The 2008 Oscar Nominations Are Here - And They're Pretty Good!

Hey folks, Harry here... Well - it's Oscar Morning. Soon we'll see an old fart and probably Jennifer Hudson or Helen Mirren announcing the nominees. (Can't remember if its the prior year's actress or Supporting actress) So - I'm up... no sleep - to give you the low down. I'm sure we'll all have our surprises and disappointments. For me - I'm positive that Edgar Wright's HOT FUZZ won't be nominated for BEST EDITING, like it deserves. And we already know the brilliant score for THERE WILL BE BLOOD was disqualified for use of existing themes. FUCK THE ACADEMY - YOU PRICKS!!! SIgh. So, we can already be mad about that. And what the fuck was up with I AM LEGEND being in that final smaller group for Visual Effects - are they blind? Those were the worst animated allegedly Human-esque figures in quite some time. Anyway - Check back here... and start discussing the concept of the Oscars. Having an unscripted Oscars might mean... simple introductions or heartfelt straight talk... rather than all the goofy shit that usually gets written for presenters. Or - it could just turn into inanity, moreso than usual. We'll see. Be back soon with the goods...

whoa - it's Kathy Bates Best Actor

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

Best Supporting Actor

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

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age Julie Christie - Away From Her Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose Laura Linney - The Savages Ellen Page - Juno

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There Rudy Dee - American Gangster Saoirse Ronan - Atonement Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Best Animated Feature

Persepolis Ratatouille Surf's Up

Art Direction

American Gangster Atonement The Golden Compass Sweeney Todd 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

Best Director

Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell And The Butterfly Jason Reitman - Juno Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men Paul Thomas Anderson - 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

Best Documentary Short Subject

Freeheld La Corona (The Crown) Salim Baba Sari's Mother

Best 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

Beaufort The Counterfeiters Katyn Mongol 12

Best Makeup

La Vie En Rose Norbit Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Best Music Original Score

Atonement The Kite Runner Michael Clayton Ratatouille 3:10 To Yuma

Best Music - Original Song

Once Enchanted August Rush Enchanted Enchanted

Best Picture

Atonement Juno Michael Clayton No Country For Old Men There Will Be Blood

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) Peter & The Wolf

Best Live Action Short Film

At Night Il Supplente (The Substitute) Le Mozart Des Pickpokets Tanghi Argentini The Tonto Woman

Best Sound Editing

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

Best Sound Mixing

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

Best 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

The Leading nominated films are NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and THERE WILL BE BLOOD - Locked in immortal combat for 8 Nominations each! I have to say - I'm real real happy that PERSEPOLIS got nominated for Animated Film - and I think there's a pretty good chance that it could upset RATATOUILLE - but I would still say that's a 20 to 1 shot. I would have loved to have seen PERSEPOLIS get a Foreign Language Film nom too... alas.