Recently, the Academy released its official list of Academy Award nominations, honoring the most remarkable achievements in film from the past year. For those following the awards season buzz and keeping track of the likely candidates, most of this list won't come as a surprise. But while, sure, the Academy didn't exactly nominate "Boss Baby" for Best Picture or anything (a snub if I've ever seen one), it did hedge its bets in a lot of areas. From surprising wild cards to noteworthy absences, the 2018 Oscar nominations prove a lot more about the politically charged climate of the film industry than just about what movies were the most well-received.

Now, without further ado, here's a list of five noteworthy things the Oscar nominations say about the state of the film industry:

1. Hollywood won't miss Kevin Spacey.

In case you didn't follow this story when it broke in October, acclaimed actor Kevin Spacey (of "House of Cards" fame) was accused of some serious actions of sexual misconduct by a number of different young men working in the industry. Spacey eventually addressed the issue, denying the allegations but also apologizing for whatever drunken act he might have committed when he was younger. He then took the opportunity to go public about his own sexuality, an act most recognize as an attempt to draw attention away from the accusations.

This wasn't enough, however, to keep him from getting booted from his projects and seemingly kicked out of Hollywood altogether. "All The Money In The World", a film he'd worked on directed by Ridley Scott, recently underwent extensive reshoots that completely replaced Spacey's character with another actor, Christopher Plummer.

The Oscar part of this story stems from Plummer's inclusion in the Best Supporting Actor category for a performance that pretty much everyone acknowledges was "just okay." Typically "just okay" acting doesn't get much attention from the Academy Awards, so the leading theory is that Plummer's nomination was some kind of political statement from the Academy. Either the voters of the Academy are subconsciously overvaluating Plummer's achievement by tying it to the positivity of the Time's Up movement, or they purposefully gave him the nomination to publicly position themselves against people like Kevin Spacey, who are the targets of a major witchhunt right now.

2. Sexual assault claims continue to pervade Hollywood.

Another target of this crazy witchhunt is James Franco, who was only recently accused by several women of sexually inappropriate behavior. Though it's still a developing story, it seems it might've already started to majorly affect the future of Franco's career.

His performance as Tommy Wiseau in "The Disaster Artist" was considered a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, especially after it earned him a Golden Globe. Many industry journalists speculate, however, that the allegations against Franco ultimately are what swayed the voters away from handing him a nomination. There's really no way to tell whether Franco's absence is simply because it wasn't as well-received by the Academy as expected or because the Academy wanted to avoid negative attention by praising an alleged sexual assaulter.

3. Female directors are finally getting recognized.

First off, if you haven't seen Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird", you definitely should. The film's been praised by just about every critic for its accurate yet engaging portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship and for showcasing some brilliant performances. When the time came for the Golden Globes, one of the most noteworthy absences of the evening was Gerwig's nomination for Best Director, which was instead replaced by a male-dominated list of nominees. You might've seen this moment covered in the news after Natalie Portman addressed the issue right onstage, presenting the award by frustratingly uttering "And here are the all-male nominees."

The Academy seems to have learned a lesson from the Golden Globes, not only giving "Lady Bird" plenty of spots in other award categories but also finally nominating Gerwig for Best Director. In the past, only four other female directors have been nominated for the category, with only one winning the Oscar back in 2009. Clearly there's a disparity between the number of women and men being honored for excellence within the film industry, but at least this nomination serves as a sign that all this controversy over gender differences might finally be leading to some progress. And who better to prove the worth of creative female minds than this extremely gifted filmmaker?

4. Netflix films are finally considered legit.

With streaming platforms like Hulu and Netflix exploding in popularity in recent years, there's been a lot of discussion in the film community about how they could prove detrimental to the theater-going experience by essentially making theaters obsolete. The push-back against movies made for streaming has mainly come in the form of awards exclusion. Despite there being plenty of quality films released onto Netflix, the Oscars have not been kind to these movies in the past simply because they represent the idea that "new media" and technological breakthrough is on the rise, leaving the old to rot.

While these concerns aren't totally unfounded, it's still satisfying and refreshing to see the Netflix original "Mudbound" get nominated in a handful of important categories. While it might not have the exclusivity of independent films opening in limited theaters, the movie is, by all means, excellent and undoubtedly deserves to receive the recognition it got. It's also pretty exciting that there's a new wave coming of great films immediately available in the comfort of our own homes.

5. Unconventional movies are being honored, too.

A film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring the likes of Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep should be considered an obvious contender for some major awards recognition, especially considering the fact that the three are critical darlings and can do no wrong in the eyes of the Academy.

Despite its near-perfect recipe for acclaim, however, Steven Spielberg's "The Post" did not dominate the Oscar nomination list nearly as much as fans or journalists speculated. Sure, getting nominated for Best Picture and having Meryl Streep receive her 21st Oscar nomination are great accomplishments, but they pale in comparison to the other films this year that came close to breaking records in nominations like "The Shape of Water" and "Get Out".

It might seem crazy that a horror flick about modern racism and a monster-movie fairy tale would sweep the nomination pool more than a Steven Spielberg drama, but it goes to show how much the film landscape has changed in recent years. As audiences have grown accustomed to accepting new and unconventional ideas (along with ditching some old ones), it seems the Academy's shifted its focus to reflect exactly that. New types of films are being made around boldly creative ideas by unheard voices, and it's about time these endeavors be honored in a major way.