Vanity Fair Senior West Coast Editor Krista Smith on Oscar nomination snubs and shockers

On Thursday, Steven Spielberg's film "Lincoln," reigned supreme over nominations for the 85th Academy Awards, receiving 12 nods, including best picture. While Spielberg picked up a best director nomination, members of his cast such as Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones earned picks for best actor, best supporting actress and best supporting actor respectively. Ang Lee's adaptation “Life of Pi" came in second with 11 nominations, including best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay. Even soon-to-be host Seth MacFarlane scored a Best Song nod for his theme to the film "Ted." This morning Vanity Fair Senior West Coast Editor Krista Smith weighs in on the nomination snubs and shockers on a special edition of “Starting Point” co-hosted with HLN's Showbiz Tonight host AJ Hammer.

Hammer says "Argo’s" Ben Affleck and "Zero Dark Thirty’s" Kathryn Bigelow not being nominated for best director are likely to be viewed as a snub for the two directors whose films ranked top three among Oscar predictions. Smith agrees. She adds, “It’s a total shock,” that neither were chosen for the director nod and, “I just really don’t know how that happened.”

On the topics of Oscar shockers, Smith says she is amazed to see “a little Sundance movie that [she] saw in January a year ago go all the way.” She adds that she is surprised it received the nod for best director and that she is thrilled for nine-year-old actress Quvenzhané Wallis who has been nominated for an Academy Award making her the youngest ever nominee for a Best Actress Oscar. In an interesting twist 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva was also nominated for best actress for her role in "Amour," making her the oldest nominee for best actress in a leading role. Riva’s celebration does not stop there since she will be turning 86 on Oscar night.

Smith says another “big, big surprise” is “Silver Linings Playbook.” She adds, “I love this movie so I am happy to see it do so well. But it is fantastic that it got all nominations across the board.” Smith says this movie is a “game changer in terms of… reassessing who’s going to win and who are the favorites.”

The Oscars is scheduled to air on February 24 from the Dolby Theatre - formerly known as the Kodak Theatre - in Los Angeles.