This year’s Oscar nominations have finally been released and the competition is fierce.

Nominated in the category of best actress in a supporting role, Sally Hawkins for “Blue Jasmine,” Jennifer Lawrence for “American Hustle,” Lupita Nyong’o for “12 Years a Slave,” Julia Roberts for “August: Osage County,” and lastly June Squibb for “Nebraska.”

There is a balance of first time Oscar nominees as well as previous nominees and award winners.  The biggest competition may be between first time nominee, Nyong’o and Lawrence who won her first Oscar last year for best actress in “Silver Linings Playbook.” Let’s hope if Lawrence does win, she won’t trip on her dress this year on the way to accept her Oscar.

Nominated for best actor in a supporting role are Barkhad Abdi for “Captain Phillips,” Bradley Cooper for “American Hustle,” Michael Fassbender for “12 Years a Slave,” Jonah Hill for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and Jared Leto for “Dallas Buyers Club.”

Although Cooper has been nominated before, it is doubtful that he will win this year. More likely to win would be Abdi or Hill for his breakout role that has established him as an actor to be taken seriously rather than that funny chubby kid we used to know.

This year’s nominations for best actress in a leading role are Amy Adams in “American Hustle,” Cate Blanchett for “Blue Jasmine,” Sandra Bullock for “Gravity,” Judi Dench for “Philomena,” and Meryl Streep for “August: Osage County.”

Predicted to win for best actress are the polar opposite roles; Amy Adams and her sexy 70’s portrayal in “American Hustle” and Meryl Streep’s sassy and crass corrupt mother figure in “August: Osage County.”

The nominations for best actor in a leading role are Christian Bale for “American Hustle,” Bruce Dern for “Nebraska,” Leonardo DiCaprio for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Chiwetel Ejiofor for “12 Years a Slave,” and Matthew McConaughey for “Dallas Buyers Club.”

Every actor in this category is extremely talented and they all deserve to win, but hopefully DiCaprio will finally break his curse and win the first Oscar of his career.

The biggest category of the Oscars is best picture, and the nominees are “American Hustle,” “Captain Phillips,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Gravity,” “Her,” “Nebraska,” “Philomena,” “12 Years a Slave,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

This group of films makes it very difficult to choose just one winner because these movies are so close in caliber and the stories are so different from one another. Some of the top contenders are “American Hustle,” “Her,” “12 Years a Slave,” and “Wolf of Wall Street.”