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The list of Oscar nominees released early this morning in Los Angeles is made up of the usual mix of worthy contenders, bows to current fashion and popularity, and bizarre omissions.
The voters got it completely right in only a couple of the technical categories.
It’s hard to argue with any of the choices in the best cinematography and best editing slots — especially the recognition for the brilliant Roger Deakins’s lighting work on “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” and Robert Elswit’s magnificent camerawork on “There Will Be Blood.”
What was probably the last year’s most imaginative musical score — Jonny Greenwood’s work on “There Will Be Blood” — was snubbed in favor of the second-rate score for “3:10 from Yuma.”
The biggest sleeper hit of 2007 — “Juno” — continued to build momentum with nominations for best picture, best director, best actress, and best screenplay.
The Academy voters often save plenty of room for a soft and sappy year-end hit — previous years have seen equally unjustified support for “As Good As It Gets” and “Little Miss Sunshine.”
With so many commentators complaining that too many “dark” films have been nominated in major categories, it wouldn’t surprise me to see “Juno” take home the best picture prize rather than the brilliant-but-bleak “There Will Be Blood” or “No Country for Old Men.”
The complete omission of David Fincher’s “Zodiac” (above) is a shock — the only other Hollywood releases of 2007 that came close in terms of ambition and accomplishment were “There Will Be Blood” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”
Oh well, it is always important to remember that this is the same awards body that once nominated “The Towering Inferno” and “Airport” in the best picture category. More recently they gave Helen Hunt an Oscar for “As Good as It Gets” the same year that Judi Dench was nominated for “Mrs. Brown.”

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