Oscar nominations were announced this morning, I don’t think I’ve ever seen more of the nominees across all categories as I have this year — including all of the nominees for Best Picture, International Film, Director and Screenplay categories.

So here are my thoughts about what transpired:

“Sentimental Value” did really well in the nominations. It picked up four nominations in the acting categories, including Elle Fanning for Best Supporting Actress, which was somewhat surprising. It also picked up a Best Editing nomination, which puts it in the running for Best Picture — Best Editing is an oddly predictive category for Best Picture, if you aren’t nominated there, you’re very unlikely to win.

While “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” are clearly the Best Picture favorites, I think “Sentimental Value” might have slipped past “Hamnet” as the third place contender with an outside shot at an upset. The failure of Paul Mescal to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor in “Hamnet” and the movie missing out in the Editing category signals that it lacks broad support.

“Marty Supreme” pulled off Best Director and Best Editing nominations, but only picked up one acting nomination. I don’t see it as a serious contender to win the big prize.

“Blue Moon” missed out on a Best Picture nomination, but could win the Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor (Ethan Hawke) categories.

As expected, the Best International Film category is packed with quality films. I was somewhat surprised to see “No Other Choice” miss out on a nomination, and a bit saddened that “Left-Handed Girl” missed the cut. But it’s a great group. “Sentimental Value” has to be the favorite, but none of the five can be counted out, especially “The Secret Agent,” which also earned a Best Picture nomination.

Final thought: in the past week, I saw a 1986 movie, “Terrorizers” by Taiwanese Director Edward Yang, that I now consider to be the best of that year. This is a movie that was never released in the United States and had its first screening here about 10 years ago. It’s a reminder that the world of cinema is much larger than the members of the Academy view year to year and anyone who thinks that the Oscars are some kind of definitive statement on the best of any year needs to consider all the great movies, consistently through the years, that have been snubbed by the Academy.

It’s great to honor quality work — just don’t take it too seriously.