Perhaps the most surprising Best Picture nomination went to "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," the Stephen Daldry-directed adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel about a boy who goes on a search for a secret left by a father that died on 9/11. The film polarized both critics and audiences, and was shut out of the Golden Globes. Max von Sydow earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
"Take Shelter," the drama about a man having a breakdown starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, was shut out of the major awards; while it didn't generate much buzz, it was one of the best reviewed films of the year, with a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Chastain got a nomination for "The Help," though director Tate Taylor was left out of both the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay race. Chastain also starred in "The Tree of Life," a polarizing film that nonetheless earned both a Best Picture nomination -- with producer credit yet to be settled -- and a Best Director bid for enigmatic helmer Terrence Malick.
If you're asking who Demián Bichir is today, you're not alone. He starred in the little seen Chris Weitz-directed drama "A Better Life," which involves the Mexican community in LA. He earned a Best Actor nod over stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender, who were both nominated for Golden Globes.
"Young Adult," the Diablo Cody-scripted, Jason Reitman scripted dark comedy, was shut out entirely. Star Charlize Theron was nominated for a Golden Globe, while co-star Patton Oswalt was favored to get an Oscar bid for Best Supporting Actor.
Fans were excited to see the Judd Apatow-produced comedy "Bridesmaids" earn a Best Original Screenplay nomination for star Kristen Wiig and co-writer Annie Mumolo, as well as a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Melissa McCarthy.
Tilda Swinton, heavily favored to get a Best Actress nomination, was snubbed of recognition for her haunting turn in "We Need To Talk About Kevin."
It was a big morning for first time writer/director JC Chandor, who got a Best Original Screenplay nod for his financial thriller "Margin Call," which has largely been seen on Video on Demand.
"Drive," the Nicolas Winding-Refn directed LA street noir film, was shut out of the big awards, with Best Supporting Actor favorite Albert Brooks getting snubbed. Meanwhile, Nick Nolte excelled enough in the little-seen MMA drama "Warrior," which was loved by critics but passed over by audiences, to get a nod for Best Supporting Actor.
"50/50," the cancer dramedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, was tipped to get a Best Original Screenplay nomination for writer Will Reiser, who loosely based the story on his own experiences, but the film was shut out of top line nominations.
Here's Moviefone's take on the biggest snubs:
SNUBBED: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" for Best Picture
"Lord of the Rings," this was not. Despite being well-reviewed, beloved and a bonafide box-office hit, "Harry Potter" was relegated to the blockbuster ghetto of below-the-line nods. The final Potter installment earned just three nominations, including Best Visual Effects. Accio, disappointing!
SNUBBED: Albert Brooks for Best Supporting Actor
<a href="http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/12/14/sag-award-nomination-snubs-surprises-2012/" target="_hplink">Maybe the Screen Actors Guild nominations should have been taken a little more seriously</a>. Though many believed Albert Brooks was the only other viable contender to <em>win</em> Best Supporting Actor besides Christopher Plummer (the favorite for "Beginners"), he was left standing at the altar on Tuesday morning with no nomination. Blasphemy! Whether that's because Film District didn't have any money to spend on a "Drive" campaign is certainly up for debate, but the Brooks snub is one of the most curious in recent memory.
SNUBBED: David Fincher for Best Director
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" did very well during the Oscar nominations, scoring nods for Best Actress (Rooney Mara), Best Cinematography and Best Editing. What it didn't grab? A Best Director nomination for David Fincher, in spite of Fincher's nomination from the Directors Guild of America. In the end, Fincher was probably squeezed out by Terrence Malick, a surprise entry into this category for "The Tree of Life." Sorry, Finch! Maybe if you were more of a recluse.
SURPRISE: "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" for Best Picture
Where did this come from? Oh, right: Stephen Daldry and Scott Rudin, two Oscar titans, adapting a movie about 9/11. With a mere 48 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" is not only the worst reviewed movie among the 2011 Best Picture nominees, but also the worst reviewed movie <em>in recent history</em> to earn a coveted BP nod. <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/AwardsDaily/status/161840475538595840" target="_hplink">Only "The Blide Side" and "The Reader" were more poorly reviewed</a>. Congrats?
