Gary Thompson: Revelations about the Oscar nominations

YESTERDAY'S OSCAR nominations set the stage for an Oscar season marked by arguments that may get incredibly loud, and a race that will be incredibly close.

Right now, Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" is the nominal favorite with 11 nominations, just ahead of the neo-silent movie "The Artist," with 10.

Dig into the actor/actress/writing/directing categories, though, and you'll see a voting body with its collective mind going in a million directions.

There were nine nominations for best picture, and you can usually look for the eventual best-picture winner among the best-director category, where the five nominees are Terrence Malick ("Tree of Life"), Alexander Payne ("The Descendants"), Martin Scorcese "Hugo") and Woody Allen ("Midnight in Paris") and Michael Hazanivicus ("The Artist").

The other best-picture nominees are "War Horse," "Moneyball," "The Help" and - surprise, surprise - "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," which also spun off a startling supporting-actor Oscar nomination for Max Von Sydow. The 9/11 drama has been mostly ignored by other awards groups, and it has also sparked divisive reactions among moviegoers, critics, and relatives of those murdered in the World Trade Center attacks.

Missing from the list, strangely, is "Bridesmaids," which earned a supporting-actress nomination for Melissa McCarthy, and an original-screenplay nomination for Kristen Wiig.

Also missing from the list is another movie the voters liked - "Albert Nobbs," starring Glenn Close (nominated for best actress) as a woman passing for a man in 19th- century London. Also nominated is co-star Janet McTeer.

"My Week With Marilyn" also has support, earning nods for Michelle Williams (best actress) and Kenneth Branagh (best supporting), but didn't turn up on the best-picture list like "Moneyball," a movie that earned a best-actor nod for Brad Pitt, best-supporting actor for Jonah Hill, and adapted screenplay. "The Girl With the Dragan Tattoo" won an adapted- screenplay nom, and Rooney Mara was nominated for best actress, but the movie did not make the best-picture list.

The apparent favorite, "Hugo," is undercut by the fact that it has no actors nominated - it's rare for a movie to win best-picture without them. "The Artist" earned noms for stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, but a silent movie has not won an Oscar since "Wings" in 1927-28.

Surprises? A pleasant, mild surprise that Mexico's Demian Bichir scored a nomination for "A Better Life," and that New Jersey's JC Chandor was nominated for his original "Margin Call" screenplay. Another mild surprise - Nick Nolte getting a supporting-actor nomination for the underrated "Warrior."

I was slightly surprised to see the academy make room for Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" - his stoic, subtle performance is not the kind usually rewarded by Oscar voters. "TTSS" was also nominated in the adapted-screenplay category.

Two relatively obscure animated movies - "A Cat in Paris" (from France) and "Chico and Rita" (from Spain) - were nominated for best animated picture, along with "Rango," Puss in Boots" and "Kung Fu Panda 2." Tough year for Pixar and "Cars 2."

Snubs? I guess I'm the only one who thought Michael Shannon deserved notice for "Take Shelter." Jessica Chastain was about a million times better in "Take Shelter" than she was in "The Help," for which she earned her nomination. Albert Brooks appeared to cede supporting-actor space to Von Sydow, and "The Help" got several nominations, but none for director Tate Taylor.

Michael Fassbender had a great year, but came away empty, and his co-star in "Jane Eyre," Mia Wasikowska, was neglected.

The Academy Awards, hosted this year by Billy Crystal, will be broadcast live on ABC on Feb. 26.