Of all the highly dubious calls of this year’s Academy Awards nominations (no Ben Affleck or John Hawkes; Jacki Weaver was rather unremarkable in Silver Linings Playbook), one takes the cake: Kathryn Bigelow, director of Zero Dark Thirty won’t be on the running for the statue. Bigelow’s work in Zero Dark Thirty is remarkable: Her portrait of war’s banality is as flawless as her approach to the operation that took down Bin Laden. It should be noted that Bigelow (who previously won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker) single-handedly reignited the discussion over the morality of torture. It’s hard to believe the filmmaker was overlooked and David O. Russell wasn’t. Seriously people, Silver Linings Playbook is just a glorified chick-flick.

Expect Lincoln to sweep the 2013 Oscars, undeservedly so (Life of Pi may offer some futile resistance). It seems the blandest movies still have the upper hand.