This Year's Oscar Nominees - #OscarsSoWhite once again

The 2015 Academy Award nominations were released on Thursday, January 14th.

Here is the full list of nominees: http://oscar.go.com/nominees.

As usual, the list provides some surprises, some pleasant and others not as much, along with some egregious snubs. For the second year in a row, all of the acting nominations are held by caucasian actors, one which sparked a controversy through social media called #OscarsSoWhite, one that could gain more footing this year. It's unusual and shameful that an industry that prides itself in diversity and inclusion has so few nominations for minorities and women in major categories, proving that this industry hasn't changed much from yesteryear. The President of the Academy is an African-American female, the host, Chris Rock (who'll no doubt will have plenty to say about it) is also African-American, note to Hollywood: there are plenty of gifted minorities and women deserving of nominations.

As for the nominations, aside from a handful of major snubs, including Ridley Scott for "The Martian," Idris Elba for "Beasts of No Nation" and for the groundbreaking film "Carol," it looks to be stale and predictable, filled with many past winners and nominees (Eddie Redmayne, Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, still all deserving) or little-seen films such as the stellar "Spotlight."

It's nice to see a nomination for underdog Sylvester Stallone for "Creed," and he easily becomes a sentimental favorite; DiCaprio is all but a shoo-in, and while he's deserving, I hope he takes time to do a light rom com or something far less intense. It's also nice that there isn't a clear film favorite, though with 12 nominations, "The Revenant" is the current front runner, with it shaping up to be a race between "Revenant," "Spotlight" and "The Martian." I'm also glad to see actors such as Alicia Vikander, Tom Hardy, Brie Larson, Sairose Ronan and Charlotte Rampling all gain recognition, even if overall the main acting nominees lack diversity.

The Academy can help itself in the future by honoring groundbreaking films and talent that could be a draw to the awards, and take more risks that reflect society. For now, though, it doesn't seem that way.