Birdman, Budapest Hotel lead the 05 Oscar nominations; the Lego Movie snubbed

Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead this year's pack of Oscar contenders, nabbing nine nods a piece at yesterday's nominations announcement in Los Angeles.

The two comedies will contend with The Imitation Game (eight nominations) and frontrunner Boyhood (six nominations) in the Best Picture competition.

Also nominated for the top prize: The Theory of Everything, American Sniper, Whiplash and Selma.

If there's any controversy about the batch of nominees and there always is it concerns the relative snubbing of Selma, which only managed one other nomination, for Best Song.

By denying Selma s star David Oyelowo a nomination, the Academy ensured this would be the first ceremony in 20 years without a person of colour in any of the acting categories.

Its helmer, Ava DuVarney, would have been the first black woman to nab a Best Director nomination, but her spot was instead handed over to Bennett Miller, whose Foxcatcher was nonetheless left out of the Best Picture race.

Miller will instead go up against Boyhood s Richard Linklater, Birdman s Alejandro Gonz lez I rritu, The Grand Budapest Hotel s Wes Anderson and The Imitation Game s Morten Tyldum.

Other major snubs include the near-shutout of Gone Girl and the curious exclusion of The Lego Movie from the Best Animated Feature competition and Life Itself from Best Documentary.

2015 will be the first year since 1999 that no women are nominated in the screenwriting categories. There'll be many winners at the coming Academy Awards, but diversity is not one of them.

But it's not all bad news: this writer's favourite film of the past year, The Grand Budapest Hotel, managed to become the earliest-in-the-year release since The Silence of the Lambs back in 1991 to receive a Best Picture nod. So much for the long-held belief that contenders need to be unveiled in the last few months of the year.

Neil Patrick Harris will host the 87th Academy Awards on February 22, 2015.

Best Picture

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

Best Director

Alejandro Gonz lez I rritu, Birdman

Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

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

J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Laura Dern, Wild

Emma Stone, Birdman

Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game

Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best Adapted Screenplay

Jason Hall, American Sniper

Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice

Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything

Damien Chazelle, Whiplash

Best Original Screenplay

Alejandro Gonz lez I rritu, Nicol s Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman

Richard Linklater, Boyhood

E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher

Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

Best Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman

Robert D. Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski, Ida

Dick Pope, Mr. Turner

Roger Deakins, Unbroken

Best Animated Feature Film

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 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

Whiplash

Best Music - Original Score

Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game

Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner

J hann J hannsson, The Theory of Everything

Best Music 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 Makeup and Hairstyling

Foxcatcher

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Production Design

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Interstellar

Into the Woods,

Mr. Turner

Best Sound Editing

American Sniper

Birdman

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Interstellar

Unbroken

Best Sound Mixing

American Sniper

Birdman

Interstellar

Unbroken

Whiplash

Best Visual Effects

Captain America: Winter Soldier

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Guardians of the Galaxy

Interstellar

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Documentary Short Subject

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

Joanna

Our Curse

The Reaper

White Earth

Best Short Film - Animated

The Bigger Picture

The Dam Keeper

Feast

Me and My Moulton

A Single Life

Best Short Film - Live Action

Aya

Boogaloo and Graham

Butter Lamp

Parvaneh

The Phone Call

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