The Oscar Awards

The Oscar nominees have been announced (although we'll have to wait and see if there's an actual awards ceremony, given the writer's strike). Granted, the Oscars don't really fall under the heading of this humble blog, but there's not much going on right now theatre-wise, and I have to talk about something or I'll go crazy... so what the heck, let's look at the nominees:

Best motion picture of the year
Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood

Achievement in directing
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Julian Schnabel
Juno - Jason Reitman
Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy
No Country for Old Men - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Johnny Depp, Tommy Lee Jones and Viggo Mortensen

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck, Javier Bardem, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hal Holbrook and Tom Wilkinson

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie, Marion Cotillard, Laura Linney and Ellen Page

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett, Ruby Dee, Saoirse Ronan, Amy Ryan and Tilda Swinton

Best animated feature film of the year
Persepolis, Ratatouille and Surf's Up

Achievement in art direction
American Gangster, Atonement, The Golden Compass, Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and There Will Be Blood

Achievement in cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood

Achievement in costume design
Across the Universe, Atonement, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, La Vie en Rose and Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best documentary feature
No End in Sight, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, Sicko, Taxi to the Dark Side and War/Dance

Best documentary short subject
Freeheld, La Corona (The Crown), Salim Baba and Sari’s Mother

Achievement in film editing
The Bourne Ultimatum, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood

Best foreign language film of the year
Beaufort (Israel), The Counterfeiters (Austria), Katyń (Poland), Mongol (Kazakhstan) and 12 (Russia)

Achievement in makeup
La Vie en Rose, Norbit and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
Atonement, The Kite Runner, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille and 3:10 to Yuma

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Falling Slowly (Once), Happy Working Song, So Close and That’s How You Know (Enchanted) and Raise It Up (August Rush)

Best animated short film
I Met the Walrus, Madame Tutli-Putli, Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven), My Love (Moya Lyubov) and Peter & the Wolf

Best live action short film
At Night, Il Supplente (The Substitute), Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets), Tanghi Argentini and The Tonto Woman

Achievement in sound editing
The Bourne Ultimatum, No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, There Will Be Blood and Transformers

Achievement in sound mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum, No Country for Old Men”, Ratatouille, 3:10 to Yuma and Transformers

Achievement in visual effects
The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Transformers

Adapted screenplay
Atonement, Away from Her, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood

Original screenplay
Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille and The Savages

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theatre.

My immediate reaction to this list is: Boy, there are a lot of nominated movies I didn't see this year. In fact, I haven't seen any of the five films nominated for "Best Picture." And me a fan of movies! I'm so ashamed. Hopefully I'll get caught up when they come out on DVD.