Oscar nominations — my own two bits

The Academy has spoken, and since everyone and his dog will be offering opinions on the nominees announced this morning, I won’t say all that much about them here myself.

However, it does startle me somewhat to see that Star Wars was shut out of the visual-effects category and nominated merely for its makeup. It would seem, then, that George Lucas’s fall from special-effects grace is complete. Twenty-plus years ago, the Academy had to invent special visual-effects awards for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi because the category didn’t even exist. But now that visual effects are a daily part of our lives? Six years ago, Episode I was nominated for three technical awards and lost them all to The Matrix; then, three years ago, Episode II was nominated for visual effects only, and lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; and now, the best Episode III can do is a measly makeup award — and surely nobody thinks Palpatine’s rubber skin was all that effective, do they?

Anyway, with Star Wars out, the visual-effects category is now a three-way race between War of the Worlds, King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia — the last of which, I would argue, was rather iffy in this department. Meanwhile, in the makeup category, Episode III is up against Narnia and, uh, Cinderella Man.

I’m sure other thoughts will occur to me over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here are the films that have been nominated for Oscars, ranked from those with the most nominations to those with only one. The titles of those I have seen are in bold:

8 nominations

1. Brokeback Mountain — Picture, director (Ang Lee), adapted screenplay, cinematography, actor (Heath Ledger), supporting actor (Jake Gyllenhaal), supporting actress (Michelle Williams), original score

6 nominations

1. Crash — Picture, director (Paul Haggis), original screenplay, supporting actor (Matt Dillon), editing, original song
2. Good Night, and Good Luck. — Picture, director (George Clooney), original screenplay, cinematography, actor (David Straitharn), art direction

5 nominations

1. Capote — Picture, director (Bennett Miller), adapted screenplay, actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman), supporting actress (Catherine Keener)
2. Memoirs of a Geisha — Cinematography, art direction, costume design, sound mixing, original score
3. Munich — Picture, director (Steven Spielberg), adapted screenplay, editing, original score
4. Walk the Line — Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), actress (Reese Witherspoon), costume design, editing, sound mixing

4 nominations

1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — Makeup, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects
2. The Constant Gardener — Adapted screenplay, supporting actress (Rachel Weisz), editing, original score
3. King Kong — Art direction, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects
4. Pride & Prejudice — Actress (Keira Knightley), art direction, costume design, original score

3 nominations

1. Cinderella Man — Supporting actor (Paul Giamatti), editing, makeup
2. War of the Worlds — Sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects

2 nominations

1. A History of Violence — Adapted screenplay, supporting actor (William Hurt)
2. Hustle & Flow — Actor (Terrence Howard), original song
3. Mrs. Henderson Presents — Actress (Judi Dench), costume design
4. North Country — Actress (Charlize Theron), supporting actress (Frances McDormand)
5. Syriana — Original screenplay, supporting actor (George Clooney)
6. TransAmerica — Actress (Felicity Huffman), original song

1 nomination

1. Ausreisser (The Runaway) — Live action short film
2. Badgered — Animated short film
3. Batman Begins — Cinematography
4. Cashback — Live action short film
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Costume design
6. Darwin’s Nightmare — Documentary feature
7. The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club — Documentary short
8. Don’t Tell — Foreign language film
9. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room — Documentary feature
10. God Sleeps in Rwanda — Documentary short
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — Art direction
12. Howl’s Moving Castle — Animated feature film
13. Joyeux Noel — Foreign language film
14. Junebug — Supporting actress (Amy Adams)
15. The Last Farm — Live action short film
16. March of the Penguins — Documentary feature
17. Match Point — Original screenplay
18. The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation — Animated short film
19. Murderball — Documentary feature
20. The Mushroom Club — Documentary short
21. The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello — Animated short film
22. The New World — Cinematography
23. 9 — Animated short film
24. A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin — Documentary short
25. One Man Band — Animated short film
26. Our Time Is Up — Live action short film
27. Paradise Now — Foreign language film
28. Six Shooter — Live action short film
29. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days — Foreign language film
30. The Squid and the Whale — Original screenplay
31. Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith — Makeup
32. Street Fight — Documentary feature
33. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride — Animated feature film
34. Tsotsi — Foreign language film
35. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit — Animated feature film