Oscars 2014 Nominations: 10 Things We Learned About This Year's Picks

10. The Academy Hasn't Forgiven Joaquin Phoenix

Admittedly, the 2014 Best Actor nominations were very hotly contested €“ you only need to take a glance at the strength of the ten lead male performances in competition at this year's Golden Globes to notice. Oscar Isaac, Robert Redford, Tom Hanks and Idris Elba all missed out on a 2014 Best Actor Oscar nom, and people were upset, naturally; Hanks flips out fabulously in the last ten minutes of Captain Phillips and deserved a nomination on that basis alone, while Robert Redford managed to make dialogue-free yachting extravaganza All Is Lost into one of the purest, most compelling character studies of the last year. But Joaquin Phoenix, who by all accounts gives another striking display in Her, has also been snubbed. Obviously. Because when Phoenix criticised the Oscar race as "the worst-tasting carrot" and "bulls**t" in 2012, he significantly reduced his chances of getting much love from the Academy for a while. It's arguably the reason why he lost the Best Actor statue to Daniel Day-Lewis in 2013, and at least part of the reason why he hasn't been nominated this year.