The Wrap:
Did Academy voters just clear a path to the stage for Steven Spielberg and "Lincoln?"

Or did they indicate that Spielberg's historical drama has unexpectedly serious challengers, not in the two CIA-themed dramas that were expected to be Best Picture contenders, but in David O. Russell's delicious bipolar comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" and Ang Lee's visionary "Life of Pi."

With a stunning set of nominations highlighted by a Best Director category that almost no one could have envisioned, Oscar voters upended conventional wisdom and placed a huge obstacle in the way of Ben Affleck's "Argo" and Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty," as well as Tom Hooper's "Les Misérables."

Those three directors were left out of the Best Director category in favor of Spielberg, Russell, Lee and two surprises: Michael Haneke for "Amour" and Benh Zeitlin for his first feature, "Beasts of the Southern Wild." (Culture, The Academy Awards)