OSCAR GETS GUMPED

"Forrest Gump," the box office Goliath in which Tom Hanks' optimistic simpleton bobs along through history, grabbed a near-record 13 Academy Award nominations, including best picture, best actor (Hanks), best director (Robert Zemeckis) and best supporting actor (Gary Sinise). The sweep was one shy of the record: 14 for "All About Eve" in 1950. The next-closest films -- "Pulp Fiction," "Bullets Over Broadway" and "The Shawshank Redemption" -- had seven nominations apiece. The other best picture nominees were "Pulp Fiction," "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Quiz Show" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral." TIME Los Angeles correspondent Jeffrey Ressner says the day's biggest surprise was the Academy's passing over the acclaimed "Hoop Dreams" for best documentary feature, a move that "had most people's jaws dropping" and cemented a trend in which prominent commercial documentaries have been overlooked. Also unexpected, Ressner says, were the best picture nod for "Shawshank," a "dank prison film with a unwieldy title," and Woody Allen's best director nomination for "Bullets Over Broadway." Says Ressner: "It seems as though it's a 'Welcome back Woody, all is forgiven' vote."