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, I will say that I am disappointed to see Zodiac shut out of all the categories. And that this really does seem to be a race between No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, because those are the only two films nominated for Best Picture and Best Film Editing. And that I can’t recall any other animated film being nominated in as many categories as Ratatouille — yes, Beauty and the Beast (1991) had six nominations, but three of them were for Original Song, not unlike how Enchanted has three for Original Song this year. (The Academy does love Alan Menken.)

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. No Country for Old Men — Picture, director (Joel and Ethan Coen), adapted screenplay, cinematography, supporting actor (Javier Bardem), film editing, sound editing, sound mixing
2. There Will Be Blood — Picture, director (Paul Thomas Anderson), adapted screenplay, cinematography, actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), film editing, art direction, sound editing

7 nominations

1. Atonement — Picture, adapted screenplay, cinematography, supporting actress (Saoirse Ronan), art direction, costume design, original score
2. Michael Clayton — Picture, director (Tony Gilroy), original screenplay, actor (George Clooney), supporting actor (Tom Wilkinson), supporting actress (Tilda Swinton), original score

5 nominations

1. Ratatouille — Animated feature film, original screenplay, original score, sound editing, sound mixing

4 nominations

1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — Director (Julian Schnabel), adapted screenplay, cinematography, film editing
2. Juno — Picture, director (Jason Reitman), original screenplay, actress (Ellen Page)

3 nominations

1. The Bourne Ultimatum — Editing, sound editing, sound mixing
2. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street — Actor (Johnny Depp), art direction, costume design
3. Transformers — Sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects
4. La Vie en Rose — Actress (Marion Cotillard), costume design, makeup

3 nominations in 1 category

1. Enchanted — Original song (x3)

2 nominations

1. American Gangster — Supporting actress (Ruby Dee), art direction
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford — Cinematography, supporting actor (Casey Affleck)
3. Away from Her — Adapated screenplay, actress (Julie Christie)
4. Elizabeth: The Golden Age — Actress (Cate Blanchett), costume design
5. The Golden Compass — Art direction, visual effects
6. Into the Wild — Supporting actor (Hal Holbrook), film editing
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End — Makeup, visual effects
8. The Savages — Original screenplay, actress (Laura Linney)
9. 3:10 to Yuma — Original score, sound mixing

1 nomination

1. Across the Universe — Costume design
2. At Night — Live action short film
3. August Rush — Original song
4. Beaufort — Foreign language film
5. Charlie Wilson’s War — Supporting actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman)
6. La Corona (The Crown) — Documentary short
7. The Counterfeiters — Foreign language film
8. Eastern Promises — Actor (Viggo Mortensen)
9. Freeheld — Documentary short
10. Gone Baby Gone — Supporting actress (Amy Ryan)
11. I Met the Walrus — Animated short film
12. I’m Not There — Supporting actress (Cate Blanchett)
13. In the Valley of Elah — Actor (Tommy Lee Jones)
14. Katyn — Foreign language film
15. The Kite Runner — Original score
16. Lars and the Real Girl — Original screenplay
17. Madame Tutli-Putli — Animated short film
18. Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven) — Animated short film
19. Mongol — Foreign language film
20. Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) — Live action short film
21. My Love (Moya Lyubov) — Animated short film
22. No End in Sight — Documentary feature
23. Norbit — Makeup
24. Once — Original song
25. Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience — Documentary feature
26. Persepolis — Animated feature film
27. Peter & the Wolf — Animated short film
28. Salim Baba — Documentary short
29. Sari’s Mother — Documentary short
30. Sicko — Documentary feature
31. Il Supplente (The Substitute) — Live action short film
32. Surf’s Up — Animated feature film
33. Tanghi Argentini — Live action short film
34. Taxi to the Dark Side — Documentary feature
35. The Tonto Woman — Live action short film
36. 12 — Foreign language film
37. War/Dance — Documentary feature