It’s that time of year again: time to see which movies the Academy of Arts and Sciences has selected as nominees for this year’s Oscar awards. I like to think of it as the time of year to see how many movies of substance you actually saw last year. Of course, there are those who critique the Academy for being a bit snobbish and this year should be no different, with high honors being paid to Spielberg’s biopic of the great American president Lincoln (which really tells the two-hour story of getting an Amendment passed); Ang Lee’s 3D adaptation of Yann Martel’s existential book Life of Pi, and Amour, this year’s great little film that nobody has seen.

This year, Lincoln leads the other nominated films with twelve nominations including Direction, Best Picture, and Best Actor (which most people consider a sure-thing for Daniel Day-Lewis). Life of Pi isn’t far behind with eleven nominations in many of the same categories. Other contenders like Les Miserables and Silver Linings Playbook are being recognized in the expected ways, although I’ll be honest and admit a surprising recognition of Django Unchained (with five nominations) and Flight (with two).  Speaking of surprising, there are a few glaring omissions from the Direction category, including Ben Affleck (Argo) and Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), both of which captured Best Picture nominations but went without recognition despite nominations from the Director’s Guild of America earlier this week.

The Oscar broadcast, hosted by Seth MacFarlane, will air on February 24th on ABC at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Check back for more information on how to spend that evening with the Widescreen Warrior crew. And don’t forget to look for our podcast this weekend for our reactions and discussion of the nominations. In the meantime, discuss the nominees below.

2013 Academy Award Nominations (85th Academy Awards)

Best Picture

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

 

Direction

Michael Haneke - Amour

Ang Lee - Life of Pi

David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

Steven Spielberg - Lincoln

Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

 

Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln

Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables

Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Denzel Washington - Flight

 

Actress in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva - Amour

Naomi Watts – The Impossible

Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild

 

Actor in a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin - Argo

Robert DeNiro - Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master

Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln

Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

 

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams - The Master

Sally Field - Lincoln

Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables

Helen Hunt - The Sessions

Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook

 

Animated Feature Film

Brave

Frankenweenie

ParaNorman

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Wreck-It Ralph

 

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola - Moonrise Kingdom

Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty

John Gatins - Flight

Michael Haneke - Amour

Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained

 

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Tony Kushner - Lincoln

David Magee - Life of Pi

David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

Chris Terrio - Argo

 

Visual Effects

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Life of Pi

The Avengers

Prometheus

Snow White and the Huntsman

 

Music (Original Score)

Anna Karenina

Argo

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Skyfall

 

Music (Original Song)

“Before My Time” – Chasing Ice (Music and Lyrics by J. Ralph)

“Everybody Needs a Best Friend” – Ted (Music by Walter Murphy; Lyrics by Seth MacFarlane)

“Pi’s Lullaby” – Life of Pi (Music by Mychael Danna; Lyrics by Bombay Jayashri)

“Skyfall” – Skyfall (Music and Lyrics by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth)

“Suddenly” – Les Misérables (Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil)

 

Production Design

Anna Karenina

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Cinematography

Anna Karenina – Seamus McGarvey

Django Unchained - Robert Richardson

Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda

Lincoln - Janusz Kaminski

Skyfall - Roger Deakins

 

Costume Design

Anna Karenina

Les Misérables 

Lincoln

Mirror Mirror

Snow White and the Huntsman

 

Documentary Feature

5 Broken Cameras – Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

The Gatekeepers – Nominees to be determined

How to Survive a Plague – Nominees to be determined

The Invisible War – Nominees to be determined

Searching for Sugar Man – Nominees to be determined

 

Documentary Short Subject

“Inocente” - Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine

“Kings Point” - Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider

“Mondays at Racine” - Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan

“Open Heart” - Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern

“Redemption” - Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill

 

Film Editing

Argo – William Goldenberg

Life of Pi - Tim Squyres

Lincoln - Michael Kahn

Silver Linings Playbook - Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers

Zero Dark Thirty - Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

 

Foreign Language Film

Amour (Austria)

Kon-Tiki (Norway)

No (Chile)

A Royal Affair (Denmark)

War Witch (Canada)

 

Makeup and Hairstyling

Hitchcock

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Les Misérables

Short Film (Animated)

“Adam and Dog” Minkyu Lee

“Fresh Guacamole” PES

“Head over Heels” Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly

“Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”" David Silverman

“Paperman” John Kahrs

 

Short Film (Live Action)

“Asad” Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura

“Buzkashi Boys” Sam French and Ariel Nasr

“Curfew” Shawn Christensen

“Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)” Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele

“Henry” Yan England

 

Sound Editing

Argo

Django Unchained

Life of Pi

Skyfall

Zero Dark Thirty

 

Sound Mixing

Argo

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Skyfall