Overall, my initial impression is that the nominations are pretty dang good and for the most part, make me MUCH happier than I’ve been with the other junior awards, like the Golden Globes for instance.

My only real beef with this list, and this comes from not seeing all the movies nominated, is that I wish Atonement for Best Picture had been replaced by something more deserving, like Into the Wild, which I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about. It’s something different, where Atonement feels so artsy and “Oscar-y” that they had no choice but to include it.

I guess it may be enough that it didn’t get many other nominations, especially for Keira Knightly.

The other huge snub is Angelina Jolie for A Mighty Heart, who so deserved a Best Actress nod and it’s a shame she’s not on the list. She succeeded in making me forget that it was the famous actress doing the part and instead, made me believe it was Mariane Pearl herself. Brilliant work.

What am I ecstatic about? How about Juno being on the Best Picture list and Ellen Page up for Best Actress. I can’t tell you how awesome it would be for both of those nominations to become winners, because they are just so deserving. In fact, I truly believe that Juno will win this year be the darling of Oscar night.

Another happy nomination for me is Falling Slowly, the song in Once, which is up for Best Original Song in a motion picture.

I am also glad Casey Affleck is up for a Supporting Actor nom, but it was a movie I hadn’t seen yet. I loved him in Gone Baby Gone though.

And finally, Michael Clayton being up for Best Picture hopefully gets some people to go see it again once it hits theaters in a few weeks because it was an amazing film.

I’ve highlighted some of the nominations I think will win, even though many of these categories I don’t really care about or have enough viewing to even judge correctly.

I’m happy to say I’ve seen 3 of the 5 Best Pictures, but I’m really bummed that No Country and Blood are still ones I need to get out and watch.

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman – Juno
Tony Gilroy – Michael Clayton
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood

PERFORMANCE BY AN 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

PERFORMANCE BY AN 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

PERFORMANCE BY AN 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

PERFORMANCE BY AN 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

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Christopher Hampton – Atonement
Sarah Polley – Away From Her
Ronald Harwood – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody – Juno
Nancy Oliver – Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy – Michael Clayton
Brad Bird – Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins – The Savages

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Beaufort (Israel)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan) 12 (Russia)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf’s Up

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
American Gangster
Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
Atonement
Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Golden Compass
Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
There Will Be Blood
Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Seamus McGarvey – Atonement
Janusz Kaminski – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Roger Deakins – No Country for Old Men
Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Albert Wolsky – Across the Universe
Jacqueline Durran – Atonement
Alexandra Byrne – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Marit Allen – La Vie en Rose
Colleen Atwood – Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
Christopher Rouse – The Bourne Ultimatum
Juliette Welfling – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jay Cassidy – Into the Wild
Roderick Jaynes – No Country for Old Men
Dylan Tichenor – There Will Be Blood

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald – La Vie en Rose
Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji – Norbit
Ve Neill and Martin Samuel – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Dario Marianelli – Atonement
Alberto Iglesias – The Kite Runner
James Newton Howard – Michael Clayton
Michael Giacchino – Ratatouille
Marco Beltrami – 3:10 to Yuma

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Falling Slowlyâ€? – Once
Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
“Happy Working Songâ€? – Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
*â€?Raise It Upâ€? – August Rush
Nominees to be determined “So Closeâ€? – Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“That’s How You Knowâ€? – Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis – The Bourne Ultimatum
Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland – No Country for Old Men
Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane – Ratatouille
Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe – 3:10 to Yuma
Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin – Transformers

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg – The Bourne Ultimatum
Skip Lievsay – No Country for Old Men
Randy Thom and Michael Silvers – Ratatouille
Matthew Wood – There Will Be Blood
Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins – Transformers

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood – The Golden Compass
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier – Transformers