The nominees have been announced and can be viewed here:

http://www.imdb.com/features/rto/2008/oscars

Anything a surprise?  Upset something didn't get nominated?

Discuss.

{Don's edit: btw, you can read the nominated scripts here }

Happy with:

- A nod for Sarah Polley's Away from Her as best adapted screenplay and Julie Christie as best leading actress.
- Juno getting nominated in all the right places (acting, direction). Although I would've given Ellen Page the Oscar for Hard Candy.
- Philip Seymore Hoffman as best supporting actor in Charlie Wilson's war.

Unhappy with:

- Juno getting nominated for best screenplay.
- Where's the Oscar for McLovin'?
- Would've liked to see more recognition for Gone baby gone too.

Quoted from Death Monkey Happy with: - Juno getting nominated in all the right places (acting, direction). Unhappy with: - Juno getting nominated for best screenplay.

I disagree.  I didn't find anything to spectacular about the direction of Juno, whereas I thought the screenplay was great.  An attention to subtlety and dialogue that is very unique.

Acting wise, I thought Allison Janney did just an amazing job.

I was surprised to see that Enchanted got 3 of the 5 noms for Best Original Song.  Was there that much of a shortage in original music this year?

I haven't seen Enchanted or August Rush, but I really liked a good portion of the songs in "Once", and it'd be cool to see a REALLY low budget Indie walk away with something.

Higgonaitor, Nice to see someone else thinks highly of Allison Janney, I loved her in the West Wing and thought she was brilliant in Juno - Hoping this leads to much bigger things for her.

I was pleased with Juno nominated for best screenplay, To be fair when you have nominations for best original screenplay and the best movies of the year were mostly adaptations I would have been shocked if Juno was not there.

The only movies that is seriously missing is The Assassanation of Jesse James, where is it? For some reasons the Americans have just not got this movie at all, I don't know why. It will be the new Shawshank Redemption, In a few years it will be regarded as a classic and everyone will be wondering why it never got any oscar nominations apart from Afflecks nom which surely is academic when up against Javier and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Clearly of the best movies of last year and cannot get nominated over Atonement, which to honest I thought was nothing special at all.

Definitely some surprises here. I must be an idiot for not expecting Juno to get as many nominations as it has. Maybe the idea of a fun movie getting an Oscar nomination is just weird. I also didn't expect Eastern Promises to get nominated for anything whatsoever. Best Actor. Wow.

Anyway, happy to see Philip Seymour Hoffman nominated for Best Supporting Actor. He'll win it for sure. The only other standout candidate is Javier Bardem.

Most of all, I'm surprised the Oscars aren't horrible this year. Definitely some solid flicks up for them this year. 3/5 for Best Picture. 2007 was a good year for independent film. I expect Juno and the Coen bros. will clean out the awards this year. Juno is this year's Little Miss Sunshine (everyone likes it) and the Coen bros. are the best filmmakers (strictly technically speaking). They should take whatever nominations they have in craft-related catagories (Best Director, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, etc.)

Quoted from Higgonaitor I disagree.  I didn't find anything to spectacular about the direction of Juno, whereas I thought the screenplay was great.  An attention to subtlety and dialogue that is very unique. Acting wise, I thought Allison Janney did just an amazing job.

The screenplay was a classic case of trying too hard, I thought. But Jason Reitman's kaleidoscopic direction and Ellen Page made that film more than just another indie hipster-fest, where characters sit around and say really quirky and cool things about really quirky and cool stuff.

Allison Janney was really good too. So was Jason Bateman.

Hey,

Quoted from The Boy Who Could Fly I ditto that, where the hell is McLovin'.

Is there anybody in the academy under the age of sixty? That's why they keep nominating movies about Alzheimer's. They don't have enough healthy neurons to appreciate the genius that is McLovin'.

Quoted from Shelton I haven't seen Enchanted or August Rush, but I really liked a good portion of the songs in "Once", and it'd be cool to see a REALLY low budget Indie walk away with something.

I did see Enchanted (don't ask...) and while it does have have some good Disney songs (in particular, one about a first kiss) the Song Falling Slowly from "Once" I think has to win. The Boy and Girl playing that together in the music shop is the stand out moment in that movie for me.

sheepwalker

Quoted from Death Monkey The screenplay was a classic case of trying too hard, I thought. But Jason Reitman's kaleidoscopic direction and Ellen Page made that film more than just another indie hipster-fest, where characters sit around and say really quirky and cool things about really quirky and cool stuff. Allison Janney was really good too. So was Jason Bateman.

