DiCaprio in 'Django Unchained,' Bardem in 'Skyfall' (Photo: Weinstein Company/Columbia Pictures)

Oscar's not feeling the villains this year, at least when it comes to the Best Supporting Actor category.

None of the characters portrayed by this year's nominees for Best Supporting Actor -- Alan Arkin ("Argo"), Robert De Niro ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("The Master"), Tommy Lee Jones ("Lincoln") and Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained") -- qualify as "bad guys." Sure, Lancaster Dodd in "The Master" isn't exactly the most heroic guy on the block, but nor can he be considered the "villain" or even the "antagonist" of his story. There's a distinct lack of wrongdoers nominated this year … and it's certainly not because of slim pickings.

Ugh, here we go again. Kathryn Bigelow has too much class to shoot off a rocket launcher at the Academy, but I'm mad as hell and I'm going to mouth off in her place. AMPAS nominated five men for best director: Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln"), Ang Lee ("Life of Pi"), Michael Haneke ("Amour"), David O. Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook") and Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"). And, then, no Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty." How very dare they?

Today, Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone announced the Academy Awards nominations, and they said “Lincoln’ a buncha times. (Luckily, it’s far easier to pronounce than the name of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" star Quvenzhane Wallis.)

Steven Spielberg’s biopic scored a whopping twelve nominations. That was hard news for those in the “Zero Dark Thirty” camp (5 noms and no kudos for director Kathryn Bigelow).  Best Picture nominee “Argo” didn’t overwhelm either (no love for Ben Affleck as either director or star).

Quvenzhané Wallis during a November 11 interview (Photo: AP Photo/Chris Heller)Nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis has been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her spunky-against-all-odds performance in "Beasts of the Southern Wild," making her the youngest on-film nominee in Oscar history and certainly the youngest of all time in the history of the Best Actress category.

If you haven't seen the fantasy drama in which she stars -- and many of you haven't as it's grossed only $11.2 million -- Wallis plays Hushpuppy, a wildly imaginative young girl living in a poor southern Delta community highly susceptible to dangerous flood waters. Wallis, who was six years old when the film was shot, plays the scrappy young girl with uncanny survival skills in nearly every scene. "Beasts," which is a groundbreaking piece of cinema that nearly defies explanation, is equally fantastical and heart-wrenching.

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in 'Silver Linings Playbook' (Photo: The Weinstein Company)

Does David O. Russell know how to pick his cast or what?

"Silver Linings Playbook," Russell's dark comedy chronicling the budding romance between a recently released mental patient (Bradley Cooper) and an equally troubled young widow (Jennifer Lawrence), scored a total of eight Academy Award nominations. While that number may not be as impressive as the 12 garnered by "Lincoln" or the 11 snagged by "Life of Pi," it takes on considerable Oscar significance when you realize that four of them are for all four acting categories: Best Actor (Cooper), Best Actress (Lawrence), Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Jacki Weaver).

John Williams (Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)Composer John Williams' Oscar nomination for Best Score, for "Lincoln," marks his 48th nomination, second among individual nominees only to Walt Disney.

Williams, at this point in his career, might be the most famous film composer that ever has been, with his long-standing partnership with the legendary (and prolific) Steven Spielberg accounting for much of that fame. His work with Spielberg is not, by any means, all of what Williams has done either, composing iconic themes for film such as "Star Wars," "Superman," and the "Harry Potter" franchise as well.

Photo by Fox Searchlight PicturesThis has been one hell of a year for Benh Zeitlin, director of "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

The first-time director finished his movie a mere two days before its Sundance premiere, where it was immediately met with rhapsodic reviews. Critics hailed it as one of the most audacious movies to play at the festival in years. It went on to win the fest's top prize, and then a few months later it won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival. And today, the movie scored four, count 'em, four Oscar nominations including one for best director and another for best picture.

Emma Stone & Seth MacFarlane announcing 85th Academy Awards Nominations At 5:38 am Pacific time, Seth Macfarlane and Emma Stone announced the 2013 Oscar Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards ceremony to be held on February 24th. That may seem like a lot of numbers, but we’ve got a bunch more for you.