SNUBBED: Steven Spielberg for Best Director
Not that Steven Spielberg had any right to expect a Best Director nomination on Tuesday morning -- after all, he was similarly left out by the Directors Guild of America in the same category -- but with "War Horse" earning Best Picture nod, it was somewhat surprising to see the two-time Best Director winner left home. Insult to injury: "The Adventures of Tintin," which won Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes and the Producers Guild of America award ceremonies, was left off the Best Animated Feature list at the Oscars. Hopefully, the Academy will favor Spielberg next year, with the release of "Lincoln."
SNUBBED: Ryan Gosling for Best Actor
It's unfortunate to top off the Year of Gosling (i.e., 2011), the Academy Awards decided against nominating The Gos himself. Arguably the best actor of his generation (and a nominee once before for "Half Nelson"), Gosling turned in two strong Oscar-worthy performances in 2011: "Drive" and "The Ides of March." Unfortunately, "Ides" never caught steam as an Oscar contender, and "Drive" was apparently not the Academy's cup of tea. It's not all bad for Gosling, however: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DSVDcw6iW8" target="_hplink">dude's a real hero</a>, after all.
SNUBBED: "Bridesmaids" for Best Picture
With nine nominees for Best Picture, it seems a little far-fetched to think "Bridesmaids" didn't make the cut. Alas! The people's choice for Best Picture did earn nominations for Melissa McCarthy and Best Original Screenplay, so it's not like it was totally shut down. Still would have liked to see Kristen Wiig get some love as Best Actress, though.
PHOTO: Universal
SNUBBED: Michael Fassbender for Best Actor
Can you even believe this one? Michael Fassbender, who gives one of the best performances of any year in the indie sex-addiction drama "Shame," was left off the list for Best Actor. In his place, either upstart Demian Bichir or veteran Gary Oldman, two well-respected journeymen who saw their Oscar profile rise during the last two months, while Fassbender's festival heat faded. Here's guessing he was the sixth nominee for Best Actor, which is -- wait for it -- a real shame. (GROAN, but come on.)
SNUBBED: Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor
One of the only pleasures of sitting through the laborious "J. Edgar"? The idea that you were at least seeing one of the five nominees for Best Actor ply his craft. About that: Leonardo DiCaprio was left off the final list for leading male, despite -- or perhaps because of -- the pounds of make-up and jowls he displayed as former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood's misfire. Acting! Sometimes it doesn't work.
SURPRISE: Rooney Mara for Best Actress
Many times, the best performances of the year aren't rewarded by the Academy Awards (cough, Albert Brooks). This time, at least one was: Rooney Mara in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" gives one of those searing and memorable performances that cause Internet writers to use words like "searing" and "memorable." It really is the best female work of 2011, and while she won't win, the nomination itself is more than enough.
SNUBBED: Tilda Swinton for Best Actress
Everyone's favorite eccentric actress didn't make the cut at the Academy Awards for her performance in "We Need to Talk About Kevin" as a conflicted mother dealing with her awful son. Perhaps it was a matter of getting the indie film seen by enough voter eyeballs that kept Swinton out; or maybe it was the overwhelming Academy love for Glenn Close, who earned her sixth Oscar nomination for the middling "Albert Nobbs."
SNUBBED: Tate Taylor for Best Director
Fun fact: Best Picture-nominated movies, with three Oscar-nominated stars, direct themselves! At least that's the takeaway from the snub of Tate Taylor who missed out on a Best Director nomination for "The Help." Not that Taylor belongs in the same class as Woody Allen, Alexander Payne, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick and Michel Hazanavicius, but let's give the guy some credit!
SURPRISE: "A Separation" for Best Original Screenplay
The outstanding reviews for "A Separation" -- plus its Golden Globe win -- assured the Iranian import a slot in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Where it was a surprise nominee, however, was for Best Original Screenplay. Huzzahs to Asghar Farhadi, the writer/director of the foreign language film all your cool friends will see in the next month.
