Random Thoughts - "Shall we give it to him, folks?"

"Yeah! Let's give it to him!"

- Only seen two nominees for Best Picture...three by tomorrow.

- Despite my hopes, The Grand Budapest Hotel received a Best Picture nomination, but not a nod for Ralph Fiennes. Whatever my misgivings about the film, he was incredible.

- Nothing for Chadwick Boseman's terrific turn in Get On Up (or the movie, for that matter). Pretty much what I said above: flawed as hell movie with a whirlwind performance at the center.

- The Lego Movie was shut out of Best Animated Feature. I'm rather cool with this. A good movie, but not quite the masterpiece that people hold it up to be. I was shocked, however, to find that the three best animated features I saw last year made the cut.

- Alexandre Desplat receiving two nominations for Original Score: The Grand Budapest Hotel (very deserving) and The Imitation Game (local release schedules of arthouse movies being what they are, I'm struggling to play catch-up, but I'm sure it's amazing).

- Absolutely nothing for The Drop. At the least, one would assume a tributary nod for James Gandolfini.

- Maleficent snuck in with a Costume Design nod.

- Despite the fact that I'm a fan of its composer, I'm disappointed that "Everything is Awesome" earned an Oscar nomination. It's hardly one of the best movie songs of the year. (I honestly liked Rio 2's "Poisonous Love", A Million Ways to Die in the West's "A Million Ways to Die" and Muppets Most Wanted's "I'll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)" much more.) Hell, it's not even the best song in that movie! (Darkness! No parents!)

- Unbroken, which seemed to have Oscar sweep written all over it, was reduced to a few technical nods. (The most important was cinematography and that's all I'll say.)

- Nothing for St. Vincent and yes, before anyone says anything, it did seem to be begging for consideration, but good acting is good acting. In particular, a nomination for Melissa McCarthy would've been a boon for her career. At this point, recognition for playing a normal person can only be a good thing.

- First time nominations for Patricia Arquette, Steve Carell, Benedict Cumberbatch, Felicity Jones, Michael Keaton, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Redmayne, J.K. Simmons and Emma Stone.

- Bradley Cooper nominated for an acting award for the third-straight year. Is that a record?

- Longtime Wes Anderson cinematographer Robert Yeoman scores his first nomination. A long way from shooting the likes of Dead Heat and The Wizard.

- Nothing for Big Eyes, The Fault in Our Stars, The Gambler or Kill the Messenger, either. Huh.

- Something I only just now figured out: Bruce Banner was nominated twice for Best Supporting Actor this year. How do you like that?