On Thursday morning, the Academy Award nominations were announced at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by president of the Academy Cheryl Boone Isaacs, blockbuster movie actor Chris Pine, Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón ("Gravity") and J.J. Abrams. Abranms has been nominated for Best Director by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for his work on "Star Trek Into Darkness." Like the company tapped to make the announcement, many of the nominees were just as surprising as any.                                  

Critics have made many an outcry since the announcement, and justly so. The most discernible snub was "Selma," Ava DuVernay's moving historical biopic drama following Martin Luther King Jr. of SCLC, John Lewis of SNCC, James Bevel and Hosea Williams, who led the three 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark federal achievement of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. Excluding a nomination for Best Picture and Best Original Song (for Common and John Legend's recent Golden Globe-winning "Glory"), DuVernay was not recognized in the Best Director Category, a nod that would have made her the first African-American woman to do so. British actor David Oyelowo, who was recently shut out of the BAFTAs in that category, was also not acknowledged in the Best Actor category.

While art-house auteur Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" led the pack alongside Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's genre-bending "Birdman" with nine nominations, there were some other surprises. Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie didn't get a nod for her work on WWII biopic "Unbroken," Laura Dern got nominated for "Wild" over Jessica Chastain ("A Most Violent Year"), Bennett Miller was nominated for directing on "Foxcatcher," Bradley Cooper was nominated for his work in "American Sniper," Disney's "Into the Woods" and Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner" were shut out of Best Picture and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard was nominated for her work in "Two Days, One Night," kicking out Jennifer Aniston ("Cake") and academy favorite Amy Adams ("Big Eyes"), not to mention Warner Bros. top-grossing "The LEGO Movie" was shut out of Best Animated Film, no thanks to Hollywood Foreign Press, who snubbed the film's win at the 72nd Golden Globes.

Nominations (by movie):


"Birdman" - 9
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" - 9
"The Imitation Game" - 8
"Boyhood" - 6
"American Sniper" - 6
"Whiplash" - 5
"Interstellar" - 5
"Foxcatcher" - 5

The list of nominations for the 87th Academy Awards

Best Picture
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"
"Boyhood"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"The Imitation Game"
"Selma"
"The Theory of Everything"
"Whiplash"

Actor in a Leading Role
Steve Carell, "Foxcatcher"
Bradley Cooper, "American Sniper"
Benedict Cumberbatch, "The Imitation Game"
Michael Keaton, "Birdman"
Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"

Actress in a Leading Role
Marion Cotillard, "Two Days, One Night"
Felicity Jones, "The Theory of Everything"
Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"
Rosamund Pike, "Gone Girl"
Reese Witherspoon, "Wild"

Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Duvall, "The Judge"
Ethan Hawke, "Boyhood"
Edward Norton, "Birdman"
Mark Ruffalo, "Foxcatcher"
J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
Laura Dern, "Wild"
Emma Stone, "Birdman"
Keira Knightley, "The Imitation Game"
Meryl Streep, "Into the Woods"

Directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Birdman"
Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
Bennett Miller, "Foxcatcher"
Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Morten Tyldum, "The Imitation Game"

Foreign Language Film
"Ida"
"Leviathan"
"Tangerines"
"Wild Tales"
"Timbuktu"

Writing - Adapted Screenplay
Graham Moore, "The Imitation Game"
Damien Chazelle, "Whiplash"
Anthony McCarten, "The Theory of Everything"
Jason Hall, "American Sniper"
Paul Thomas Anderson, "Inherent Vice"

Writing - Original Screenplay
Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, "Birdman"
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Dan Gilroy, "Nightcrawler"
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, "Foxcatcher"

Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, "Birdman"
Roger Deakins, "Unbroken"
Robert D. Yeoman, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Dick Pope, "Mr. Turner"
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski, "Ida"

Music - Original Score
Hans Zimmer, "Interstellar"
Alexandre Desplat, "The Imitation Game"
Johann Johannsson, "The Theory of Everything"
Alexandre Desplat, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Gary Yershon, "Mr Turner"

Makeup and Hairstyling
"Foxcatcher"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"

Costume Design
Colleen Atwood, "Into the Woods"
Anna B. Sheppard, "Maleficent"
Milena Canonero, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
Jacqueline Durran, "Mr. Turner"
Mark Bridges, "Inherent Vice"

Music - Original Song
"Glory" by Common and John Legend, "Selma"
"Lost Stars" by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood, "Begin Again"
"Everything Is Awesome" by Shawn Patterson, "The LEGO Movie"
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You," by Glen Campbell, "Glenn Campbell: I'll Be Me"
"Grateful," by Diane Warren, "Beyond the lights"

Visual Effects
"Interstellar"
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"
"Guardians of the Galaxy"
"Captain America: Winter Soldier"
"X-Men: Days of Future Past"

Documentary Short Subject
"Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1"
"Joanna"
"Our Curse"
"White Earth"
"The Reaper"

Documentary Feature
"Citizenfour"
"Last Days in Vietnam"
"Virunga"
"The Salt of the Earth"
"Finding Vivian Maier"

Film Editing
Sandra Adair, "Boyhood"
Tom Cross, "Whiplash"
William Goldenberg, "The Imitation Game"
Joel Cox and Gary Roach, "American Sniper"
Barney Pilling, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Sound Editing
"Interstellar"
"Unbroken"
"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"

Sound Mixing
Mark Weingarten, "Interstellar"
Thomas Curley, "Whiplash"
"Unbroken"
"American Sniper"
"Birdman"

Production Design
"Into the Woods"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"Interstellar"
"The Imitation Game"
"Mr. Turner" 

Short Film - Live Action
"Boogaloo and Graham"
"Aya"
"Butterlamp"
"Parvenah"
"The Phone Call"

Short Film - Animated
"Feast"
"The Bigger Picture"
"A Single Life"
"The Dam Keeper"
"Me and My Moulton"

Animated Feature Film
"Big Hero 6"
"How to Train Your Dragon 2"
"The Boxtrolls"
"The Tale of the Princess Kaguya"
"Song of the Sea"