The big gold nominations announced Oscar nominations 2012: Snubs and surprises

The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards have been announced, and, as happens every year, there were a few surprises in the mix – along with some snubs. Here’s a look at some of the biggest surprises:
Many expected silent film ‘The Artist’ to be the top contender when nominations were announced Tuesday, but it was ‘Hugo,’ Martin Scorsese’s 3-D family film that earned the top spot with 11 nods. (‘The Artist’ earned 10.)
‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ was considered a long shot for the best picture category, but now it’s among the nine films up for the Oscars’ highest honor.
Rooney Mara earned a best actress nomination for her role in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,’ bumping Tilda Swinton (‘We Need to Talk about Kevin’) out of the category.
Gary Oldman, fresh off a BAFTA nomination for ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,’ earned his first ever Oscar nomination this year, beating out expected best actor nominee Michael Fassbender (‘Shame’). Also left out of the category: Leonardo DiCaprio, for ‘J. Edgar.’
Another surprise appearance on the best actor list came from Demian Bichir, nominated for his role in ‘A Better Life.’
In the directing category, David Fincher did not get a nomination for ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.’
It was expected that George Clooney would earn a best actor nomination for ‘The Descendants,’ but he’s also nominated in the adapted screenplay category, with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon for ‘The Ides of March.’
Another ‘Descendants’ star was not so lucky – Shailene Woodley earned critical praise (and a Golden Globe nomination) for her performance in the film, but that didn’t translate to an Oscar nod.
‘Bridesmaids’ didn’t make the best picture list, but the comedy still got love from Academy voters – a best supporting actress nod for Melissa McCarthy, and an original screenplay nomination for Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo.
This was not a good year for Steven Spielberg – ‘War Horse’ was nominated in the best picture category, but he was left off the best director list and his ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ was not nominated for best animated film.
Ryan Gosling may be watching from home next month – despite earning praise for roles in ‘Drive’ and ‘The Ides of March,’ he did not receive any nominations.