Oscar Nominations

So the Oscar Nominations were announced this morning. I know, it's all very subjective and meaningless, but I've always feel a little movie-geeked out when they are announced.

No real surprises this year. A couple of minor ones -- 13-year-old actress Saoirse Ronan got a supporting-actress nomination for Atonement, and Casey Affleck got the family's first acting nomination for his supporting work in The Assassination of Jesse James, in which he was very good.

Cate Blanchett was nominated twice, for Best Actress (in Elizabeth, the Golden Age) and Best Supporting Actress (playing an incarnation of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There). Probably the two most-disparate roles that anyone has ever been nominated for in the same year.

No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood tied for the most nominations, with 8 each; Michael Clayton and Atonement got 7 (even though Atonement was skipped over for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director). They were all nominated for Best Picture, along with Juno.

Well-reviewed films that were largely shut out include Sweeney Todd, Eastern Promises, American Gangster, 3:10 To Yuma, Charlie Wilson's War, The Great Debaters, Into the Wild, the Bourne Ultimatum and Once. It was a pretty good year for movies.

Best Actor: George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd) and Viggo Mortenson (Eastern Promises).

Best Actress: Blanchett, Page, Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), Julie Christie (Away From Her), and Laura Linney (The Savages).

Best Supporting Actor: Affleck, Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men), Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War) and Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton).

Best Supporting Actress: Blanchett, Ronan, Ruby Dee (American Gangster), Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) and Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone).

Best Animated Film: Ratatouille, Persepolis, Surf's Up.

Best Director: Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Jason Reitman (Juno), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton (Atonement), Sarah Polley (Away From Her), Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood).

Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Nancy Oliver (Lars and the Real Girl), Brad Bird (Ratatouille), Tamara Jenkins (The Savages).

Impressively, that's four writing nominations for women, including three of the five best original screenplay nominees.

I'd post my list of the best films of the year, but I still shamelessly, woefully haven't seen a lot of these. Soon.

If anyone else wants to make their picks, go for it.