Oscar nominations 2022: Peter Travers on the snubs and surprises

Today’s Oscar nominations placed "The Power of the Dog" at the top of the pack with a record 12 nominations, followed closely by "Dune."

"Belfast" and "West Side Story" earned seven nominations each and "King Richard" scored six nominations.

As with every year, there were plenty of snubs and surprises. Check out all the hits and misses from this year's nominations below.

Snub: Lady Gaga in 'House of Gucci'

As Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider who married into the Gucci fashion dynasty and then hired a hit man to kill her husband, Gaga was on every precursor list for best actress. But not the Oscars.

Lady Gaga was also denied a gold statue for her performance in "A Star Is Born."

Surprise: Kristen Stewart in 'Spencer'

Everyone had started to write off Stewart’s chances because hardly anyone saw her movie about Princess Diana. Well, some of them did and rightly made the choice to include her among the five best actress nominees. Yes, she is that good.

Snub: 'Tick, Tick . . . Boom!' for best picture

Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical about the late "Rent" composer Jonathan Larsen is so good audiences are seeing it twice. But the film was left out of the big race.

Surprise: 'Nightmare Alley' for best picture

This film noir from director Guillermo Del Toro and star Bradley Cooper was a noble failure, but a failure nonetheless, yet it made the cut over "Tick, Tick. . . Boom," "Being the Ricardos," "The Tragedy of Macbeth," "The Lost Daughter" and "Spider Man: No Way Home," which committed the cardinal Oscar sin of being super successful at the box office.

Snub: Catriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan for best supporting actress and actor in 'Belfast'

The young stars of Kenneth Branagh’s memoir about growing up in northern Ireland during The Troubles definitely deserved inclusion in this category.

Instead, nominees in the best supporting actress category included Jessie Buckley for the "The Lost Daughter," Ariana DeBose for "West Side Story," Judi Dench for "Belfast," Kirsten Dunst for "The Power of the Dog" and Aunjanue Ellis for "King Richard."

Contenders in the best supporting actor category include Ciarán Hinds for "Belfast," Troy Kotsur for "CODA," Jesse Plemons for "The Power of the Dog," J.K. Simmons for "Being the Ricardos" and Kodi Smit-McPhee for "The Power of the Dog."

Surprise: Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds for best supporting actress and actor in 'Belfast'

Oscar went with the two veteran actors who played the grandparents in "Belfast." No one was predicting Dame Judi. Big mistake.

See the full list of nominations for the 94th Academy Awards here.