PHOTO: Sony Classics
SNUBBED: "The Adventures of Tintin" for Best Animated Feature
The Steven Spielberg-directed animated feature was good enough to win the Best Animated Feature award from the Producers Guild of America last weekend ... but not good enough to earn a Best Animated Feature <em>nomination</em> from the Oscars. Great snakes, indeed.
PHOTO: Paramount
SNUBBED: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" for Best Picture
Late in 2011, snubbed director David Fincher joked that "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" had too much rape to earn an Oscar nomination. Guess he was right. Despite the fact that nine (nine!) movies earned Best Picture nominations on Tuesday morning, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" was left out. Somewhere, Scott Rudin -- who produced both "Tattoo" and the movie that might have bumped it off, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" -- both frowned and smiled, simultaneously.
PHOTO: Sony
SNUBBED: "Drive" for Best Picture
Needed more eyeball stabbing.
SNUBBED: Elizabeth Olsen for Best Actress
Proof that any Oscar buzz you read about this week from the Sundance Film Festival should be laughed off. Elizabeth Olsen, the 2011 It-Girl from Sundance, missed the Best Actress shortlist despite earning plaudits for her work in "Martha Marcy May Marlene."
SNUBBED: Sandra Bullock for Best Supporting Actress
Don't gasp! Sandra Bullock, a winner as Best Actress for "The Blind Side," gives the best performance in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," a movie that clearly resonated with Oscar voters thanks to its shocking Best Picture nomination. Are we to believe that Oscar voters watched "Extremely Loud" and didn't walk away totally floored by Bullock? Apparently.
SNUBBED: Shailene Woodley for Best Supporting Actress
To be fair, Woodley wasn't <em>that</em> great in "The Descendants," but she was on the pundits's lists of choices for basically three months. What happened? Well, the rise of Jessica Chastain for "The Help," plus Melissa McCarthy and Janet McTeer having strong backing as well.
SURPRISE: Demian Bichir for Best Actor
Who? The veteran Mexican actor -- who you might remember as Fidel Castro in "Che" or from "Weeds" -- earned a surprise SAG nomination for Best Actor for "A Better Life" and carried that momentum through to Tuesday morning. A great underdog story and one of only three minority actors nominated by the Academy.
SURPRISE: Gary Oldman for Best Actor
Gary Oldman had never been nominated for an Academy Award. That crime has finally been rectified after his work in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." Is anyone upset about this one?
The 2012 Oscar nominees were announced on Tuesday morning, and while the front runners all got their nods, there a number of surprises and snubs, as well.
Perhaps the most surprising Best Picture n...
The 2012 Oscar nominees were announced on Tuesday morning, and while the front runners all got their nods, there a number of surprises and snubs, as well.
Perhaps the most surprising Best Picture n...
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, already one of Hollywood's top advocates of collaborative web content with his HitRecord website, has joined up with one of the internet's biggest...
JC Chandor earned his first Oscar nomination on Tuesday, getting a Best Original Screenplay nod for his star-studded, independent financial meltdown thriller, "Margin Call." The...
After all the ZOMG-"Bridesmaids"-is-the-best-thing-ever chatter, now the Academy has rallied its support for the comedy-that-could as well. Tuesday morning, the film snagged two nominations, including...
"Tomorrow morning I find out if I have to go to any more events that Christopher Plummer wins," comedian and nominal Best Supporting Actor contender...
So, how about those Oscar nominations? Crazy, right?! Despite what seemed like the most predictable year in the 84-year history of the Academy Awards, Tuesday...
In a year when the once-dreaded MPAA rating made somewhat of a comeback, it is disheartening to see that 'adult films' pretty much got shut out not just in the Best Picture category but in many of the major categories as well.
With all the upcoming fanfare over this week's Academy Awards nominations, it might be worth noting that most of these talented, wonderful people will have one thing in common in roughly four weeks. They'll all be losers.
