Once again it’s that time when Hollywood come out and slap the back of those who did some good in the cinema for that year. Announced this morning (1.30pm our time) by Oscar host Seth MacFarlane and actress Emma Stone, the short yet surprisingly funny nomination ceremony gave us the usual surprise twists and turns, as we shifted through who could win what and who was snubbed.

Steven Spielberg’s epic tale of one of America’s greatest Presidents, Lincoln, walked away with the most nominations with 12. Need I mention Spielberg’s The Color Purple here? (11 nominations and not a single win).  Included in that list is Daniel Day Lewis in the best actor category. Could this be win number three?

Ang Lee’s beautiful and magical The Life Of Pi comes next with 11 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. If it wins Best picture, it will be the first 3D film to do so.

The surprise with a huge 8 nominations is Silver Linings Playbook. This likeable romantic comedy is the first film in years to have nominations in all four acting categories: Best Actor for Bradley Cooper, Best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence, Best Supporting actor and actress for Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver, as well as best pitcure, best director and adapted screenplay.

Other big nominated films included Les Miserables, Zero Down Thirty (although no best director nomination for Kathryn Bigalow. Maybe the Academy thought she’s got one already, why be greedy?) and Argo, again no director or actor nod for Ben Affleck but one for Alan Arkin and best picture.

The Oscars also have the oldest and youngest nominees in the best actress category for Emmanuelle Riva in Amour, at 85 while at 9,  Quvenzhane Wallis could win for Beasts of the Southern Wild.

No nominations for Oscar hopefuls Hitchcock (though after Anthony Hopkins’ recent attack at the Academy, who is the least bit surprised) and Skyfall missed out of the majors, getting technical nods and a best song nomination.

The full list is below and the ceremony is on February 24th. I will be publishing my predictions in a few weeks time. It’s going to be a tough one this year.

Best film

• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts Of The Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Lincoln
• Life Of Pi
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

Best actress

• Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
• Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
• Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
• Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Naomi Watts – The Impossible

Best actor

• Daniel Day Lewis – Lincoln
• Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
• Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
• Denzel Washington – Flight

Best director

• Michael Haneke – Amour
• Ang Lee – Life of Pi
• David O Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
• Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
• Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best supporting actor

• Alan Arkin – Argo
• Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
• Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Best supporting actress

• Amy Adams – The Master
• Sally Field – Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
• Helen Hunt – The Sessions
• Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Best foreign film

• Amour
• No
• War witch
• A Royal Affair
• Kon-Tiki

Best animated film

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• Paranorman
• Pirates! Band of Misfits (UK title: Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists)
• Wreck-it Ralph

Best documentary film

• 5 Broken Cameras
• The Gatekeepers
• How To Survive A Plague
• The Invisible War
• Searching For Sugarman

Music (original song)

• Before My Time (Chasing Ice) – Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
• Everybody Needs A Best Friend (Ted) – Music by Walter Murphy, Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
• Pi’s lullaby (Life Of Pi) – Music by Mychael Danna, Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
• Skyfall (Skyfall) – Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
• Suddenly (Les Miserables) – Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Music (original score)

• Anna Karenina – Dario Marianelli
• Argo – Alexandre Desplat
• Life Of Pi – Mychael Danna
• Lincoln – John Williams
• Skyfall – Thomas Newman

Adapted screenplay

• Argo – Chris Terrio
• Beasts Of The Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
• Life Of Pi – David Magee
• Lincoln – Tony Kushner
• Silver Linings Playbook – David O Russell

Original screenplay

• Amour – Michael Haneke
• Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino
• Flight – John Gatins
• Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
• Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal

Cinematography

• Anna Karenina – Seamus McGarvey
• Django Unchained – Robert Richardson
• Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
• Lincoln – Janusz Kaminski
• Skyfall – Roger Deakins

Costume Design

• Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
• Les Miserables – Paco Delgado
• Lincoln – Joanna Johnston
• Mirror Mirror – Eiko Ishioka
• Snow White and the Huntsman – Colleen Atwood

Best documentary short subject

• Inocente
• Kings Point
• Mondays at Racine
• Open Heart
• Redemption

Film editing

• Argo – William Goldenberg
• Life of Pi – Tim Squyres
• Lincoln – Michael Kahn
• Silver Linings Playbook – Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
• Zero Dark Thirty – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Make-up and Hairstyling

• Hitchcock – Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
• Les Miserables – Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Production Design

• Anna Karenina – Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
• Les Miserables – Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson
• Life Of Pi – David Gropman and Anna Pinnock
• Lincoln – Rick Carter and Jim Erickson

Short film (animated)

• Adam and the Dog
• Fresh Guacamole
• Head Over Heels
• Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare
• Paperman

Short film (live action)

• Asad
• Buzkashi Boys
• Curfew
• Death of a Shadow (Dood Van Een Schaduw)
• Henry

Sound editing

• Argo – Erik Aadahl and Ethan van der Ryn
• Django Unchained – Wylie Stateman
• Life Of Pi – Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
• Skyfall – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
• Zero Dark Thirty – Paul NJ Ottosson

Sound mixing

• Argo – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
• Les Miserables – Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
• Life Of Pi – Ron Bartlett, DM Hemphill and Drew Kunin
• Lincoln – Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
• Skyfall – Scott Millan, Greg P Russell and Stuart Wilson

Visual effects

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R Christopher White
• Life Of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R Elliott
• Marvel’s The Avengers (UK title: Marvel’s Avengers Assemble) – Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
• Prometheus – Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
• Snow White and the Huntsman – Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson