The Academy Award nominations this year has been receiving a deserved amount of chatter. With a committee composed of a majority of older, white, males questions are being raised over nominations. There are snubs left and right, with one so large it is being considered a racial issue. So who really deserves that gold trophy, who deserves to be mentioned, and who deserves to be taken off the list? 

On the light side, The Lego Movie. This movie is still laughing its way to the bank but it is a large oversight by the academy. But these stuffed shirts tend to favor traditional animation from such studios as Disney, Dreamworks, and pixar. The lego movie for sure should have been nominated for best animated picture, and most likely should have won in this category. Everything is (not) awesome Academy, not awesome at all. 

On the dark side Thriller Movies. Gone Girl and Night Crawler have been over looked by the academy. Gone Girl got a nod with a well deserved best actress to Rosamund Pike, but it snubbed for the best adapted screenplay award. Gillian Flynn mastered shrinking her book down, and still making it just as good, possibly even better. Night Crawler's Jake Gyllenhaal was snubbed for his performance as a demented possibly mentally ill man. However, the academy tends to not nominate thrillers or horror movies with the large exception being silence of the lambs winning best picture in 1991. 

On the personal side of things, actress Tilda Swinton and actor Philip Seymour Hoffman were snubbed in a very personal way by the committee. Tilda gave three amazing performances this year in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Snowpiercer, and The only Lovers Left Alive. She proved herself more than worthy of a nomination, if not for best actress, than for best supporting actress. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's performance in A Most Wanted Man was snubbed as well. His snub most definitely came from the circumstances surrounding his death. The academy, very conservative and set in their ways probably did not want to bring this up at the awards.  

The last and most debated snub is over the film Selma. Now this film did get nominated for best picture but the director, Ava Duvernay, was snubbed as she did not receive a deserving nomination. As for actors I firmly believe that an Oscar should follow talent and in the case of David Oyelowo this should have been true. His performance as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was overlooked entirely. Now I think that this was made worse when noted that every actor of actress nominated for an award is caucasian. 

As for movies that should be taken off the list I will start with Unbroken. If you have read the book, you know the movie is left wanting. It was proven by critics and film goers alike, who can not get through Angelina Jolie's attempt at ruining another great story. Lastly The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, we get it already the ring is precious and your on an epic journey with fight scenes. Asides from this franchise dragging out the tale (until it is stretched about as thin as paper), the movie isn't that good. Someone who hasn't seen the ones before it or someone who hasn't read the books would not be able to understand the plot. A movie should be able to stand alone and up for itself. 

Ah showbiz, it's magical and ready to transport you to a different life. Its sad when politics, racism, and general grumpiness get in the way of true talent. But the true voters on the Oscars are the people who watch them because the audience has the final say over the film industry. So keep crunching the popcorn and sipping your pop and as Annie said it Best "Let's go to the movies".