McQueen's the only Oscar virgin in this bunch, and there's a strong chance he'll win. He's not a surprise at all though; if anything it's Scorsese's nod that's noteworthy, but highly deserved.

ANIMATED:

SNUBS: "Monsters U!" Pixar hasn't been left out of this category since "Cars 2!" I thoroughly enjoyed this prequel, which admittedly isn't as good as the original.

SURPRISES: "Ernest & Celestine?" The Academy does this every so often, nominating a truly left-field animated choice, like movies in the past "The Secret of Kells," "A Cat in Paris," "Chico & Rita," etc. At least it's peaked my interest in seeing the movie that apparently revolves around a bear and mouse's friendship.