The Oscar nominees have been announced!

This morning I had the pleasure of listening to the official news broadcast of this year's Oscar nominees. You can find the full list of nominees here (IMDb), and also here (Oscars.org). I would say my reaction to some of these nominees was varied—which is to say, some I expected, some I did not expect, and some I was pleasantly surprised by.

So now let's break down the key nominees! :)

Best Picture: From the list of Best Picture nominees, I've only seen two of the five: Michael Clayton, and There Will Be Blood. I found There Will Be Blood to be quite a fascinating, well-made film (my review is still being composed), though I'm rather puzzled by Michael Clayton receiving all the nominations it did. It was a good film, but I just wasn't that overpowered by it. I haven't seen Juno yet, nor No Country for Old Men, though both have gotten quite a lot of buzz, and No Country for Old Men is definitely on my must-see list (despite my mixed reactions to the Coens and their films). I'll just get this out of the way now: I'm no fan of romantic movies, so I really can't get excited by Atonement, despite its winning one of the top Golden Globes.

Prediction: No Country for Old Men, with Atonement possibly scoring an upset

Best Director: I think a lot of people are gonna be upset that Tim Burton didn't get a nomination for Sweeney Todd, though I personally have no feelings on the matter. I'm glad, however, to see Paul Thomas Anderson getting a nomination for There Will Be Blood, and the nomination for the Coen brothers (both of them!) was kind of a foregone conclusion.

Prediction: The Coen brothers for No Country for Old Men

Best Actor: I think it'll essentially boil down to a battle between Daniel Day-Lewis and Johnny Depp. I saw There Will Be Blood, and found it to be quite a unique film, with Day-Lewis giving a powerhouse performance that simply cried out, "Oscar lock!" On the other hand, Johnny Depp is long past due for an Oscar win, and while I haven't seen Sweeney Todd yet, I definitely want this guy to win an Oscar one day. Personally, I think he was robbed by not getting nominated for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a number of years back. But here I also have to bring in the "pleasantly surprised" motif, because of Viggo Mortensen's nomination for Eastern Promises. It struck many (myself included) to be a long-shot nomination, and his performance was indeed impressive! As to George Clooney, I'm puzzled by his nomination. Yes, he was good, but I didn't find him quite as compelling as I did in Syriana.

Prediction: Really, it's a dead heat between Daniel Day-Lewis and Johnny Depp

Best Actress: I'm afraid I haven't seen any of these films, so I really can't gauge who gave the best performance. Though I did notice Cate Blanchett got a second nomination for the same role she played 10 years ago! In 1998, she got a Best Actress nomination for Elizabeth, and this year she's being nominated for Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I think that's a genuine Academy first! The closest analogy I can make is to Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro both winning Oscars for playing the same character, Vito Corleone, in The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II, respectively.

Prediction: I'm gonna go way out on a limb here and say Ellen Page for Juno

Best Supporting Actor: I must admit, I'm a trifle disappointed that Paul Dano didn't receive a nomination for There Will Be Blood. He definitely held his own opposite Day-Lewis, and provided a perfect complement to his character, so it's a shame the Academy didn't recognize his performance. On the flip side, though, I am pleased that Tom Wilkinson received a nomination. His sendup to Peter Finch's Howard Beale from Network was just stunning, and I think Michael Clayton showcased some of his best work yet! Though I wasn't quite expecting Philip Seymour Hoffman's nomination, nor Hal Holbrook's. Though I'm also pleased by Casey Affleck getting a nomination (though I thought it might have been for Gone Baby Gone rather than Jesse James). If there was one person I'd have wished a nomination for in this category, though, it would be Robert Downey, Jr. for Zodiac. He was such a scene-stealer in that film, but popular thought is that Zodiac premiered too early in the year for it to be a viable contender, and I think that assessment is sadly correct.

Prediction: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men

Best Supporting Actress: Okay, I never in a million years thought I'd see Cate Blanchett play a man—let alone play Bob Dylan!!! Would this be the appropriate time to shout, in true Austin Powers fashion, "It's a man, baby!"? It looks like I'll have to see I'm Not There now. But here's another instance where the "pleasantly surprised" motif comes in, specifically with Ruby Dee's nomination for American Gangster! In an otherwise passable film, I found Ruby Dee's performance to be rather impressive, rather classy, and I remember thinking that an Oscar nomination for her would be in order, but I honestly wasn't expecting it to come to fruition. I've heard a lot of buzz surrounding Saoirse Ronan for Atonement and Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone, but I have to say, I'm still surprised that Tilda Swinton got a nomination for Michael Clayton. It's not necessarily that she did a mediocre acting job, but rather her role was surprisingly clumsy. She was supposed to be a ruthless executive, but ended up tripping over her own feet because she didn't have a clue how to be ruthless. Just didn't strike me as Oscar-worthy, I guess. Though if you really want to see a powerhouse Tilda performance, check her out in Chronicles of Narnia, where she was icy as hell (and robbed of a nomination).

Prediction: Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There, though I'm keeping an eye out for Ruby Dee or Amy Ryan to score an upset

Best Original Score: I'm kinda surprised there wasn't a nomination for There Will Be Blood. I felt that Jonny Greenwood's rather unique score lent a greatly different yet perfectly fitting feel to the picture!

No prediction

Best Animated Feature: And where, pray tell, was The Simpsons Movie's nomination???

Prediction: Ratatouille

Best Documentary Feature: Politics as usual will rain on this parade, with No End in Sight and Michael Moore's Sicko up for awards. I'm rather tired of Michael Moore's arrogant, slanted politics, so I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't try to steal the limelight at this year's awards show and/or make a political statement if he wins.

Prediction: No End in Sight

Best Original Screenplay: Juno and Michael Clayton seem the two likeliest to receive an original screenplay nomination, though I wasn't expecting Ratatouille to be among the flock.

Prediction: Diablo Cody for Juno

Best Adapted Screenplay: Of these nominees, the only one I've seen is There Will Be Blood, and I haven't actually read the Upton Sinclair novel on which it was based. (Actually, I can only think of two instances where I've read the original novel from which an Oscar-nominated screenplay was written—Mystic River and L.A. Confidential. And now that I think about it, both movies had the same screenwriter!) But Atonement and No Country for Old Men also seem like logical nominees.

Prediction: The Coen brothers for No Country for Old Men

And now we wait for February 24, that most-anticipated night where the awards get handed out! Strike or no strike, I still hope the show goes on. And barring the unforeseen, I still intend to do another live-blogging of the ceremony this year.