By Daniel Neman

Really?

Maybe “The Wrestler” isn’t the best movie of the year, as I believe it is. But surely it’s in the top five.

Not, apparently, if you’re in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy announced its nominations for Academy Awards today, and “The Wrestler” is barely to be found anywhere among them. Certainly not for best picture, where it was snubbed in favor of the perfectly adequate “The Reader,“ along with some more deserving pictures (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,“ “Frost/Nixon,“ “Slumdog Millionaire” and the good-but-not-special “Milk”).

Mickey Rourke got a nod for his stunning performance as the broken-down wrestler in the film, and Marisa Tomei was also acknowledged with a supporting-actress nomination for her performance, which was every bit as good.

But does the Academy think they directed themselves? Does it think they came up with the words themselves? And that they edited the scenes themselves?

The snubbing of “The Wrestler” is the most egregious error in this year’s nominations, but close behind it is the absence of Michael Sheen, who played David Frost in “Frost/Nixon.“ Frank Langella has the showier role as Richard Nixon (and he got the best actor nomination), but Sheen’s work was more nuanced and impressive.

That said, the Academy got one thing very right in the best actor category: It remembered Richard Jenkins’ brilliant and heartfelt performance in “The Visitor.“ This excellent movie was little seen and generally unnoticed, but Jenkins received his well-deserved due.

Also little seen and unnoticed was “Frozen River,“ but Melissa Leo’s stunning performance made enough of an impression on enough people that she received a best-actress nomination.

Anne Hathaway’s extraordinary turn in “Rachel Getting Married” was a more obvious choice, and it is good to see the Academy did not neglect her while remembering other almost-as-worthy actresses.

Meryl Streep is unquestionably the best actress of our time, and she deserves to have won many more Oscars than the two she has (her last win was 25 years ago for “Sophie’s Choice”), but to be perfectly frank, she didn’t deserve this year’s nomination for “Doubt.“ She was fine in it, of course, but it feels as if she was nominated this year out of habit.

Her co-stars, who were also nominated, are more deserving. Philip Seymour Hoffman was picked for best supporting actor, and Amy Adams and Viola Davis were both chosen for best supporting actress. Adams is great in the role, as always, and Davis is a revelation as a student’s mother, but here is the thing: She is only in one scene. It is a vitally important scene, and she couldn’t be better in it, but she can’t be in the film for more than five minutes.

Michael Shannon, who picked up a supporting-actor nomination, has two scenes in “Revolutionary Road.“ The characters he and Davis play are more incidental than supporting, but they are certainly deserving of the recognition.

Also deserving, but curiously absent from the list of nominations, is Bruce Springsteen, who wrote a great original song for a movie. Only three original songs were nominated this year, one from “WALL-E” and two from “Slumdog Millionaire,“ and none was as good as Springsteen’s.

It was called “The Wrestler,“ and it played over the credits of “The Wrestler.“

Oh.