Apparently diablo cody had a popular blog and everyone really enjoyed it for the uniqye way she wrote things, and encouraged her to write a screenplay, and so she did.  It's not that she's trying to hard, thats just the way she writes.  In any case, I thought the script was fantastic and laid it all out for Reitman to just pick up and go with.

This is a copy from another website, but it looks to be true.

"This is the story:

Brooke, her real name, was working as a copywriter at an ad agency. She is a college graduate, I think in English. She has written stories and poetry throughout her life. Several teachers told her she was a very talented writer.

On a dare, she went to strip club. She was hired and spent a year there. Diablo wrote of her experiences on her blog, "The Pussy Ranch."

Mason Novick, formerly of Benderspink, (benderspink.com)came upon her blog. He tried for 7 months to contact her, she thought he was a cyber stalker. He finally got her to sign with him. Mason got her a book deal for her blog, "CandyGirl" was published. Then he suggested Diablo try to write a screenplay to enhance her marketable image to other publishers.

She wrote "Juno" in 2 months. Mason has since left Benderspink and he was a producer of "Juno." Granted she had never written a screenplay before, but she has written stories and poetry throughout her life. She knows how to structure a story.

Her next project is to write a screenplay about her stripper-to-riches saga. She has several other projects in the works, too.

The Diablo I saw on Oprah is the same Diablo I met, sweet and funny without trying too hard. You can also read her column in "Entertainment Weekly." It appears about once a month.

Thankfully and finally a woman screenwriter is making headlines in Hollywood. She didn't win the Golden Globe but the globes don't separate original from adapted screenplays like the Oscars. I'll eat my car if she doesn't win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. "

Quoted from tomson Thankfully and finally a woman screenwriter is making headlines in Hollywood. She didn't win the Golden Globe but the globes don't separate original from adapted screenplays like the Oscars. I'll eat my car if she doesn't win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

Women are all over the screenplay nominations this year.  Four total.  I thought there was a 5th, but it turns out that the Jan that worked on Ratatouille is a guy.

I glanced through the first portion of the Juno script earlier since I've been reading some stuff on different boards here and there, and the funny thing is that if someone submitted that script here, it'd probably be crucified for having the teenage characters talk the way they do.  Just something to think about.

Quoted from Higgonaitor Apparently diablo cody had a popular blog and everyone really enjoyed it for the uniqye way she wrote things, and encouraged her to write a screenplay, and so she did.  It's not that she's trying to hard, thats just the way she writes.  In any case, I thought the script was fantastic and laid it all out for Reitman to just pick up and go with.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. I'm sure Diablo Cody genuinely believes in what she's writing but that doesn't NECESSARILY mean that it's any good. Her script for Juno was trying way too hard to be hip, and saying "that's just how she writes" doesn't negate that. If that's just how she writes then trying too hard is just how she writes...

And obviously Reitman's style isn't laid out by Cody. If you've seen Thank you for Smoking you can see a very distintive direction and tone that's also present in Juno.

Quoted from Death Monkey The two aren't mutually exclusive. I'm sure Diablo Cody genuinely believes in what she's writing but that doesn't NECESSARILY mean that it's any good. Her script for Juno was trying way too hard to be hip, and saying "that's just how she writes" doesn't negate that. If that's just how she writes then trying too hard is just how she writes... And obviously Reitman's style isn't laid out by Cody. If you've seen Thank you for Smoking you can see a very distintive direction and tone that's also present in Juno.

I guess I just disagree.  I thought the writing in Juno was great.  I don't think Diablo was "trying too hard" to be hip, but the dialogue is fresh and realistic.

I did see Thank you for smoking and was actually a little dissapointed with it--I was expecting a lot more

I think people are taking the dialogue in Juno way too seriously. This debate extends far beyond this messageboard. I haven't seen Juno but from the looks of it, I don't think it's meant to be taken all that seriously. It's a comedy after all. My roommate described it as something in between Little Miss Sunshine and Napolean Dynamite, albiet more serious subject matter. In any case, neither films struck me as trying to be true to life and what I've heard about Juno from people who've seen it, or even based on the ads alone, it seems to be in a similar vein. Let's face it. No one calls their friends "homeskillet" or uses the phrase "what the blog?", not even ironically. Period. I'm positive even Diablo Cody understands that.

Besides, if you want to bash someone for being a pretentious hipster who's trying too hard, Wes Anderson's a much bigger (and better) target.

Quoted from James McClung Besides, if you want to bash someone for being a pretentious hipster who's trying too hard, Wes Anderson's a much bigger (and better) target.

Just when I though you were making sense you come up with that. We could really fall out over that statement James!