Nods and snuffs

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After the cancellation of the Golden Globes, the big question on everyone’s mind is “Will there be an Oscar ceremony?”

Now that the nominations have been announced, the only question in mind is “Who picked these nominations?”

Several deserving pictures have received well-earned nominations, but many favored picks don’t come close to the quality of several snubbed titles.

Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood are all hashing it out for Best Picture fame, but where are Assassination

Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Into The Wild and Sweeney Todd?

Understandably, there can only be five nominations, but are these titles really deserving? Atonement is the same-old, typical British drama bore-fest; Juno, the worse of the ‘07 Knocked Up movies with lingo too cool to understand; and Michael Clayton, the best lawyer movie no one saw, because if you’ve seen one lawyer movie, you’ve seen them all.

This questionable selection is the scenario in almost every category.

The same-old, ordinary types of films that the Academy always nominates have eclipsed the daring, original and successful movies of the year. Great movies come out, break the norm and defy the tradition in a most successful way, and what do they get for their achievements?

Nothing. They’re ignored.

It’s usually the Golden Globes that end up being the joke awards, lacking credibility, but this year it’s the Academy. The overall feel is that they lowered the ante for this year’s awards because of the probability that there won’t be a ceremony.

And with an unbelievably bad ballot like this, we’re all better off without.

Supposedly, if you want to see the same old Hollywood players slapping one another on the butt for a “good game,” you can tune in to ABC at 6 P.M. on Feb. 24, but it’s more than likely that it’ll be replaced by a press conference.
 
Full list of 2008 Academy Award nominees:

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones – In The Valley Of Elah
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Casey Affleck – The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook – Into The Wild
Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton

Actress In A Leading Role
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney – The Savages
Ellen Page – Juno
Actress In A Supporting Role
Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There
Ruby Dee – American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf’s Up

ART DIRECTION
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

COSTUME DESIGN
Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie En Rose
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

DIRECTING
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
No End In Sight
Operation Homecoming:
Writing The Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi To The Dark Side
War/Dance

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari’s Mother
Film Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Into The Wild
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Beaufort
The Counterfeiters
Katyn
Mongol
12

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
La Vie En Rose
Norbit
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 To Yuma

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
Once
Enchanted
August Rush
Enchanted
Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

ANIMATED SHORT
I Met The Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Même Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go To Heaven)
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & The Wolf

LIVE ACTION SHORT
At Night
Il Supplente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart Des Pickpockets
(The Mozart Of Pickpockets)
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

SOUND EDITING
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

SOUND MIXING
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 To Yuma
Transformers

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Golden Compass
Pirates Of The Caribbean:
At World’s End
Transformers

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Atonement
Away From Her
The Diving Bell And The
Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Juno
Lars And The Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages