Oscar nomination reveal leaves some gaping holes

Best Picture: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street

Consensus: Again, the awards season shows no love for “Saving Mr. Banks,” my favorite movie of the year and one that delighted in story and acting…far more than “Her,” at least, which seems to just be awarding Spike Jonze for the gimmick of a computer love story, regardless of how it actually turned out.

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Best Actor: Christian Bale, Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew McConaughey, Leonardo DiCaprio

Consensus: I’m glad to see both Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio get nominations for their comedies, since many thought we were going to have to settle for one of the two, but Bruce Dern and Matthew McConaughey beating out Tom Hanks for “Captain Phillips” is a real surprise. I posted an entry almost a year ago predicting that Tom Hanks would win an Oscar for either his then-rumored role in either “Saving Mr. Banks” or “Captain Phillips,” but it seems that I won’t be seeing my prediction become reality. I’d love to see Christian Bale win this.

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Best Actress: Amy Adams, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep

Consensus: Though I’ve yet to see “August: Osage County,” I’m somewhat surprised to see Meryl Streep eyeing another Oscar. I guess I can never really be surprised to see Streep getting nominations for her acting.

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Best Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi, Bradley Cooper, Michael Fassbender, Jonah Hill, Jared Leto

Consensus: An interesting spread again offers nominations for both “American Hustle” (Bradley Cooper) and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (Jonah Hill), two comedies. And you gotta love the nomination for Barkhad Abdi, the Somali leader in “Captain Phillips,” who was a Minnesotan cab driver before this role.

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Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Julia Roberts, June Squibb, Jennifer Lawrence, Sally Hawkins, Lupita Nyong’o

Consensus: This is perhaps the biggest snub, though not when you consider it was a snub for the Golden Globes, too. Oprah Winfrey’s performance in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” is deserving of an Oscar win. Jennifer Lawrence, winner of this year’s Golden Globe in the same category, is great. But Oprah owns the screen. Why has “The Butler” been so ignored this year? From the very beginning, it has been criticized and snubbed from every major award show.

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Others

Still no love for “Monsters University” in the Best Animated Feature category. It wasn’t Pixar’s best, but it was far better than “Despicable Me 2,” and that got a nomination.

I love the cinematography nomination for “Prisoners,” though I would have loved to see an acting nomination for the thriller.

Woody Allen gets his 16th Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for “Blue Jasmine,” though I’d love to see “American Hustle” win. “Her” deserves nothing, especially not anything rewarding its cheesy, awkward, simple script. But I digress.