And the Nominees Are...

Surprise was the key word at this morning's Academy Award nomination announcements. As expected, Steven Spielberg's Lincoln led the nominations with 12, but the films that were once considered its biggest competition - Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, and Les Miserables failed to garner Best Director nominations, an almost essential piece of the Best Picture puzzle. Does that mean Lincoln is now undisputed? Or does the wide ranging love for Silver Linings Playbook indicate it's a bigger threat than we once thought?

I'm most thrilled for the love for Michael Haneke's Amour, which picked up nods for Best Picture, Director, Actress, Screenplay, and Foreign Language Film. I would have loved to see The Painting get nominated for Best Animated Feature, but a surprise nod for The Pirates! Band of Misfits shut it out. I was also disappointed that Howard Shore's score for The Hobbit didn't get the recognition it so richly deserves, although he's already won three Oscars for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The bottom line is that the Academy through a lot of people for a loop, and several "locks" found themselves not nominated. So what surprises do they have in store when it comes to the winners? Is Lincoln as safe as we think? Is Silver Linings Playbook this year's Shakespeare in Love? This could still end up being one of the most exciting races in Oscar history.

Here is the full list of nominations:

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
• Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
• Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables"
• Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
• Denzel Washington in "Flight"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

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

Performance by an actress in a leading role

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

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in "The Master"
• Sally Field in "Lincoln"
• Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables"
• Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
• Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best animated feature film of the year

• "Brave" Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
• "Frankenweenie" Tim Burton
• "ParaNorman" Sam Fell and Chris Butler
• "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" Peter Lord
• "Wreck-It Ralph" Rich Moore

Achievement in cinematography

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

Achievement in costume design

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

Achievement in directing

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

Best documentary feature

• "5 Broken Cameras" Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
• "The Gatekeepers"
  Nominees to be determined
• "How to Survive a Plague"
  Nominees to be determined
• "The Invisible War"
  Nominees to be determined
• "Searching for Sugar Man"
  Nominees to be determined

Best documentary short subject

• "Inocente"
  Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
• "Kings Point"
  Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
• "Mondays at Racine" Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
• "Open Heart"
  Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
• "Redemption"
  Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Achievement in 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

Best foreign language film of the year

• "Amour" Austria
• "Kon-Tiki" Norway
• "No" Chile
• "A Royal Affair" Denmark
• "War Witch" Canada

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

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

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

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

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
  Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
• "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
  Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
• "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
  Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
• "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
  Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
• "Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
  Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best motion picture of the year

• "Amour" Nominees to be determined
• "Argo" Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
• "Django Unchained" Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
• "Les Misérables" Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
• "Life of Pi" Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
• "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
• "Silver Linings Playbook" Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Achievement in production design

• "Anna Karenina"
  Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
  Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
• "Les Misérables"
  Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
• "Life of Pi"
  Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
• "Lincoln"
  Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best animated short film

• "Adam and Dog" Minkyu Lee
• "Fresh Guacamole" PES
• "Head over Heels" Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
• "Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"" David Silverman
• "Paperman" John Kahrs

Best live action short film

• "Asad" Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
• "Buzkashi Boys" Sam French and Ariel Nasr
• "Curfew" Shawn Christensen
• "Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)" Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
• "Henry" Yan England

Achievement in 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 N.J. Ottosson

Achievement in sound mixing

• "Argo"
  John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
• "Les Misérables"
  Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
• "Life of Pi"
  Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
• "Lincoln"
  Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
• "Skyfall" Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in 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"
  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

Adapted screenplay

• "Argo" Screenplay by Chris Terrio
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
• "Life of Pi" Screenplay by David Magee
• "Lincoln" Screenplay by Tony Kushner
• "Silver Linings Playbook" Screenplay by David O. Russell

Original screenplay

• "Amour" Written by Michael Haneke
• "Django Unchained" Written by Quentin Tarantino
• "Flight" Written by John Gatins
• "Moonrise Kingdom" Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
• "Zero Dark Thirty" Written by Mark Boal

The winners will be announced at the 85 Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 25.