BEVERLY HILLS—At long last, the biggest accolade in the entertainment industry is up for grabs: the Academy Award or as many of us call it Oscar. The contenders for the 2018 Academy Awards were announced bright and early on Tuesday, January 23. The nominees were revealed by “Girls Trip” star Tiffany Haddish and “War for the Planet of the Apes” star Andy Serkis from the famed Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.

Leading all contenders was the film “The Shape of Water” which picked up a total of 13 nominations including Best Picture. Followed close behind were the films “Dunkirk” with 8 nominations and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” with 7 nominations.

Oh, just as I expected (and I love it), Oscar delivered plenty of surprises for an awards season that has been slightly predictable in my opinion. For those that made the cut, there were so many others who were snubbed and over looked. That’s the thing about Oscar; this exclusive membership plays by its own rules and those rules keep people on their toes, love it or hate it.

Let’s talk about some of the biggest surprises, Lesley Manville getting a Supporting Actress nod, um, James Franco missing from Best Actor race, Christopher Plummer earning a Best Supporting Actor nod. However, the biggest wow is that Martin McDonagh not receiving a nod for Best Director for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” That had to be the biggest stunner of all for me considering it’s considered a front-runner right now.  Phenomenal news to see Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele earn nominations for Best Director.

A full list of this year’s nominees can be viewed below:

Best Picture

-“The Shape of Water”

-“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

-“Lady Bird”

-“Dunkirk”

-“Call Me By Your Name”

-“Darkest Hour”

-“Get Out”

-“Phantom Thread”

-“The Post”

Best Director

-Guillermo del Toro “The Shape of Water”

-Christopher Nolan “Dunkirk”

-Paul Thomas Anderson “Phantom Thread”

-Greta Gerwig “Lady Bird”

-Jordan Peele “Get Out”

Best Actor

-Gary Oldman “Darkest Hour”

-Timothee Chalamet “Call Me By Your Name”

-Daniel Day-Lewis “Phantom Thread”

-Daniel Kaluuya “Get Out”

-Denzel Washington “Roman J. Israel Esq.”

Best Actress

-Frances McDormand “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

-Margot Robbie “I, Tonya”

-Sally Hawkins “The Shape of Water”

-Saoirse Ronan “Lady Bird”

-Meryl Streep “The Post”

Both Woody Harrelson and Frances McDormand earned Oscar nods for their performances in the film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

Best Supporting Actor

-Sam Rockwell “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

-William Dafoe “The Florida Project”

-Woody Harrelson “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

-Richard Jenkins “The Shape of Water”

-Christopher Plummer “All the Money in the World”

Best Supporting Actress

-Allison Janney “I, Tonya”

-Laurie Metcalf “Lady Bird”

-Octavia Spencer “The Shape of Water”

-Mary J. Blige “Mudbound”

-Lesley Manville “Phantom Thread”

Best Original Screenplay

-Greta Gerwig “Lady Bird”

-Jordan Peele “Get Out”

-Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor “The Shape of Water”

-Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon for “The Big Sick”

-Martin McDonagh “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Best Adapted Screenplay

-Scott Neustader and Michael H. Webber for “The Disaster Artist”

-Aaron Sorkin for “Molly’s Game”

-James Ivory for “Call Me By Your Name”

-Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael Green for “Logan”

-Virgil Williams and Dee Rees for “Mudbound”

Best Animated Film

-“Coco”

-“The Boss Baby”

-“Ferdinand”

-“Loving Vincent”

-“The Bread Winner”

Best Film Editing

-“Baby Driver”

-“Dunkirk”

-“The Shape of Water”

-“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

-“I, Tonya”

Best Original Score

-“The Shape of Water”

-“Dunkirk”

-“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

-“Phantom Thread”

-“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Best Original Song

-“Might River” from “Mudbound”

-“Mystery of Love” from “Call Me By Your Name”

-“Remember Me” from “Coco”

-“Stand Up For Something” from “Marshall”

-“This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman”

Best Foreign Language Film

-“A Fantastic Woman”

-“The Insult”

-“Loveless”

-“Of Body And Soul”

-“The Square”

Best Costume Design

-“Beauty and the Beast”

-“Phantom Thread”

-“The Shape of Water”

-“Darkest Hour”

-“Victoria and Abdul”

Best Production Design

-“Beauty and the Beast”

-“Darkest Hour”

-“Dunkirk”

-“The Shape of Water”

-“Blade Runner 2049”

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

-“Darkest Hour”

-“Victoria and Abdul”

-“Wonder”

Best Cinematography

-“Blade Runner 2049”

-“Darkest Hour”

-“Dunkirk”

-“Mudbound”

-“The Shape of Water”

Best Sound Mixing

-“Dunkirk”

-“Baby Driver”

-“Blade Runner 2049”

-“The Shape of Water”

-“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

Best Sound Editing

-“Dunkirk”

-“Baby Driver”

-“Blade Runner 2049”

-“The Shape of Water”

-“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

Best Documentary Feature

-“Faces Places”

-“Last Man in Alepppo”

-“Icarus”

-“Strong Island”

-“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

Best Animated Short

-“Dear Basketball”

-“Garden Party”

-“Lou”

-“Negative Space”

-“Revolting Rhymes”

Best Documentary Short

-“Edith+Edith”

-“Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405”

-“Heroin(e)”

-“Knife Skills”

-“Traffic Stop”

Best Live Action Short

-“My Nephew Emmett”

-“The Silent Child”

-“DeKalb Elementary”

-“The Eleven O’Clock”

-“Watu Wote/All Of Us”

Best Visual Effects

-“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

-“Blade Runner 2049”

-“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”

-“Kong: Skull Island”

-“War for the Planet of the Apes”

These nominations prove surprises are in store for the Oscars America. The 90th annual Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday, March 4 from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The ceremony will be televised on ABC at 8:30 p.m. EST. Taking on hosting duties will be late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.