The nominees for the 85^th Academy Awards were announced today. Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln led the pack with 12 nominations, closely followed by Ang Lee’s Life of Pi with 11 nominations.

While the media outlets are screaming their heads off about Kathryn Bigelow being snubbed, I found myself outraged that the Academy did not sniff in the direction of Christopher Nolan or his film The Dark Knight Rises. Apparently the film’s world wide gross of $1,081,041,287 wasn’t enough to convince the Academy Board to consider either for Best Director and Best Picture. The Avengers, which made $1,511,757,910 world wide, was nominated for one award when it should have been nominated for multiple. And once again, Leonardo DiCaprio was left in the dust despite media praise for his performance in Django Unchained. Instead, the Academy voted for Joaquin Phoenix. I should write to the Academy to find out what they’re smoking about that choice.

The only explination I have of Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty getting nominated is that the Academy panel looked on Rotten Tomatoes and determined it was Oscar worthy based on its 95% Fresh Rating. Many reading may wonder why I am in complete disagreement with this choice. The best way to answer this is that I felt her previous Oscar winning film, The Hurt Locker, was overblown and that James Cameron’s Avatar was far superior and more deserving. Considering that the media is abuzz about Bigelow once again, I’m not willing to sip the Kool Aid.

With my opinions aside, here is the list of the nominees:

Best Motion Picture of the Year

• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

• Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln
• Hugh Jackman for Les Miserables
• Joaquin Phoenix for The Master
• Denzel Washington for Flight

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

• Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty
• Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook
• Emmanuelle Riva for Amour
• Quvenzhane Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Naomi Watts for The Imposssible

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

• Alan Arkin for Argo
• Robert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams for The Master
• Sally Field for Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables
• Helen Hunt for The Sessions
• Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook

Best Achievement in Directing

• Michael Haneke for Amour
• Ang Lee for Life of Pi
• David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook
• Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
• Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

• Amour–Michael Haneke
• Django Unchained–Quentin Tarantino
• Flight–John Gatins
• Moonrise Kingdom–Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
• Zero Dark Thirty–Mark Boal

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

• Argo–Chris Terrio
• Beasts of the Southern Wild–Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
• Life of Pi–David Magee
• Lincoln–Tony Kushner
• Silver Linings Playbook–David O. Russell

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

• Brave– Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
• Frankenweenie–Tim Burton
• ParaNorman–Sam Fell and Chris Butler
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits–Peter Lord
• Wreck-It Ralph–Rich Moore

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

• Amour (from Austria)
• War Witch (from Canada)
• No (from Chile)
• A Royal Affair (from Denmark)
• Kon-Tiki (from Norway)

Best Achievement in Cinematography

• Anna Karenina
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Skyfall

Best Achievement in Editing

• Argo
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

Best Achievement in Production Design

• Anna Karenina
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln

Best Achievement in Costume Design

• Anna Karenina
• Les Mmiserables
• Lincoln
• Mirror Mirror
• Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

• Hitchcock
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Les Miserables

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

• Anna Karenina–Dario Marianelli
• Argo–Alexandre Desplat
• Life of Pi–Mychael Danna
• Lincoln–John Williams
• Skyfall–Thomas Newman

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

• Chasing Ice– J. Ralph for “Before My Time”
• Les Miserables– Alain Boubil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, and Herbert Kretzmer for “Suddenly”
• Life of Pi– Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayshree for “Pi’s Lullaby”
• Skyfall– Adele and Paul Epworth for “Skyfall”
• Ted– Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane for “Everybody Needs a Best Friend”

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

• Argo
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Skyfall

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

• Argo
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Skyfall
• Zero Dark Thirty

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

• The Avengers
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Life of Pi
• Prometheus
• Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Documentary, Features

• 5 Broken Cameras
• The Gatekeepers
• How to Survive a Plague
• The Invisible War

Best Documetntary, Short Subjects

• Inocente
• Kings Point
• Mondays at Racine
• Open Heart
• Redemption

Best Short Film, Animated

• Adam and His Dog
• Fresh Guacamole
• Head Over Heels
• Paperman
• The Simpsons: The Longest Daycare

Best Short Film, Live Action

• Asad
• Buzkashi Boys
• Curfue
• Death of a Shadow
• Henry