(Pre-)Academy Awards 2014

It's a small snub icosicosidodecahedron. Get it? Keyword: "snub."

Before the predictions and the score tally, here is my preliminary list of snubs that were ignored in this year's Oscar nominations:

"Blackfish" (an amazingly influential and important documentary like this should not have been overlooked - is Anheuser-Busch a corporate sponsor of these awards or something?)
Robert Redford and "All Is Lost" (that was a true lesson in acting grit, even with almost no dialogue and no co-stars)
"Fruitvale Station"
"Lee Daniels' The Butler"
Emma Thompson in "Saving Mr. Banks" (maybe even "Tam Honks" and Colin Farrell)
"Bridegroom" (if this played in any L.A./N.Y. theaters before cable/satellite/streaming)
"Inside Llewyn Davis" especially Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan
Tom Hanks in "Captain Phillips"
Joaquin Phoenix in "Her"
"Monsters University"
"Prisoners"
"Blue Jasmine"
Spike Jonze
Paul Greengrass
Will Forte in "Nebraska"
Sarah Polley and "Stories We Tell"
"Before Midnight" (doesn't every great trilogy's final film automatically get nominated, or does that rule only apply to sci-fi and fantasy movies?)

Finally, my judgement on most over-hyped: "American Hustle." In terms of its recent wins at the Golden Globes, I did not find it to be a great drama (could have been a made-for-cable movie), and it was definitely not a comedy or musical. It was a really well designed, but I thought mostly emotionally flat, ensemble drama. Yes, it got the period correct, and there were some funny moments, but that's not enough to make it what I want the movies of 2013 to be remembered for.

Now on to the ballot guessing game...