One Day Later, Thoughts on All 24 Oscar Categories: Affleck? Bigelow? 'The Dark Knight Rises'?

On the day Oscar nominations are announced, it's always kind of hard to sift through all the related chatter, especially in the age of Twitter. Now that the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards have had time to sink in, Popculturology breaks down all 24 categories. Yup, all 24 categories, even down to the technicals. Don't worry, though, we'll take even deeper looks at each category over the next few weeks. We know that you have Oscar pools that you want to win.

Head past the jump to get Popculturology's thoughts on the Oscar nominations.

Best Picture
First off, the Academy really couldn't come up with a tenth nominee? Watch how easy this is. Moonrise Kingdom, The Master, Skyfall, The Dark Knight Rises, Looper. Not hard, Academy. The biggest surprise when it comes to the Best Picture nominations was probably the inclusion of Amour. While the Austrian film is pretty much a lock to win Best Foreign Film, not many predicted that it would get Best Picture honors too.

Best Director
If there was one category that drew the most attention on nomination day, it was Best Director. What happened here? The snubbing of Ben Affleck (Argo) and Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) was shocking and very, very hard to justify. Amour snuck in another category, with director Michael Haneke coming out of nowhere for a nomination. Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) had been a dark horse candidate for awhile now, so his inclusion isn't quite the surprise.

Best Actor
I really thought that the luster had worn off The Master, and Joaquin Phoenix would get left out here. It's a shame to see John Hawkes (The Sessions) not get nominated, especially after he seemed to be in the mix for almost a year.

Best Actress
I guess I need to learn how to spell "Quvenzhane Wallis," huh? The Beasts of the Southern Wild lead becomes the youngest nominee in the history of this category, making her the perfect pairing for Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), who becomes the oldest nominee in the history of this category. Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone) got snubbed here.

Best Supporting Actor
Where's the love for Leonardo DiCaprio? I thought Christoph Waltz was good in Django Unchained, but DiCaprio stole the film. I guess the Academy wasn't a fan of the actor's first turn as a villain. (Well, first turn if you don't count the fact that he was the villain in Titanic. C'mon, he stole Rose from her fiancé, got her to let him draw her naked and then had sex with her in someone else's car. Meanwhile poor Billy Zane is just trying to take a trip to America with his fiancé.) Also, I never bought the Matthew McConaughy/Magic Mike movement for an Oscar. Not surprised it didn't happen.

Best Supporting Actress
This one played out pretty much as expected. I thought Ann Dowd (Compliance) might pull an upset nomination, but I guess I didn't get that one right.

Best Original Screenplay
Moonrise Kingdom gets its recognition here. Yay. Looper does not. Boo.

Best Adapted Screenplay
No shockers here. Perks of Being a Wallflower couldn't repeat its Golden Globes nomination feat at the Oscars.

Best Animated Feature
While Rise of the Guardians had no shot at winning Best Animated Feature, I thought it would at least get a nomination. I never heard anything positive about The Pirates! Band of Misfits. Oh well. At least the Academy didn't nominate Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. We don't need those kinds of movies to have any encouragement.

Best Documentary Feature
I'm sorry to admit that I'm not familiar with any of the nominees here. Bully seems to be the big-name film that people thought had a shot.

Best Foreign Language Film
As I mentioned earlier, this one is all Amour's. Just like when Up and Toy Story 3 were the only films in their years nominated for Best Picture along with Best Animated Feature, the lesser award becomes a given. The other four films shouldn't even bother writing speeches. Show up, get drunk in the lobby and enjoy the night.

Best Animated Short Film
If Paperman doesn't win here, I'm going to be pretty disappointed. One of the best animated shorts I've seen in a long time, and it has that classic Disney feel to it, which makes it even better.

Best Documentary Short Subject
Haven't seen any of these. Sorry.

Best Live Action Short Film
Sorry again.

Best Cinematography
There was a time when Anna Karenina was getting talked about for Best Picture. That was many months ago, and now the film is just left with a bunch of technical nominations. Skyfall picks up one of its five nominations here.

Best Costume Design
Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman can now market themselves as "Oscar-nominated films." Let that sink in for a second. Now add to that the fact that The Dark Knight Rises got completely stiffed at the Oscars. Mirror Mirror is a more acclaimed film than The Dark Knight Rises. I don't want to live in a world where that's true.

Best Film Editing
All Best Picture nominees here.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
This category had been considered one that Lincoln could have picked up, which would've added to the film's 12 nominations. Not sure why the Academy only went with three nominees.

Best Original Score
Skyfall was a nice surprise here. Of course, it would have been a nice surprise if Skyfall had been nominated for Best Picture, but this is nice too.

Best Original Song
Oscar host Seth MacFarlane is now Oscar nominated, picking up a nom for Everybody Needs a Best Friend from Ted. Is anyone going to beat Les Miserables' Suddenly here, though?

Best Production Design
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey gets a nomination here, marking a huge fall from The Lord of the Rings trilogy's previous Oscar performances. Peter Jackson fell a bit short of the monster night Return of the King had.

Best Sound Editing
One of Argo's many nominations. Still don't understand why Best Director wasn't one of them.

Best Sound Mixing
Four Best Picture nominees ... and Skyfall. Live a little, Academy.

Best Visual Effects
The Avengers and Prometheus both notch Oscar nominations, giving each one of them one more than The Dark Knight Rises got. Snow White and the Huntsman picked up a second. Can we just give this award to Rise of the Planet of the Apes to make up for last year's snub?