The snubbiest of the Oscar snubs

The Academy Award is one of the most prestigious awards any filmmaker can receive. As with any exclusive club, not everyone is invited to join. This year, like every other year, some significant people were left out who should have been included on the list of Oscar nominees.

Ben Affleck: Best Director
Not only did he do an exceptional job directing the film “Argo,” but he also starred in and produced it. And a film just does not receive seven Oscar nominations without having an amazing director.

Kathryn Bigelow: Best Director
The Academy needs more lady-director representation, and they know it. Kathryn Bigelow is highly involved in all aspects of her film, and what’s more is that she has been conceptualizing and writing “Zero Dark Thirty” since 2001, rewriting it entirely after the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Quentin Tarantino: Best Director
With one of the most memorable directing styles known in the movie-watching world, you’d think that his critically-acclaimed “Django” would have won him some recognition.

Leonardo DiCaprio: Best Supporting Actor
DiCaprio was pushing forward the most explosive moments of the film “Django Unchained,” and he constructs one of the most seductive villains we’ve seen this year. Maybe he suffers from child star syndrome? Maybe he’s just too attractive? No matter what, we love you, Leo.

Javier Bardem For Best Supporting Actor
Speaking of seductive villains, Bardem, who has been something of a nominee darling, put forward a killer performance for a film that had otherwise lackluster acting.

Keira Knightley For Best Actress
“Anna Karenina” was a breath-taking movie, but as far as Joe Wright films go, this was the first I’ve seen Keira Knightley produce a character that was not Keira Knightley.

“Anna Karenina”: Best Adapted Screenplay
Renowned playwright Tom Stoppard did a beautiful, subversive and editorial adaptation of a very, very long and boring Russian novel. That takes talent.

“Moonrise Kingdom”: Best Picture
Okay, we get it. Wes Anderson will probably never get nominated for Best Director because, well, he directs everything the exact same way. But “Moonrise Kingdom” is without a doubt the best of the best in terms of his aesthetic.

Tom Hooper: Best Director
He was a driving force behind the success of “Les Misérables” and set the film apart from other film musicals by deciding to have the whole cast sing live on set. This was a surprising decision, but singing live allowed the actors more emotional and artistic freedom than prerecording would have.
Some people claim that Hooper was passed over this year at the Oscars because of his win in 2010 for “The King’s Speech.” This year, the Academy should have been considering Hooper’s role in “Les Misérables,” not “The King’s Speech.”