[Chief Rum]

2013 has been widely acknowledged as one of the better years for quality movies that we have seen in some time. So it shouldn't come as a shock that we're seeing some pretty egregious snubs (although it seems likely that egregious though they may seem, they may well be deserved because the fields are so strong this year).

On my personal list of wows was Tom Hanks not being nommed in Best Actor for Captain Phillips. The last five minutes of his performance in that film is quite frankly one of the most amazing acting performances I have ever seen. People have been stunned by that, and also by Robert Redford being left off for his turn in "All is Lost".

That category is nutty full of good candidates, though. Everyone there deserved a nod except, IMO, Bale. I liked Bale in American Hustle, but I am sorry, he doesn't belong there over Hanks, presumeably Redford, and probably Pheonix from Her either.

A lot of people are saying Emma Thompson got snubbed in Best Actress, and that it was Streep who got her spot. For all I know, Streep does a great job in August: Osage County, but most are saying Thompson couldn't have played a more on point PL Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. I haven't seen either movie, so I can't offer up a personal opinion, but the sense I am getting is that Streep might be on that list because she is always on those lists, not because her performance was better than Thompson.

Lots of talk about Inside Llewellyn Davis not getting any love. I'm not really a big Coen Brothers guy, and I sometimes feel their stuff is rubber stamped for Oscar noms, whether it is deserved or not. But there are people saying this is their best movie (over Fargo, Oh Brother, etc.). If that's true, it probably should at least have been the 10th Best Pic in a category that didn't fill up.

That movie also probably could have landed a song in Best Original Song. I was surprised Atlas from Coldplay (for Catching Fire) wasn't nommed either.

In makeup, I was shocked that both Catching Fire and American Hustle weren't nommed there. The category only had three noms, not like they couldn't have made it there.

Interested in the opinions of the other film cogniscienti in the house...