OSCAR VOTERS MAKE CONTROVERSIAL CHOICES FOR NOMINEES

American Hustle and Gravity have received ten Oscar nominations each, while 12 Years a Slave received nine. All three were nominated for best film. Six other films were also named in the top category: Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, and The Wolf of Wall Street. The Academy could have nominated ten films in that category but chose only nine. That it excluded Inside Llewyn Davis, which had already won several critics’ awards, immediately set off much tongue-wagging in Hollywood. In fact, the Coen Brothers’ film received not a single nomination. Some critics also seemed perturbed that Philomena, which also received several early awards, including the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival, didn’t make the best-film list, nor did the much-praised Wong Kar Wai film The Grandmaster (although it was nominated for best foreign film). Several analysts expressed surprise that neither Tom Hanks nor Robert Redford made the list of nominees for Best Actor. Those who did were Christian Bale, Bruce Dern, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Matthew McConaughey. (Paul Greengrass was not nominated for best director, either, although his Captain Phillips, which starred Hanks, got the nod for best film.) Overlooked in the Best Actress category was Emma Thompson, for her much-praised portrayal of Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. She was beaten out by Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench and Meryl Streep. Academy voters also received much criticism for failing to recognize the performance of Oprah Winfrey for her performance in The Butler. Instead, supporting actress nominations went to Jennifer Lawrence, Lupita Nyong’o, Julia Roberts, June Squibb and Sally Hawkins. That the voters also passed over Daniel Brühl, who played Niki Lauda in Rush, also came in for criticism. Supporting actor nominations instead went to Barkhad Abdi, Bradley Cooper, Michael Fassbender, Jonah Hill, and Jared Leto. (A complete list of nominees and their films can be found at www.Oscars.com.