The nominations for the 2017 Academy Awards have now been announced and as expected it was very good news for La La Land. The musical tied the all-time record for most Oscar nominations with a massive 14 nods.

The only other films to garner as many nominations are All About Eve and Titanic. While All About Eve ultimately won six Oscars, Titanic took home 11 – equalling the record set by Ben Hur and later matched by Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Bookies think La La Land could win more than 11. We’ll see. This isn’t about La La Land, it’s about the other Oscar contenders that were surprisingly overlooked and some of the shocking inclusions. Here's my view...

Snub: Amy Adams in Arrival

With so many worthy contenders, Best Actress was always going to be a bloodbath, but it seemed certain one of the entries would be Amy Adams for her brilliantly understated performance in Arrival. But no. She was better than Emma Stone in La La Land, better than Natalie Portman in Jackie and certainly better than Meryl Streep in the mind-numbing Florence Foster Jenkins. Amy Adams wasn’t just Arrival’s emotional core, but she was the film’s internal dynamo – leaving her out was a big mistake.

Surprise: Suicide Squad

“Oscar nominee, Suicide Squad”. It doesn’t sound right, does it? Nor should it. Suicide Squad won a nomination for Best Hair and Make-up, despite doing nothing more than Doctor Who manages week-in, week-out.

Snub: Silence

Religious drama Silence was a critical smash, with a great story, gripping performances and powerful direction. Yes, the box office takings weren’t great, but that doesn’t matter too much with cerebral films like this when it comes to awards. However, the film has repeatedly struggled to land key nominations at various awards, not winning nods from the Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, and many more. Perhaps it was hurt by its late release date, or perhaps it wasn’t what the academy was looking for this year, but in the end, Silence received just one nomination, for its cinematography. And while it looks stunning, the movie surely deserves better.

Surprise: Amazon makes history

At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Amazon paid $10m for Manchester By The Sea.

The investment paid off. The film is not only a critical smash, but (more importantly in the PR war), it means Amazon has beaten Netflix - its biggest competitor – in becoming the first streaming video firm to earn a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, in addition to nods for Best Actor (Casey Affleck), Best Supporting Actor (Lucas Hedges), Best Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

Snub: Deadpool

One of the reasons the Best Picture category was expanded was to give space for more populist films. The academy has apparently forgotten about that rationale, as it has completely overlooked the very, very good Deadpool. Evidently, a foul-mouthed comic book movie is beyond the pale for the high-brow Oscar crowd.

Surprise: Sully

Is this another snub? Maybe, but I’m putting it down as a surprise because I’m *surprised* that Sully got no attention other than a single nomination for Sound Editing. It was a big hit, Tom Hanks was at his absolute best, Clint Eastwood’s pacy direction showed how complicated stories can be told with the minimum of fuss and the time-hopping screenplay was a revelation. What went wrong? Perhaps it just wasn’t made for these times. Sully felt like an old-fashioned sort of a film, in a year when films tackling race, gender and economics are on-trend.