Skyfall fails to get top Oscars nods

Skyfall picked up five Academy Award nominations – including Adele for best song – but missed out on the showpiece best film, best director and acting shortlists. BBC movie critic Mark Kermode expressed his disappointment

"I'm a huge fan of Skyfall. It's great to see it with five nominations, but a shame that it is not in some of the bigger profile categories. What does Bond have to do?" he said.

The finalists for the 85th Oscars were revealed by comedy writer Seth MacFarlane, whose creations include Ted and Family Guy, and actress Emma Stone.

Two of the grand dames of British cinema – Helen Mirren and Judi Dench – missed out on nominations, along with young British star Tom Holland, 16, who appears in tsunami drama The Impossible and had been tipped for a best supporting actor nomination.

The list is dominated by Steven Spielberg's civil war drama Lincoln, starring British actor Daniel Day-Lewis, Ang Lee's survival saga Life of Pi, and new musical Les Miserables.

There are also nominations for Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, and Zero Dark Thirty, the story of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden directed by Hurt Locker Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow. Both open in Shropshire this month.

Anna Karenina has four nominations, and British-born actress Naomi Watts is up for her leading role in The Impossible.

Peter Jackson's first chapter of The Hobbit trilogy has three nods for its production design, special effects, and make-up.

The Oscars will be handed out in LA on February 24, two weeks after London hosts the Baftas.

Helen O'Hara of movie magazine Empire said: "The best picture nominees are a respectable and eclectic bunch.

The big, obvious Oscar contenders like Lincoln, Les Miserables, Argo and Zero Dark Thirty are rubbing shoulders with smaller films like Beasts Of The Southern Wild and Amour, with slightly left-field choices like the super-violent Django Unchained and the quirkily romantic Silver Linings Playbook."

The nominations for awards

Best film: Amour, Argo, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Lincoln, Life Of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.

Best actress: Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty; Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook; Emm-anuelle Riva – Amour; Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild; Naomi Watts – The Impossible.

Best actor: Daniel Day- Lewis – Lincoln; Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook; Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables; Joaquin Phoe-nix – The Master; Denzel Washington – Flight.

Best director: Michael Haneke – Amour; Ang Lee – Life of Pi; David O Russell – Silver Linings Playbook; Steven Spielberg – Lincoln; Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Best supporting actor: Alan Arkin – Argo; Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook; Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln; Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained; Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Best supporting actress: Amy Adams – The Master; Sally Field – Lincoln; Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables; Helen Hunt – The Sessions; Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook.

Best foreign film: Amour, No, War Witch, A Royal Affair, Kon-Tiki.

By Shropshire Star film critic Carl Jones