Let the official Oscar campaigning begin. Even though the race started long before today, with the nominations now revealed, the handshaking and butt kissing to Academy voters kicks into high gear. This is exactly the part Joaquin Phoenix criticized when he slammed the Oscars. Despite that dig, as predicted by him, Phoenix snagged an Oscar nod for his work in The Master. Can he parlay his “unique” campaigning to Oscar glory when the winners are announced on February 24, 2013 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood?

Oscar host Seth Macfarlane and Emma Stone woke up extremely early today to read out the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards. Side note: Macfarlane is the first host to announce the nominations since Charlton Heston did double duty back in 1972. As widely predicted, Lincoln dominated with 12 nominations including Best Director, Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Coming in second was Life of Pi with 11 nods. Unlike Lincoln, Life of Pi didn’t score any acting nods and their haul came mostly from the creative categories. Check out all the nominations and my commentary including snubs in all the major awards below.

85th Academy Award Nominations

Best Picture

  • Amour
  • Argo
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Django Unchained
  • Les Miserables
  • Life of Pi
  • Lincoln
  • Silver Linings Playbook
  • Zero Dark Thirty

No real surprises here. The only noteworthy omission is Skyfall. Many had predicted hoped that the James Bond flick would score a nod on the franchise’s 50th anniversary. At least, 007 will get a tribute segment during the awards show. Not a bad consolation prize. Lincoln is the obvious frontrunner given that it has the most nominations, and the fact it has three acting nods and one for Spielberg. Zero Dark Thirty who many predicted would be a contender was snubbed in the directing category. It’s hard to win Best Picture when a Best Directing nomination is missing.

Best Actor

  • Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
  • Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
  • Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
  • Denzel Washington, Flight

With Joaquin Phoenix in, that meant someone was snubbed. The unlucky fellow was John Hawkes who’s been racking up awards and nods including a SAG for The Sessions. This is Daniel Day-Lewis’ race to lose. Better prepare that third Oscar acceptance speech. The potential upset could come from Hugh Jackman and Phoenix. Not surprisingly, a few Academy voters echo the same sentiment felt by Joaquin regarding overboard Oscar campaigning.

Best Actress

  • Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
  • Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
  • Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Naomi Watts, The Impossible

If you were to compare this to the SAG nominations, Helen Mirren and Marion Cotillard were snubbed for their work in Hitchcock and Rag & Bone respectively. Cotillard is the bigger omission as many predicted she was a sure thing. On the flip side, experts felt either Riva or Wallis would take the fifth slot. Surprisingly, both earned nominations thereby setting records for youngest (Wallis) and oldest nominee (Riva) in Academy history. As a side note, Wallis who is 9-years-old now was only 6 when she filmed the movie. So glad that Watts was acknowledged for The Impossible. She was EVERYTHING in the flick. I’m secretly hoping she sneaks by Lawrence and Chastain who are the two frontrunners.

Best Supporting Actor

  • Alan Arkin, Argo
  • Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
  • Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
  • Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Skyfall‘s Javier Bardem earned a SAG nomination but lost out on the Oscar nod to Christoph Waltz. Otherwise, this category was as expected. Tommy Lee Jones seems to be the frontrunner in the race, but I can see Hoffman pulling off a win. The Master earned three Oscar acting nods which shows that the Academy is enamored by the cast.

Best Supporting Actress

  • Amy Adams, The Master
  • Sally Field, Lincoln
  • Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
  • Helen Hunt, The Sessions
  • Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Jacki Weaver!!! Now that’s a surprise. Her name hasn’t been tossed around in many of the Oscar precursors. Her nomination bodes well for Silver Linings Playbook’s chances for Best Picture. It’s the only film to have an acting nod in each category. Having such strong performances definitely improves the chances of the film winning the big prize. Even though Nicole Kidman nabbed a Golden Globes and SAG nod, the Aussie was shut out at the main event. This is a two-way race between Hathaway and Field with the edge going to the former. That being said, Sally is two-for-two when in comes to Oscars.

Best Director

  • Michael Haneke, Amour
  • Ang Lee, Life of Pi
  • David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
  • Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
  • Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

The directing category provided the most shocking results. Spielberg and Lee are the only two to also score DGA nods. Typically the Directors Guild gets it right with only one discrepancy. This year, they were way off. Among those snubbed include Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Ben Affleck (Argo), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables) and Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained). With those four out of the directing race, you can count out their respective films as non-factors for Best Film. This is a definitely between Spielberg and Lee.

Best Original Screenplay

  • Amour, Michael Haneke
  • Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
  • Flight, John Gatins
  • Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
  • Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Argo, Chris Terrio
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
  • Life of Pi, David Magee
  • Lincoln, Tony Kushner
  • Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell

Best Animated Feature

  • Brave
  • Frankenweenie
  • ParaNorman
  • The Pirates! Band of Misfits
  • Wreck-It Ralph

Best Cinematography

  • Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey
  • Django Unchained, Robert Richardson
  • Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
  • Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski
  • Skyfall, Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design

  • Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
  • Les Misérables, Paco Delgado
  • Lincoln, Joanna Johnston
  • Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka
  • Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

Best Documentary Feature

  • 5 Broken Cameras
  • The Gatekeepers
  • How to Survive a Plague
  • The Invisible War
  • Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short

  • Inocente
  • Kings Point
  • Mondays at Racine
  • Open Heart
  • Redemption

Best Film Editing

  • Argo, William Goldenberg
  • Life of Pi, Tim Squyres
  • Lincoln, Michael Kahn
  • Silver Linings Playbook, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
  • Zero Dark Thirty, Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film

  • Amour, Austria
  • Kon-Tiki, Norway
  • No, Chile
  • A Royal Affair, Denmark
  • War Witch, Canada

Best Makeup and Hairstyling >
  • Hitchcock, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
  • Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Original Score

  • Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
  • Argo, Alexandre Desplat
  • Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
  • Lincoln, John Williams
  • Skyfall, Thomas Newman

Best Original Song

  • “Before My Time” from Chasing Ice, music and lyric by J. Ralph
  • “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted, music by Walter Murphy; lyric by Seth MacFarlane
  • “Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi, music by Mychael Danna; lyric by Bombay Jayashri
  • “Skyfall” from Skyfall, music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
  • “Suddenly” from Les Misérables, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best Production Design

  • Anna Karenina, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
  • Les Misérables, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
  • Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
  • Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best Animated Short

  • Adam and Dog
  • Fresh Guacamole
  • Head over Heels
  • Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare
  • Paperman

Best Live Action Short

  • Asad
  • Buzkashi Boys
  • Curfew
  • Death of a Shadow
  • Henry

Best Sound Editing

  • Argo, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
  • Django Unchained, Wylie Stateman
  • Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
  • Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
  • Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing

  • Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
  • Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
  • Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
  • Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
  • Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects

  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
  • Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
  • The Avengers, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
  • Prometheus, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
  • Snow White and the Huntsman, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

What do you think of the 2013 Oscar nominations? Any surprises? Who was snubbed in your opinion? Who are you rooting for? Post your predictions and thoughts below.

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