Nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced this morning,  and with the announcement came a flurry of surprises, shocks and snubs.  For starters, eight was the magical number of Best Picture nominations this year, a reduction of the nine slots given since the Academy made the ruling that the top prize could hold anywhere from five to ten slots in 2011.  Awards season behemoths Birdman, Boyhood, The Imitation Game and The Grand Budapest Hotel all had a good Oscar morning earning multiple nominations.  American Sniper, Clint Eastwood’s latest did as well earning a Best Picture mention as well as a rather surprising nod for Bradley Cooper’s leading performance in a tight field.  The Best Picture line-up was rounded out by The Theory of Everything, Whiplash and Selma.

Selma, which has in past few weeks been battered and beaten due to claims of historical inaccuracy and lack of guild approval despite near universal critical acclaim, had a bittersweet Oscar showing.  While its Best Picture nomination its, of course, noteworthy, the film was otherwise snubbed in every other category (including directing and acting) except for its Original Song “Glory,” which won the Golden Globe last weekend.  Also rather surprising, Foxcatcher‘s director Bennett Miller scored a Directing nomination despite the film not making the line-up in an expanded Best Picture field – this marks the first time there’s been a lone Directing nomination since the Academy expanded the Best Picture line-up in 2009.

Surprises came all over the place including Marion Cotillard’s mention in the Best Actress category for the foreign film Two Days, One Night, displacing SAG and Golden Globe nominee Jennifer Aniston (Cake) and Golden Globe winner Amy Adams (Big Eyes). Laura Dern also surprised, earning a Supporting Actress mention for Wild over predicted favorites Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year) and Rene Russo (Nightcrawler). Yet, perhaps most surprising of all was snubs of two long-considered favorites – The LEGO Movie, which has earned the majority of the critical prizes in the Animated Feature category failed to get a nomination (it’s catchy song “Everything is Awesome” did get one, however) and Life Itself, the poignant documentary of late film critic Roger Ebert rather shockingly couldn’t make it in the Documentary Feature category.

BEST PICTURE

• American Sniper
• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Selma
• The Theory of Everything
• Whiplash

BEST DIRECTOR

• Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Richard Linklater, Boyhood
• Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
• Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game

BEST ACTOR

• Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
• Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
• Michael Keaton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS

• Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
• Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon, Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Robert Duvall, The Judge
• Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
• Edward Norton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• Laura Dern, Wild
• Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Birdman of (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicola’s Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Armando Bo
• Boyhood – Richard Linklater
• Foxcatcher – E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness
• Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• American Sniper – Jason Hall
• The Imitation Game – Graham Moore
• Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson
• The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten
• Whiplash – Damien Chazelle

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Big Hero 6
• The Boxtrolls
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• Song of the Sea
• The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Citizenfour
• Finding Vivian Maier
• Last Days in Vietnam
• The Salt of the Earth
• Virunga

BEST FOREIGN FILM

• Ida (Poland)
• Leviathan (Russia)
• Tangerines (Estonia)
• Timbuktu (Mauritania)
• Wild Tales (Argentina)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Emmanuel Lubezki
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman
• Ida – Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski
• Mr. Turner – Dick Pope
• Unbroken – Roger Deakins

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero
• Inherent Vice – Mark Bridges
• Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood
• Maleficent – Anna B. Sheppard, Jane Clive
• Mr. Turner – Jacqueline Durran

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
• The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
• Interstellar – Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
• Into the Woods – Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock
• Mr. Turner – Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

BEST FILM EDITING

• American Sniper – Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach
• Boyhood – Sandra Adair
• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
• The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
• Whiplash – Tom Cross

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
• The Imitation Game – Alexandre Desplat
• Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
• Mr. Turner – Gary Yershon
• The Theory of Everything – Jóhann Jóhannsson

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “Everything is Awesome,” The LEGO Movie
• “Glory,” Selma
• “Grateful,” Beyond the Lights
• “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
• “Lost Stars,” Begin Again

BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIRSTYLING

• Foxcatcher
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST SOUND EDITING

• American Sniper
• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Interstellar
• Unbroken

BEST SOUND MIXING

• American Sniper
• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Interstellar
• Unbroken
• Whiplash

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Interstellar
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

• The Bigger Picture
• The Dam Keeper
• Feast
• Me and My Moulton
• A Single Life

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

• Aya
• Boogaloo and Graham
• Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)
• Parvaneh
• The Phone Call

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

• Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
• Joanna
• Our Curse
• The Reaper (La Parka)
• White Earth