Has anyone else seen "Elite Squad 2" from Brazil? I've been raving about that film and was highly disappointed it wasn't short-listed for Best Foreign Film. http://bit.ly/elitesquad2trailer
filmluvforever: Has anyone else seen "Elite Squad 2" from Brazil? I've
This is one of the WORST pictures I've ever seen!
Why on earth would anyone think this should get any consideration for best picture?
While this actor was impressive in "Ides of March" this picture was terrible, start to finish....
Mick_Shea: This is one of the WORST pictures I've ever seen!
FLOWERS OF WAR with Christian Bale is one of the best pictures of the year GO SEE IT before it's place in the theater gets taken up by another blahzay movie. What's up with not being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film? At least the Golden Globes got it right.
bradweigel: FLOWERS OF WAR with Christian Bale is one of the
If you haven't seen "The Girl with The Dragon Tatoo" you've missed the best picture and a thick juicy story directed by Fincher who simply out does himself here. Perfection.
Rooney Mara not just carried the movie, she stole every scene, she took a simple plastic role and made it so powerful that investors are robbing their bank vaults to find a way to employ her into a series of movies based just on her and/or her character. She is powerful!
A dark heroine we love and we loathe at the same time. Only true insight and craftsmanship can do that to an audience. I don't care what "TV Land" says about her or her performance, I know, I saw.
Fincher is a master and this is a work of art.
As usual all my favorites get the snub:
Gary Oldman - real actor
Leonardo DeCaprio - he is brilliant to watch
I'd like to say that this movie using September 11th as the back drop is not acceptable. I refuse to see it. It's cheap and unfair to use it to get money at the box office.
Pippen: If you haven't seen "The Girl with The Dragon Tatoo"
notwithstanding great performances and brilliant re-direction and rescripting by Fincher & Co from a classically Scandinavian trilogy, they worked off an amazing original story Stieg L. and film (s)....RM is amazing, yes, but look at her precog.
- how could they possibly screw this up?
QDP: notwithstanding great performances and brilliant re-direction and rescripting by Fincher
For the life of Me .... I can't understand how Hugo is considered a top film . I thought it was dull as pain drying .. poorly edited .. sleepy story line. It relied too heavy on tired old formats ... No development of any of the characters ... What really bothered me was the cafe flirting elderly couple ... it was flat and silly and added nothing to the story line . The big question is WHAT was Jude Law doing in the film at all for his 3 mins of screen time .. No explanation what so ever as the what the relationship of the father was to the old film maker >>> all in all one of the most disappointing films of the year for Me. On the other had ... DRIVE, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo & Tin Tin were three of the best
MarkBoston: For the life of Me .... I can't understand how
Brad Pitt was the same Brad Pitt in countless other movies. By nominating him, the Academy nominated him as personality rather than him as artist. Moneyball was a somewhat entertaining film that made absolutely no lasting impression on me. (And I'm a giant baseball fan, by the way.)
brettrobbins: Brad Pitt was the same Brad Pitt in countless other
Brettrobbins, I couldnt agree with you more. Moneyball and The Descendents were OK. Fine, even. But neither will be remembered 5 years from now as GREAT FILMS. Brad Pitt and George Clooney being nominated is more politically driven than being based on merit, in my opinion.
LIONNYC: Brettrobbins, I couldnt agree with you more. Moneyball and The
i thought the descendants was a much better film than moneyball. Not only was clooney better than pitt as an actor, the story was a lot less disjointed and the supporting cast held more of their own weight. Then again, im a huge fan of alexander payne, and this was a classically payne film.
ny1989: i thought the descendants was a much better film than
Happy to see that Gosling's snub is (as of this writing) voted by Huff Post readers as the #1 letdown of the Oscar nominations. Drive was a sublime piece of work in every regard, especially actor, actress, cinematography, writing, and music. My favorite film of the year.
brettrobbins: Happy to see that Gosling's snub is (as of this
Loading comments… 
Huffington Post Jordan Zakarin First Posted: 01/24/2012 8:56 am Updated: 01/24/2012 11:46 am