The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may be all seeing. It’s definitely not all knowing. Watched “The King’s Speech’’ lately? “Crash’’?

Every year deserving nominees go unnominated. This year is no exception, as these half-dozen examples of overlooked work show.

PICTURE

“Inside Out’’

What exactly does “best picture’’ mean? The picture part is obvious enough: feature-length film. What about best, though? Does that mean most original, most imaginative, most memorable, wittiest, least predictable, and likeliest still to be watched 10, 20, 40, 100 years from now (assuming, that is, people are still watching movies)? If that’s what best picture means, then “Inside Out’’ got robbed. MARK FEENEY

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

“In Jackson Heights’’

A strong field of documentaries this year made narrowing the field to five especially difficult, but really, no Frederick Wiseman again? Since 1967, every one of Wiseman’s 41 quietly overwhelming documentaries has deserved an Oscar, let alone a nomination. And this year “In Jackson Heights’’ shows him at his best. It epitomizes Wiseman’s deceptively simple method of acute, comprehensive, and beautifully photographed observational footage edited into a subtly structured portrait of a subject, which proves to be a microcosm of the world at large. This intimate portrait of the most ethnically diverse community in America also presents a subtle endorsement of multiculturalism and a critique of rapacious gentrification.

PETER KEOUGH

VISUAL EFFECTS

“The Walk’’

After recognizing “Star Wars,’’ “Mad Max,’’ etc., Academy voters threw the effects category’s token non-genre nomination to “The Revenant.’’ It’s a shame they didn’t make room for this flashback to French aerialist Philippe Petit’s celebrated 1974 high-wire stroll between the Twin Towers. Robert Zemeckis’s narrative feature did what the standout documentary “Man on Wire’’ couldn’t: re-create the tightrope act in full, glorious motion, rather than editing together surreptitiously snapped photos. These dizzying IMAX 3-D visuals truly were big-screen magic, taking us inside Petit’s transcendent experience as he navigates his preternatural path and making audiences feel like his death-defying virtual costars. TOM RUSSO

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Stanley Tucci (“Spotlight’’)

One of the best things about “Spotlight’’ is the way it emphasizes ensemble, something Hollywood rarely does. The acting is a team effort, collegial, as journalism is. No one character – no one actor – stands out. The Academy, though, being the Academy, has chosen to single someone out, nominating Mark Ruffalo for best supporting actor, as Globe reporter Mike Rezendes. Sorry, but the movie’s most indelible performance comes from Stanley Tucci, as attorney Mitchell Garabedian. True, Tucci has the advantage of playing the quirkiest character in the movie. But that’s nothing compared to the advantage of being as talented as Stanley Tucci.

MARK FEENEY

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Ricki and the Flash’’ (“Cold One,’’composed by Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice)

If only they gave out an Oscar for best cover song. Jonathan Demme would be all over it with Tom Petty’s “American Girl,’’ which he put to creepy use in “The Silence of the Lambs,’’ then slyly cued up again as our intro to Meryl Streep’s bar band frontwoman here. But we also appreciated the acoustic, introspectively blue-collar original that Streep’s Ricki Randazzo plays for her emotionally wounded daughter. And just imagine, on awards night, the poorly concealed daggers that would have been shooting at Streep had she elbowed in on yet another honor and helped songwriters Lewis and Rice to a win. TOM RUSSO

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

“Anomalisa’’

Some day animated films will get the respect they deserve (see “Inside Out,’’ above), but now they are rarely considered outside their own category. This year presented an opportunity to recognize the genre by nominating Charlie Kaufman’s “Anomalisa’’ for best adapted screenplay (it’s based on Kaufman’s play). The Academy would also be recognizing the most brilliant screenplay of the year — original, ingenious, and humane, starting with the title itself. The story is bizarre yet eerily familiar, and the dialogue ranges from the poetic to the colloquial, from the philosophical to the deranged. It’s about time that Hollywood realized animation isn’t just kids’ stuff anymore.

PETER KEOUGH