(CBS) The nominees for this year's Academy Awards have just been announced, and, as happens every year, there were a few surprises in the mix - along with some snubs.
Many expected silent film "The Artist" to be the top contender when nominations were announced Tuesday, but it was "Hugo," Martin Scorsese's 3-D family film, that earned the top spot with 11 nods. ("The Artist" earned 10.)
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" was considered a long shot for the best picture category, but now it's among the nine films up for the Oscars' highest honor.
Rooney Mara earned a best actress nomination for her role in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," bumping Tilda Swinton ("We Need to Talk About Kevin") out of the category.
Gary Oldman, fresh off a BAFTA nomination for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," earned his first ever Oscar nomination this year, beating out expected best actor nominee "Michael Fassbender" ("Shame"). Also left out of the category: Leonardo DiCaprio, for "J. Edgar."
Another surprise appearance on the best actor list came from Demian Bichir, nominated for his role in "A Better Life."
In the directing category, David Fincher did not get a nomination for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
It was expected that George Clooney would earn a best actor nomination for "The Descendants," but he's also nominated in the adapted screenplay category, with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon for "The Ides of March."
Another "Descendants" star was not so lucky - Shailene Woodley earned critical praise (and a Golden Globe nomination) for her performance in the film, but that didn't translate to an Oscar nod.
"Bridesmaids" didn't make the best picture list, but the comedy still got love from Academy voters - a best supporting actress nod for Melissa McCarthy, and an original screenplay nomination for Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo.
Albert Brooks' Oscar prospects took a hit when he didn't receive a SAG nomination for his role in "Drive," but many still expected to see his name in the supporting actor category this year. However, that wasn't the case - he was replaced by Max von Sydow of "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."
Iranian film "A Separation" was a shoo-in for the foreign-language film category, but it was also nominated for best original screenplay - the first time a foreign film has done so since 2007's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."
This was not a good year for Steven Spielberg - "War Horse" was nominated in the best picture category, but he was left off the best director list and his "The Adventures of Tintin" was not nominated for best animated film.
Ryan Gosling may be watching from home next month - despite earning praise for roles in "Drive" and "The Ides of March," he did not receive any nominations.
Love Melissa McCarthy. It's been a loooong time since I've seen such a performance by a lady. She wears her heart on her sleeve and has passion in her soul in Bridesmaids. Without question she deserves the Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. Hands down!!!
Clooney? "The Descendants"? Nah. I mean kids mouthing off to their estranged dad? How original. Really. Nine best movie nominees? Were there that many movies released last year? We're skipping the Oscars this year. We'll wait for it to come out on DVD.
Well IMO The Descendants and Moneyball is the most over rated pieces of work for the year. These are only being recognized and nominated due to Clooney and Pitt's a*@ kissing in Hollywood. They did not earn nor deserve recognition let alone nominations for their crap. First of all Clooney is ridiculous in The Descendants, by the end of this movie it is absolute chaos, especially the part with the man's wife with whom the dying wife was sleeping. Then Clooney's copycat performance on the deathbed scene. That was a somewhat copied scene from Wuthering Heights...puulleeezzzeee!!! The ONLY reason Moneyball is even being considered is due to Pitt's a*# kissing as I afore mentioned and because the movie is about baseball. What is so sad is that these 2 A holes are taking the space that some real actors and movies deserve.
If there was such a thing as a Snub Nomination it would be for "My Week with Marilyn": The most ironic nomination in the history of the academy awards since Mighty Aphrodite, where a silly voiced, ******, half tweet talking girl Mira Sorvino, received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. Back then in 1995 I thought to myself, if they think that's Oscar worthy why did they snub Marilyn Monroe all those years? She was absolutely amazing at being a silly voiced, ******, half tweet and much more. In my continuous belief in people doing the right thing I thought at some point "The Academy" would recognize Marilyn after death with a special recognition for her work in film. Even if just because her work demonstrated permanence and relevance beyond expectancy all the way into 2012 as we can see. Instead adding insult to injury we have a nominee to an Oscar playing that girl the Academy liked to snub in a not so kind of way. Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn" is another sad added note to Marilyn's career where everyone else continuous to gain but herself. Marilyn who would have wanted nothing more than to be nominated for an Oscar faces another atrocious irony in 2012.
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In my continuous belief in people doing the right thing I thought at some point "The Academy" would recognize Marilyn after death with a special recognition for her work in film. Even if just because her work demonstrated permanence and relevance beyond expectancy all the way into 2012 as we can see. Instead adding insult to injury we have a nominee to an Oscar playing that girl the Academy liked to snub in a not so kind of way. Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn" is another sad added note to Marilyn's career where everyone else continuous to gain but herself. Marilyn who would have wanted nothing more than to be nominated for an Oscar faces another atrocious irony in 2012.