OSCAR NOMINATIONS: BIRDMAN and GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL Lead Nominations; THE LEGO MOVIE Snubbed

The Academy announced its nominations for the 87th Academy Awards on Thursday morning, and all I want to talk about is the snub of The Lego Movie. How does a movie that was the favorite to win Best Animated Feature not even get a nomination? The Lego Movie is the new Ben Affleck.

Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead the pack with nine nominations a piece, each scoring noms for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The Imitation Game is close behind with eight nominations. American Sniper and Boyhood follow with six each, and Theory of Everything and Whiplash each have five. Of the Best Picture nominees, Selma received the least praise, only taking home a second nomination for Best Original Song. No nominations for actor David Oyelowo or director Ava DuVernay.

Beyond Best Animated Feature, the Academy went with eight nominees for Best Picture, once again choosing to not nominate the maximum of ten films. Sadly, Guardians of the Galaxy didn't make the cut. Besides The Lego Movie and the general lack of Selma recognition, the three other snubs I'm seeing that really stand out to me are Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler in Best Actor, Jennifer Aniston for Cake in Best Actress and Gillian Flynn for Gone Girl in Best Adapted Screenplay.

Fun fact: It's actually in the Academy bylaws now that if Meryl Streep is in a movie, she must receive a nomination for her role. Crazy, huh?

The Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 22 on ABC. Neil Patrick Harris hosts.

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

Best Director
Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Alejandro G. Inarritu (Birdman)
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)
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)
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
JK Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Laura Dern (Wild)
Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
Emma Stone (Birdman)
Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)

Best Original Screenplay
Birdman (Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr & Armando Bo)
Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
Foxcatcher (E. Max Frey and 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 Feature
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

Best Foreign Language Film
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales

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

Best Documentary Short Subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth)

Best Live Action Short Film
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)
Parvaneh
The Phone Call

Best Cinematography
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

Best Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

Best Film Editing
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplish

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

Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Alexandre Desplat)
The Imitation Game (Alexandre Desplat)
Interstellar (Hans Zimmer)
The Theory of Everything (Johann Johansson)
Mr. Turner (Gary Yershon)

Best Original Song
"Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie (Music and lyric by Shawn Patterson)
"Glory" from Selma (Music and lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn)
"Grateful" from Beyond the Lights (Music and lyric by Diane Warren)
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell ... I'll Be Me (Music and lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond)
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again (Music and lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Best Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Wood

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

Best Sound Mixing
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken

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