Oscars — no one gets to win more than six!

I spent most of the past four days feeding and changing the babies, so I haven’t had time to read or think all that much about the Oscar nominations that were announced last Tuesday, apart from noticing some of the weird details that everyone else has noticed.

For example, how can Children of Men be nominated for “film editing” when the one thing about the film that impresses even its detractors is its constant use of long, unedited shots?

Or how can Borat be nominated for “adapted screenplay” when it was, supposedly, a largely improvised semi-documentary?

Or has it ever happened before that the film with the most nominations — in this case, Dreamgirls, which has eight — was shut out of both the Best Picture and Best Director categories? (Then again, it is nominated in only six categories, just like Best Picture contenders Babel and The Queen and Best Foreign Language Film contender Pan’s Labyrinth. So let’s call it more of a tie.)

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 in 6 categories

1. Dreamgirls — Supporting actor (Eddie Murphy), supporting actress (Jennifer Hudson), art direction, costume design, sound mixing, original song (x3)

7 nominations in 6 categories

1. Babel — Picture, director (Alejandro González Iñárritu), original screenplay, supporting actress (Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi), film editing, original score

6 nominations

1. Pan’s Labyrinth — Foreign language film, original screenplay, cinematography, art direction, makeup, original score
2. The Queen — Picture, director (Stephen Frears), original screenplay, actress (Helen Mirren), costume design, original score

5 nominations

1. Blood Diamond — Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), supporting actor (Djimon Hounsou), film editing, sound editing, sound mixing
2. The Departed — Picture, director (Martin Scorsese), adapted screenplay, supporting actor (Mark Wahlberg), film editing

4 nominations

1. Letters from Iwo Jima — Picture, director (Clint Eastwood), original screenplay, sound editing
2. Little Miss Sunshine — Picture, original screenplay, supporting actor (Alan Arkin), supporting actress (Abigail Breslin)
3. Notes on a Scandal — Adapted screenplay, actress (Judi Dench), supporting actress (Cate Blanchett), original score
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest — Art direction, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects

3 nominations

1. Apocalypto — Makeup, sound editing, sound mixing
2. Children of Men — Adapted screenplay, cinematography, film editing
3. Little Children — Adapted screenplay, actress (Kate Winslet), supporting actor (Jackie Earle Haley)

2 nominations

1. Cars — Animated feature film, original song
2. The Devil Wears Prada — Actress (Meryl Streep), costume design
3. Flags of Our Fathers — Sound editing, sound mixing
4. An Inconvenient Truth — Documentary feature, original song
5. The Prestige — Cinematography, art direction
6. United 93 — Director (Paul Greengrass), film editing

1 nomination

1. After the Wedding — Foreign language film
2. Binta and the Great Idea — Live action short film
3. The Black Dahlia — Cinematography
4. The Blood of Yingzhou District — Documentary short subject
5. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan — Adapted screenplay
6. Click — Makeup
7. Curse of the Golden Flower — Costume design
8. The Danish Poet — Animated short film
9. Days of Glory — Foreign language film
10. Deliver Us from Evil — Documentary feature
11. Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) — Live action short film
12. The Good German — Original score
13. Half Nelson — Actor (Ryan Gosling)
14. Happy Feet — Animated feature film
15. Helmer & Son — Live action short film
16. The Illusionist — Cinematography
17. Iraq in Fragments — Documentary feature
18. Jesus Camp — Documentary feature
19. The Last King of Scotland — Actor (Forest Whitaker)
20. Lifted — Animated short film
21. The Little Matchgirl — Animated short film
22. The Lives of Others — Foreign language film
23. Maestro — Animated short film
24. Marie Antoinette — Costume design
25. Monster House — Animated feature film
26. My Country, My Country — Documentary feature
27. No Time for Nuts — Animated short film
28. Poseidon — Visual effects
29. The Pursuit of Happyness — Actor (Will Smith)
30. Recycled Life — Documentary short subject
31. Rehearsing a Dream — Documentary short subject
32. The Saviour — Live action short film
33. Superman Returns — Visual effects
34. Two Hands — Documentary short subject
35. Venus — Actor (Peter O’Toole)
36. Volver — Actress (Penelope Cruz)
37. Water — Foreign language film
38. West Bank Story — Live action short film