Going for gold

The Oscar nominations always tend to throw up a few surprises, and this year's list is no exception, with  focus in particular on two major films neither of which have hit these shores yet.

The oddly titled Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is deemed to be one of the 9 Films of the Year. Based on Jonathan Safran Foer's post 9/11 bestseller, it features a leading performance by 12-year-old Thomas Horn (below) whose main claim to fame before making his big screen debut was winning wads of cash on the US TV quiz show, Kids Jeopardy.

Albert Nobbs, based on George Moore's 1918 short story, is co-written and stars Glenn Close (below) as a woman who disguises herself as a man in 19th Century Ireland. She, along with co-star Brit actress, Janet McTeer are both nominated for their cross-dressing roles.

But perhaps left-field of all is the inclusion in the quintet for Best Actor, little known, 48-year-old Mexican actor Demian Bechir (below) in A Better Life, directed by Chris Weitz, better known for creating the American Pie franchise with his brother Paul. His latest is an altogether more serious-minded drama about a father trying to keep his son away from gangland in East LA.

Can Bichir can pip the likes of Pitt, Clooney, Dujardin and Oldman to the little golden statuette? Maybe worht a punt.