Shame on the Academy for overlooking genius. Oh well.... Saves Nic the trouble to submit to the promotional machine... Oscars are geting more and more similar to an electoral campaign.

Some voices are missing his name among the nominees though:

Back in 2005, when Sideways was nominated for a best-picture Oscar and won for best screenplay, it also picked up three individual nominations: best director for Alexander Payne; best supporting actor, Thomas Haden Church; and best supporting actress, Virginia Madsen.

Notably absent was leading man Paul Giamatti, who provided the heart of the movie as well as its single most memorable line: "I am not drinking any f--king Merlot!" It was an awards snub that Giamatti's cynical character would have half expected.

Fast-forward to 2010 and the nominations for another batch of worthy films and performances. This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has seen fit to expand the best picture nominations to 10 from five, but why stop there? Surely if there are twice as many praiseworthy pictures, there must be at least twice as many exceptional actors driving them forward. (OK, not sure about Avatar.)

Here, then, are some of the notable snubs, the also-rans, the there-but-for-the-five-nomination-slots-go-I. It's presented in the hopes that more categories will be opened up to 10 possible winners next year. Because what does everyone who's picked say between now and Oscar night? "It's an honour just to be nominated."

BEST ACTOR

Paul Giamatti, Cold Souls Snubbed again! Giamatti as Giamatti in this tale of soul-removal and spirit trafficking is the best meta-performance since Being John Malkovich.

Matt Damon, The Informant! It's well known that gaining 30 pounds and slapping on a bad moustache and a worse hairpiece is the surest path to an Oscar, so where's Damon's love? He was fantastic as a corporate whistle-blower and anti-Bourne whose interior monologues threatened to derail his every effort.

Nicolas Cage, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans The stars aligned when German director Werner Herzog hired Cage to play a mentally unbalanced, drug-addicted sleaze-ball cop. The imaginary iguanas were merely icing.

Michael Sheen, The Damned United Between this film and 2008's Frost/Nixon, Sheen has a lock on playing real guys from the 1970s. Now, if he would just stop playing vampires ( New Moon) and werewolves ( Underworld), the Academy might take him seriously.

BEST ACTRESS

Arta Dobroshi, Lorna's Silence A remarkably real and moving performance from an unknown Kosovo actor in a film by the Belgian masters of realism, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Embroiled in a fake-marriage-for-citizenship scam, she is a wonderfully human presence.

Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones If there was one reason to watch Peter Jackson's off-the-rails adaptation of Alice Sebold's beloved novel, it was the narration and performance of the dead little girl, Susie Salmon. Besides, think of the trivia value if she'd had two nominations (the other was for Atonement) before her 16th birthday!

Gwyneth Paltrow, Two Lovers

Paltrow bares all -- emotionally, I mean! -- as she plays a dangerously needy shiksa in this tale of dysfunctional affection. Not sure Joaquin Phoenix works as the young Jewish guy who falls for her, but no one's lining up to hand him prizes these days anyway.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Karl Urban, Star Trek Urban's evocation of DeForest Kelley's Leonard "Bones" McCoy was more imitation than homage, but he wasn't onscreen long enough for it to become tiresome -- and it was such a joy to hear him drawl: "Are you out of your Vulcan mind?"

Jemaine Clement, Gentlemen Broncos This was one of the worst films of the year, but it doesn't diminish the hilariously understated performance from one half of TV's The Flight of the Conchords. And why does a guy named Chevalier have a thick Kiwi accent? Who cares when he's this funny?

Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles McKay's booming oratorical skills and general rotundity made him the spitting image of the late Orson Welles in his 1930s prime of life. But McKay also brought a disarming vulnerability to a role that could easily have descended into mere caricature.

Sam Rockwell, Moon Best actor is a crowded field, so why not recognize Rockwell for the supporting work he did in a film in which he also starred? Rockwell plays a lonely astronaut on a lunar outpost and, through camera trickery but also some fine acting, his mysterious doppelganger. It's easy to forget you're watching one man in these two roles.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Betty White, The Proposal

Call this one a Trivial Pursuit proposal. A nomination by the 88-year-old comic sparkplug would have pushed her past Gloria Stuart ( Titanic) as the oldest nominee ever. A win would have dethroned Jessica Tandy ( Driving Miss Daisy). Not that I've got anything against her.

Amy Adams, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Like Clement in Gentlemen Broncos, Adams' turn as a waxwork Amelia Earhart was the best thing in an otherwise lame movie. Imagine playing a love interest in which a candlelight dinner would reduce you to a literal puddle! Let Meryl Streep have Julie & Julia and take what praise you can for this one.