It’s that time of year again, although this year the questions are a little different. Instead of wondering if our favorite picture will be nominated or win an award, most people are simply wondering whether the annual extravaganza will even occur. With other major awards playing to empty houses or simply being handed out in a press conference on top of complaints in recent years about the quality of nominations, one has to wonder if the excuse for excess is even really necessary anymore. Is the writer’s strike really killing the awards, or have they shown us that we don’t really need the celebration anymore? Is it time to move past the decadence and simply enjoy movies that everyone sees?

Strike or no strike, show or no show, need for celebration or no need, the winners of this year’s Oscars will be announced on Sunday, February 24th. For now, here is the list of nominees for the 80th Acadamy Awards.

The Nominees Are...

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
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah


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


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


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


ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Surf’s Up
Persepolis
Ratatouille


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


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

And then there are the categories that are just as important, but I’m not going to comment individually on. In interests of time and space I haven’t listed each individual person, just the film involved, but those people’s families know who they are. Here are the rest of the Oscar Categories...

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Atonement
Away from Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

MUSIC (SCORE)
Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma

MUSIC (SONG)
"Falling Slowly" - Once
"Happy Working Song" - Enchanted
"Raise it Up" - August Rush
"So Close" - Enchanted
"That’s How You Know " - Enchanted

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

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari’s Mother

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
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

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
At Night
Il Supplente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Beaufort
The Counterfeiters
Katyń
Mongol
12

ART DIRECTION
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
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 The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

FILM EDITING
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

MAKEUP
La Vie en Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

SOUND EDITING
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

SOUND MIXING
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Transformers

The 80th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 24th on ABC Television at 5pm PST/8pm EST. Assuming they happen, don’t forget to join us for Oscar Chat 7 here at Cinema Blend, where we’ll no doubt make fun of the winners, losers, and sum up everything everyone will be talking about at the water cooler the next day.