1. Which was the last movie to get four nominations in the acting categories?

You don't have to go back too far for the answer. "Doubt," released in 2008, racked up nominations for Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. (None of them won.) Before that, the last film to get four acting nods was back in 1983: "Terms of Endearment," with nominations for Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson and John Lithgow. (MacLaine and Nicholson won.) Nine movies have received five nominations; the most recent being "Network" in 1976.

2. Which very diverse current Oscar nominee has been nominated, over the years, in five different categories?

That would be the very busy Kenneth Branagh, nominated this year as a supporting actor ("My Week with Marilyn") and previously in the categories of lead actor ("Henry V"), director ("Henry V"), adapted screenplay ("Hamlet") and live-action short film ("Swan Song").

3. Who was the last writer to win an Oscar for adapting his or her own original work?

John Irving, who wrote both the novel "The Cider House Rules" and the subsequent screenplay for the 1999 movie. (David Seidler wrote the play on which "The King's Speech" was based, and won an Oscar for its screenplay last year, but mysteriously was placed in the "original screenplay" category; apparently somebody decided that the play and the film script weren't related.)

4. Of this year's acting nominees, which two played the same role in two different screen adaptations of a famous children's novel?

The answer (and wouldn't you guess that these two guys could play the same role?) is Christopher Plummer and Max von Sydow, both nominated for supporting actor — and both cast as The Grandfather in screen versions of "Heidi." Plummer voiced the role in a 2005 animated version; von Sydow in a British production from the same year, starring Emma Bolger ("In America") in the title role.

Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times movie critic