Another year, another set of Oscar nominations to be alternately outraged over and apathetic about. For every person who thinks that the Academy Awards represent the pinnacle of what cinema has to offer, there's another that scoffs at the idea of handing out awards for something as subjective and personal as acting, and confidently states the Academy is a bunch of stuffy white people whose tastes are as obvious as they are out of touch. Regardless of where you personally fall on the spectrum, if you're interested in film you kind of have to care about the Oscars at least a tiny bit. They had their nomination ceremony in the morning, outrageously early and drawn out as always. And while there were a lot of nominations that pretty much everyone could see coming, there were more than a few surprises. People who should have been nominated but weren't, or vice versa. And more significantly than just one specific actor being left out in the cold, general trends and larger themes that most people who make their living by speculating on awards shows probably wouldn't have seen coming. You can complain all day about your favorite films and actors not getting nominated (sorry. Transformers fans, they failed to lock in their one token nod in the visual effects or editing categories), but the ones featured on this list are decisions that went against what most people thought would happen.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
