The 2013 Oscar nominations are finally in, and while there were plenty of the expected contenders, this year sees a few surprise nominations as well. Let’s get into it and look at what we can expect at in this year’s major categories:

Best Picture

• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

Best Picture almost always ends up being a close race between two or three films, and this year, it will probably come down to ‘Lincoln’, ‘Les Miserables’, and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’. ‘Lincoln’ is looking like the strongest of the three, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be an upset, especially considering the surprise nomination of ‘Django’.

Best Director

• Michael Haneke, ‘Amour’
• Benh Zeitlin, ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’
• Ang Lee, ‘Life of Pi’
• Steven Spielberg, ‘Lincoln’
• David O. Russell, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’

I’m going to guess that Spielberg has the strongest change in this race, but really it’s wide open. Shockingly, Kathryn Bigelow (‘Zero Dark Thirty’), Benn Affleck (‘Argo’), and Tom Hooper (‘Les Miserables’) were all snubbed of a nomination, which changes the playing field a bit.

Best Actor

• Bradley Cooper, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
• Daniel Day-Lewis, ‘Lincoln’
• Hugh Jackman, ‘Les Miserables’
• Joaquin Phoenix, ‘The Master’
• Denzel Washington, ‘Flight’

Daniel Day-Lewis is almost certainly a lock for his portrayal of Honest Abe—ironic, considering he initially declined to take the role!

Best Actress

• Jessica Chastain, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
• Jennifer Lawrence, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
• Emmanuelle Riva, ‘Amour’
• Quvenzhane Wallis, ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’
• Naomi Watts, ‘The Impossible’

Jessica Chastain rocketed out of nowhere to become the hottest actress in recent memory, but can she keep her streak going with the controversial ‘Zero Dark Thirty’? I think her strongest competition will come from Jennifer Lawrence, but otherwise, she has the best shot of any of them.

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, ‘Argo’
• Robert De Niro, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, ‘The Master’
• Tommy Lee Jones, ‘Lincoln’
• Christoph Waltz, ‘Django Unchained’

My money is on Waltz, who stole every scene of ‘Django’, but it is possible Philip Seymour Hoffman or Tommy Lee Jones could also steal this award.

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams, ‘The Master’
• Sally Field, ‘Lincoln’
• Anne Hathaway, ‘Les Miserables’
• Helen Hunt, ‘The Sessions’
• Jacki Weaver, ‘The Silver Linings Playbook’

All signs point to Hathaway winning for her portrayal of the prostitute Fantine in ‘Les Mis’, but I have a feeling Sally Field could pull a surprise win.

Best Animated Film

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• ParaNorman
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits
• Wreck-It Ralph

‘Brave’ was the most popular of these films this year and will probably lock down this category without trouble.

Best Original Screenplay

• Amour (Michael Haneke)
• Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)
• Flight (John Gatins)
• Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola)
• Zero Dark Thirty (Mark Boal)

I would love to see ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ or ‘Django Unchained’ take this prize. Honestly, though, it’s going to be a tight race between the five contenders. May the best screenplay win.

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Argo(Chris Terrio)
• Beasts of the Southern Wild (Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin)
• Life of Pi (David Magee)
• Lincoln (Tony Kushner)
• Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell)

There’s a lot of pull for ‘Lincoln’ across all categories, but it’s very possible ‘Life of Pi’ could sneak up and take this award.

Across the rest of the categories, the nominations are:

Best Cinematography

• Anna Karenina  (Seamus McGarvey)
• Django Unchained  (Robert Richardson)
• Life of Pi  (Claudio Miranda)
• Lincoln  (Janusz Kaminski)
• Skyfall  (Roger Deakins)

Best Costume Design

• Anna Karenina  (Jacqueline Durran)
• Les Misérables  (Paco Delgado)
• Lincoln  (Joanna Johnston)
• Mirror Mirror  (Eiko Ishioka)
• Snow White and the Huntsman  (Colleen Atwood)

Best Documentary Feature

• 5 Broken Cameras
• The Gatekeepers
• How to Survive a Plague
• The Invisible War
• Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short

• Inocente
• Kings Point
• Mondays at Racine
• Open Heart
• Redemption

Best Film Editing

• Argo  (William Goldenberg)
• Life of Pi  (Tim Squyres)
• Lincoln  (Michael Kahn)
• Silver Linings Playbook  (Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers)
• Zero Dark Thirty  (Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg)

Best Foreign Language Film

• Amour  (Austria)
• Kon-Tiki  (Norway)
• No  (Chile)
• A Royal Affair  (Denmark)
• War Witch  (Canada)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• Hitchcock  (Howard Berger  Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel)
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey  (Peter Swords King  Rick Findlater and Tami Lane)
• Les Misérables  (Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell)

Best Original Score

• Anna Karenina  (Dario Marianelli)
• Argo  (Alexandre Desplat)
• Life of Pi  (Mychael Danna)
• Lincoln  (John Williams)
• Skyfall  (Thomas Newman)

Best Original Song

• “Before My Time” from ‘Chasing Ice’  (music and lyric by J. Ralph)
• “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from ‘Ted’  (music by Walter Murphy; lyric by Seth MacFarlane)
• “Pi’s Lullaby” from ‘Life of Pi’  (music by Mychael Danna; lyric by Bombay Jayashri)
• “Skyfall” from ‘Skyfall’  (music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth)
• “Suddenly” from ‘Les Misérables’  (music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil)

Best Production Design

• Anna Karenina   (Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey  (Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright)
• Les Misérables  (Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson)
• Life of Pi  (Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock)
• Lincoln  (Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson)

Best Animated Short

• Adam and Dog
• Fresh Guacamole
• Head over Heels
• Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
• Paperman

Best Live Action Short

• Asad
• Buzkashi Boys
• Curfew
• Death of a Shadow
• Henry

Best Sound Editing

• Argo  (Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn)
• Django Unchained  (Wylie Stateman)
• Life of Pi  (Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton)
• Skyfall  (Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers)
• Zero Dark Thirty  (Paul N.J. Ottosson)

Best Sound Mixing

• Argo  (John Reitz  Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia)
• Les Misérables  (Andy Nelson  Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes)
• Life of Pi  (Ron Bartlett  D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin)
• Lincoln  (Andy Nelson  Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins)
• Skyfall  (Scott Millan  Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson)

Best Visual Effects

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey  (Joe Letteri  Eric Saindon  David Clayton and R. Christopher White)
• Life of Pi  (Bill Westenhofer  Guillaume Rocheron  Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott)
• The Avengers  (Janek Sirrs  Jeff White  Guy Williams and Dan Sudick)
• Prometheus  (Richard Stammers  Trevor Wood  Charley Henley and Martin Hill)
• Snow White and the Huntsman  (Cedric Nicolas-Troyan  Philip Brennan  Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson)