..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

34 Days To Go
And The Noms Are... As Expected

So ...

Few real surprises.  A couple pleasant.  A couple less so.

The score from There Will Be Blood was disqualified at the last minute ... so that is a shame.  Rather brilliant work.

Laura Linney ran well under the radar in critics' world ... and still got in.

Tommy Lee Jones got a nod, not for his bigger financial success, but for In The Valley Of Elah, which may now get a longer, deserved look from the world on DVD.

Jason Reitman in a shocker got a directing nod for Juno, leaving candidates like Sidney Lumet and DGA nominee Sean Penn by the curb.

PGA missed one, with Diving Bell falling to Atonement, which had lots of crafts support, screenplay, and only one acting nod.

Lots of people will feel good about Sarah Polley getting a screenplay nod for Away From Her, as WGA misses on 3 of 10. 

Enchanted gets three of the five song nominations as Eddie Vedder gets a shot to the groin.

And Cate Blanchett proves her Oscar lovedness by grabbing a nod for a dead movie ahead of Jolie's dead movie and Ms Knightley's clingy green dress and clipped accent.

Ahem ...

Cynthia Swartz's favorite stat - which was part of the Crash comeback - is that winning Best Picture without at least an editing nod is very rare ... which points to No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood, the only two Best Pictures to get editing nods this year.

Potential upsets?  Ellen Page, unending quiet veteran Julie Christie and unknown quantity Marion Cotillard?  Janusz Kaminski for Cinematography while Deakins splits his vote?  George Clooney for Best Actor?  No End In Sight beating the traditional winner for doc, the highest grosser, Sicko? 

Will Michael Giacchino finally get his due for the score for Ratatouille with a field not including No Country or Blood?  

Can Norbit win an Oscar after, perhaps, losing one for Eddie Murphy?

Can Persepolis upend The Rat?

Will Best Supporting Actor be the early bellweather of the evening ... a Bardem upset by Wilkinson or Holbrook meaning something ... or will a Javier indicate business as usual and an No Country win?

I wish I had more to say ... but the truth is, the noms went pretty much according to plan.  Gurus o' Gold was 35 of 40 in the Top 8 categories, so not too many real shockers and none of the shockers have a chance to win, really.

And so the finals begin.  The WGA strike continues, though few on the inside think that we will still be mid-strike when the Oscars are given out in a month and 3 days.  Now the Academy members will surely watch all five films and more ... angles will be taken ... arguments will be made ... and in the end, people will be pretty happy with the five films standing up for them in the end.

Not so bad.

(My first post-nom charts will be up tomorrow.)

The Charts

January 3, 2007
December 20, 2007
December 13, 2007
December 6, 2007
November 29, 2007
November 15, 2007
November 8, 2007
November 1, 2007
October 25, 2007
October 18, 2007
The Post-Toronto Chart - September 21, 2007
The Pre-Toronto Chart - September 6, 2007
The First Chart - June 21, 2007

- Email David Poland