The Best Surprises and Worst Snubs of the 2014 Oscar Nominations

Every year the Academy Awards has the chance to surprise and disappoint movie fans with extreme measure. We live for this day, when the Oscar nominees are announced and we feel happiness for a certain beloved movie slipping into the Best Picture race (Philomena!) and anger that another favorite was left out of the same category (Inside Llewyn Davis!). And of course with only nine titles named for the top award, it;s both fun and frustrating wondering what should have been the 10th. With this year;s nominations, announced this morning, there were fewer shockers than usual. Maybe because there weren;t any really popular mainstream movies that didn;t actually have a chance. No fanboys are crying for the lack of Pacific Rim in the Best Picture bunch, are they? If anything, it is a bit baffling that the movie isn;t among the visual effects nominees. But great effects are all over the place these days. I;m almost more suprised that The Wolf of Wall Street didn;t show up in the category (see the astonishingFX reel among others here). Some of the unexpected nominations we;re glad to see include Jonah Hill for Best Supporting Actor in The Wolf of Wall Street -- it was uncertain given his lack of Golden Globe recognition -- and the Cannes-winning Cambodian documentaryThe Missing Picturein the Best Foreign Language category. We;re also pleasantly surprised to see Cutie and the Boxer and Dirty Wars in the Best Documentary Feature category, as they also weren;t necessarily front-runners there. My snub list also starts in the doc category, though, as Sarah Polley;s Stories We Tell is my favorie movie of last year. Though less a favorite of mine, Blackfish being absent there is more of a shocker given its popularity and its influence. My second favorite movie of 2013 is Inside Llewyn Davis, and while I;m upset it;s not up for any major awards I don;t know that I believe its performances were among the best of the year. Tom Hanks and Robert Redford and maybe (maybe) even Joaquin Phoenix seem more absent from the Best Actor category than Oscar Isaac. As far as other actual acting snubs go, my biggest issue is with Margot Robbie not being recognized for The Wolf of Wall Street. Not only is she terrific, but now Scorsese;s near-record, career-wide success with acting nominations from his films is imbalanced in favor of male performances 12 to 10. It still would have been with Robbie nominated, but less so. And speaking of the women of The Wolf of Wall Street, how on Earth did editor Thelma Schoonmaker not get a nomination? Because the movie is long, I bet.  What were the best surprises and worst snubs of the 2014 Oscar nominations? Here are some responses received so far via Twitter:    @thefilmcynic Redford is the biggest snub to me, along with Inside Llewyn Davis for BP — SKOLNEY (@Rogerwhutwhut) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic Best Surprise- Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine (she;s better than Blanchett). Worst Snub- Overall lack of Mr. Banks and Llewyn. — Daniel Howat (@howatdk) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic Inside Llewyn Davis for Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Director. — Juan Carlos Ampié (@juancarlosampie) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic Inside Llewyn Davis. what;s the point of them having the possibility of nominating 10 films if they;re gonna only do 9? — justin robinson (@TheJSRobinson) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic Inside Llewyn Davis snubbed for Best Picture. And Lone Survivor. Surprised about all the Philomena stuff. — John Andrews (@Jandies1) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic Snubs- nothing for ST12, not enough for Inside Llewyn Davis, Bobbitt for 12YAS. Surprise- DiCaprio — Teri (@tmvogel) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic nicest surprise is The Missing Picture for foreign language film. — Samuel Smucker (@SamuelSmucker) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic Snubs: Her for Best Director, Short Term 12 for Song, Actress, Screenplay. — Conor Holt (@conor_holt) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic Surprise: PHILOMENA screenplay. Snub: Emma Thompson. — Edwin Arnaudin (@EdwinArnaudin) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic spike jonez needs at least a nomination like he is one great film maker in today;s world and he is underrated by far — Brandon;ndp; (@Brandonsndp) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic no surprises. Snubs are tie between, Evil Dead for Make-up and Hair and Pacific Rim for sound editing/mix and visual effects. — Kenton Bowton (@KBowton) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic @ErikDavis @moviesdotcom now that there;s a twitter graphic for it i do think Lone Ranger for VFX instead of PacRim is insane — ProgGrrl (@ProgGrrl) January 16, 2014    @thefilmcynic @moviesdotcom Glad IRON MAN 3 was recognized. Really wanted PRISONERS for Best Score. — North/South Film (@NorthSouthFilm) January 16, 2014   Join in the next discussion: and