Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow

Everyone waited with bated breath yesterday to see which movies and performances would be recognised by the Academy in 2013.

And while the likes of Les Miserables and Lincoln received the nominations that they were expected and it was great to see Beast of the Southern Wild feature so heavily in the big categories

But it is the snubs that have got everybody talking as there are a few glaring omissions for some of the most high profile awards.

Best Director is where many eyebrows have been raised as both Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck - both red hot favourites to be nominated - have been overlooked.

Bigelow has been winning awards left, right and centre and is also in the running at the Golden Globes as well as the Baftas but she will not be battling it out for the Best Director Oscar.

Bigelow made history when she became the first woman to win this award for The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty sees her return to the war genre as her film focuses on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

Ben Affleck delivered what was one of the best movies of 2012 in the form of Argo and had been amongst the favourites for a Best Director nod for quite some time.

Much like Bigelow, Affleck has been nominated at the Golden Globes and the Baftas and just last night he was named Best Director at the Critics' Movie Choice Awards.

British director Tom Hooper was also overlooked for his work on musical Les Miserables - he also failed to bag a Bafta nomination in the same category earlier this week.

The trio do have some consolation as Zero Dark Thirty, Argo and Les Miserables were nominated in the Best Picture category.

Marion Cotillard's central performance in Rust and Bone has had the critics raving, and I include myself in this, ever since it hit the festival circuit last year.

She was not only an early favourite for a Best Actress nomination she was a front runner to actually win the award itself.

However it was not to be for Cotillard, who has an Oscar already for her performance in La Vie En Rose, as she missed out altogether.

The Best Actress category features Naomi Watts, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhané Wallis.

During the award's season John Hawkes has constantly been nominated for Best Actor prizes for his role in The Sessions but there was sadly no nod for an Oscar.

And the Best Picture category wasn't without surprises as well as no blockbuster featured in the nine movies up for the gong.

For the second year running the Academy decided not to use the full ten nomination spots that it has available picking just nine films for this category.

Therefore Skyfall sadly missed out on a Best Picture nod despite many believing that it would be included.

The film has enjoyed huge box office success this year as has The Dark Knight Rises but this too was overlooked.

The Academy has set the cat amongst the pigeons this year with their nominations are some very odd decisions have been made.

The Oscar winners will be revealed February 24th


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