2014 OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

My favorite time of the year is here and the Oscar nominations have finally been released. The mighty Chris Hemsworth and Academy President, Cheryl Boone Isaacs made the announcement this morning that featured a diverse selection of honorees but there were a few surprises, most notably by the names that were absent. Tom Hanks was missing for his brilliant work in "Captain Phillips" and surprisingly, Robert Redford for his big comeback role in "All Is Lost". "Lee Daniels' The Butler" was completely overlooked while "Saving Mr. Banks" and "Inside Llewyn Davis" were mostly ignored despite those films collecting serious attention from The Golden Globes and the SAG Awards. "The Wolf of Wall Street" wasn't given much of a shot initially but made a major comeback by earning five nominations including one of the nine contenders for Best Picture. "American Hustle" and "Gravity" tied for the most nominations this year at ten with "12 Years a Slave" collecting nine.

With her nomination today for "August: Osage County", Meryl Streep has extended the most acting nominations at eighteen while Woody Allen now has the most nominations in the Best Original Screenplay category at sixteen.

The 86th Annual Academy Awards will be held on March 2, 2014 with Ellen DeGeneres serving as host.

Here is the complete list of the nominations:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Original Screenplay:
Woody Allen, "Blue Jasmine"
Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Spike Jonze, "Her"
Bob Nelson, "Nebraska"
David O. Russell and Eric Singer, "American Hustle"

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, "Philomena"
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater, "Before Midnight"
Billy Ray, "Captain Phillips"
John Ridley, "12 Years a Slave"
Terence Winter, "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best Animated Feature:
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Ernest & Celestine"
"Frozen"
"The Wind Rises"

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

Best Foreign Language Film:
"The Broken Circle Breakdown" - (Belgium)
"The Great Beauty" - (Italy)
"The Hunt" - (Denmark)
"Omar" - (Palestine)
"The Missing Picture" - (Cambodia)

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

Best Cinematography:

Bruno Delbonnel, "Inside Llewyn Davis"
Roger Deakins, "Prisoners"
Philippe Le Sourd, "The Grandmaster"
Emmanuel Lubezki, "Gravity"
Phedon Papamichael, "Nebraska"

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

Best Documentary Short:
"Cave Digger"
"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 Film Editing:
Joe Walker, "12 Years a Slave"
Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, "American Hustle"
Christopher Rouse, "Captain Phillips"
Alfonso Cuaron and Mark Sanger, "Gravity"
John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa, "Dallas Buyers Club"

Best Original Score:
William Butler and Owen Pallett, "Her"
Alexandre Desplat, "Philomena"
Thomas Newman, "Saving Mr. Banks"
Steven Price, "Gravity"
John Williams, "The Book Thief"

Best Original Song:
"Let It Go" from "Frozen" -(Music and lyric by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
"Alone Not Alone" from "Alone Yet Not Alone" - (Music by Bruce Broughton, Lyric by Dennis Spiegel)
"The Moon Song" from "Her" - (Music by Karen O, Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze)
"Ordinary Love" from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" - (Music and Lyric by U2)
"Happy" from "Despicable Me 2" - (Music and lyric by Pharrell Williams)

Best Production Design:
K.K. Barrett and Gene Sedena, "Her"
Judy Becker and Heather Loeffler, "American Hustle"
Catherine Martin and Beverly Dunn, "The Great Gatsby"
Andy Nicholson and Rosie Goodwin, "Gravity"
Adam Stockhausen and Alice Baker, "12 Years a Slave"

Best Costume Design:
William Chang Suk Ping, "The Grandmaster"
Catherine Martin, "The Great Gatsby"
Patricia Norris, "12 Years a Slave"
Michael O' Connor, "The Invisible Woman"
Michael Wilkinson, "American Hustle"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny, "The Lone Ranger"
Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Stephen Prouty, "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa"

Best Sound Editing:

"All is Lost"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Lone Survivor"

Best Sound Mixing:

"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Lone Survivor"

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