2013 Oscar Nomination Snubs

(Reuters)

A movie lover weighs in on the 2013 Oscar nominations...

Hey Hollywood…What's the deal? You completely screwed up in this year's 85th Academy Award nominations, huh?

Let's talk massive mistakes and surprise snubs that should have your blood boiling.

No, it's OK Hollywood, I’ll wait for you to wipe your mouth.  Are you done slobbering all over the over-hyped "Silver Linings Playbook?" Not only did Robert De Niro get a nod (thanks for showing up on set and reading a few lines) but Jennifer Lawrence and David O. Russell as Best Director, too? And Best Picture? I guess that makes sense…seeing as some of the biggest masterpieces of the year got shuffled to the side.

Which brings us to the award for Best Direction. Ben Affleck for “Argo” was a shoe-in right? Wrong. How about Kathryn Bigelow for the controversial “Zero Dark Thirty?” Nope.  And no nod for Quentin Tarantino and his genius "Django Unchained."  But surely P.T. Anderson was nominated for his direction of "The Master" (which in my opinion was the best movie of the year)? Wrong again. No hoopla for Tom Hooper! The "Les Miserables" director also got elbowed out of the running, which is odd, seeing as he made some major directorial decisions for the blockbuster (including a live-to-tape recording of ALL the singing).  Maybe next time.

Instead, we have "Beasts of the Southern Wild" director Benh Zeitlin (sure, its' an aggressive movie, but doesn't carry enough weight to knock out the other heavy hitters) and “Amour?”  I saw the movie “Away From Her” circa 2006. Come on! This was the biggest category that the Academy completely dropped the ball.

Let's move on to acting shall we?

Denzel for Best Actor? I'm sorry but did you see Flight? It's also known as "every Denzel Washington movie ever made." Thanks for trying.

I thought we were going to see Leonardo DiCaprio get some Oscar love for his stunning performance in “Django” but his nomination must have gotten lost in the mail along with Quentin’s.  And what about recognizing knockout star Eddie Redmayne for the only good performance in “Les Miserables” (aside from Anne Hathaway)? Nah... let's just give the nomination to De Niro. Because he needs a career boost.

And to just name a few more worthy films of a nomination that didn't even surface: “,” “Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “,” “,” “End of Watch,” “Arbitrage.”   I'm not saying they deserved to win, but maybe a little recognition.

All in all, this humble writer is in a state of dizzying dismay.  I’ll need to regroup, re-watch and reconsider what happened today before the statuettes are handed out February 24th.

What do you think? Did Tinsel Town get it right or wrong?