Oscar Nominations Day 2014

Happy Oscar Noms Day!

After a very interesting (albeit early) nominations announcement this morning, the race is on for the 86th Academy Awards. There have been numerous analysts perusing through this latest crop of nominees, and Movie Critic's Club is bringing you the highlights from the eventful day. We're giving you the surprises, snubs, and early frontrunners leading the pack before Oscar Sunday on March 2nd.

Some filmmakers ended their journeys early, with tight competition in 2013 leading to locked categories with little room to spare. In the end, only 20 performances make it each year, and up to 10 films can be chosen for the big prize. This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences selected nine nominees for Best Picture. But before we get to that, let's take a look at the awards season so far.

While most of you just go into awards mode on Sunday with the Golden Globes, there has been a lot of year-end film activity from various critics groups. There was widespread opinions from these city-based prizes, and 12 Years a Slave, Her, Gravity, and American Hustle charged into the lead at this time. The Golden Globes, while practically meaningless (only about 80 members vote, and they're journalists in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), voted similarly. Specifically, 12 Years a Slave is winning Best Picture, Alfonso Cuaron is garnering prizes for directing Gravity, the Actor prize is crazy split, Cate Blanchett's Blue Jasmine performance is making her an early favorite for Best Actress, Jared Leto from Dallas Buyers Club is one of the only sure-things as Best Supporting Actor, and Jennifer Lawrence is sweeping awards for American Hustle.

Phase I of the Awards Season ended with the Golden Globes on Sunday, and now the next phase of awards begin. These are the ones voted by fellow filmmakers, like the Producer's Guild Awards and the Screen Actor's Guild Awards, and are more representative of who's going to win the Super Bowl of moviedom. Speaking of which, let's return to the day's main event: the 2014 Oscar Nominations!

No real surprises in the Best Picture category, besides the fact that there were nine candidates for the prize. American Hustle, Gravity, and 12 Years a Slave were undisputed locks, and Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, and Her weren't far behind them. Philomena and Nebraska were a little shocking, just because up to this point they weren't really considered favorites. Once again, to be nominated for Best Picture, you need 5% of the #1 choices on the Academy members nomination ballots.

Early favorites (that some expected to win, mind you) Tom Hanks and Robert Redford were snubbed in the Best Actor category, replaced by Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio. Also, Emma Thompson was shamefully ignored in the Best Actress race, replaced by either Amy Adams or Meryl Streep (I'd REALLY like the Academy to release the voting breakdown, both for the nominees and the winners, because I think this would a fascinating case study). Jonah Hill got a surprise nomination in the Best Supporting Actor field, unfortunately leaving James Gandolfini without a posthumous Oscar nod.

This year probably has the best group of acting nominees in recent memory. Any one of the 20 men and women could win, and very little would complain if they do (only in that some are more deserving than others). Because of this, we're doing a special four-week event, in which we break down each of the acting categories and their respective nominees. Personally, I think it'll be a fun and exciting way to praise each of these amazing performances.

Other Oscar tidbits from this year include the inevitable no-shows, with some movies gaining only poultry nominations. Films like Inside Llewyn Davis (2 nominations), Saving Mr. Banks (1 nomination), and Lee Daniel's The Butler (no nominations) were left in the dust of the Academy votes. In a year full of great dramas, there was bound to be a few unfortunate victims.  Meanwhile, there were a few shocking (to say the least) nominations for duds like The Lone Ranger, The Great Gatsby, and... Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (I'm not making this up).

However, today is a happy day for Gravity and American Hustle, who each hold 10 nominations a piece. 12 Years a Slave follows right behind with 9, while Nebraska and The Wolf of Wall Street round out the Best Director group. As for early frontrunners, American Hustle is proving to be a serious challenger, with lots of Academy love and deserved nominations in all four acting categories. Gravity is a technical marvel, and the biggest crowd-pleaser of the bunch in box-office and critical terms. But it's 12 Years a Slave that has been claiming the top awards, so only time will tell who will take home Academy Awards gold. There's plenty of time for jockeying, with an extended Oscar race because of the Winter Olympics.

Stick around Movie Critic's Club for weekly updates, breakdowns of the nominees, and predictions of the winners for your ballots. In the meantime, go check out a nominated movie!