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The nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards were announced today. The full and official list can be found Oscar.com, but I’ve included the major categories below. I haven’t really studied the list carefully yet, but I’ll include a few quick comments after the list.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal)
Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Achievement in cinematography
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.): Roger Deakins
“Atonement” (Focus Features): Seamus McGarvey
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Janusz Kaminski
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit

Achievement in directing
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight), Jason Reitman
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson

Best motion picture of the year
“Atonement” (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight) A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Adapted screenplay
“Atonement” (Focus Features), Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
“Away from Her” (Lionsgate), Written by Sarah Polley
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight), Written by Diablo Cody
“Lars and the Real Girl” (MGM), Written by Nancy Oliver
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.), Written by Tony Gilroy
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
“The Savages” (Fox Searchlight), Written by Tamara Jenkins

The best actor category looks pretty solid. I’ve seen two of the five performances—Depp and Mortensen. I’m very keen to see the Daniel Day-Lewis performance, and hope I’ll do that this weekend. If there’s a surprise it is that Tommy Lee Jones is nominated for a film I’ve never even heard of. I just assumed, at first, that he was nominated for No Country for Old Men, but that’s not it. It’s a shame I never made it to Michael Clayton, but perhaps I’ll still get a chance to see it before the awards.

I’m completely at a loss with regard to the best actress category; I’ve only seen one of these performances, that of Ellen Page in Juno. It is a wonderful performance and a terrific film, but I expect some of the bigger guns will rule out. I understand there’s a lot of buzz around Julie Christie.

I feel like Cate Blanchett probably has the strongest shot in the supporting actress category for her role in I’m Not There.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got to say so far, but I’ll probably add some additional commentary in upcoming posts, and as I get to see some more of these films.

Also, Marcella and I did see Atonement over the past weekend. I haven’t had a chance to write up my thoughts yet, but I do still hope to do that soon as well.

Juno is a new film from director Jason Reitman. The screenplay was written by first time screenwriter Diablo Cody who is getting lots of press recently for her colorful life, and for this big breakout.

The movie stars Ellen Page as a pregnant and immensely individualistic 16 year old high school student named Juno. The young father of the baby is played by Micheal Cera. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner play a couple who want to adopt the baby when it is born.

This is one of those hyper-sharp films where the characters sometimes deliver lines that show an awareness and humorous insight into their condition that is probably all too unusual and unrealistic, but is still very enjoyable. I really appreciate movies like this. Nobody in the movie denies that a mistake has been made for Juno to be in the position she’s in, not even Juno. But they are where they are, and now they’ve got to live with it, so they act as they feel the must and as their natures dictate.

The performances are very strong. Ellen Page, for all of her petite size, is a dynamic and magnetic presence on the screen. Michael Cera delivers yet another of his quirky-likeable performances. He’s somehow cool in his un-coolness and geekitude. I don’t know if it’s just me or if what it means to be cool in high school is not the same as it once was?

Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner both deliver performances outside of the confines of what we have become a little too used to seeing from them.

I think Jason Bateman may be on the cusp of becoming an interesting actor to follow. Not necessarily as a traditional leading man type, but as an all purpose character actor type; someone you can count on to deliver the goods no matter the role. Here he takes his character from at first being the really like-able cool guy, and lets him gradually transform in a way that creates real dramatic tension. I don’t want to be overly specific for fear of spoiling a portion of the film. But it’s a performance worth watching.

Jennifer Garner may deliver the most complicated performance of the film, and she does it very convincingly. At first she comes off as overly controlling, and possibly even shrewish, but as the film progresses you begin to understand the deep need she has that is unfulfilled and that drives her with such determination and fear.

And then there are a number of smaller roles that are all delivered right on target; Allison Janney as Juno’s stepmother, J.K Simmons as her dad, and Olivia Thirlby as her best friend. They all contribute meaningfully to the sense and tone of the film.

And that’s the other nice thing about Juno—the sense and tone. The movie feels like it takes place in real homes in real neighborhoods. Juno’s home is warm and full of the stuff that a family collects. It’s slightly congested with the accumulation of memories, and they’ve spilled over to all parts of the house, but you wouldn’t want to part with any of them. While the home of Bateman’s and Garner’s characters is large and a bit too sterile. All of his memorabilia (movies, guitars, comics) is stored neatly away in one room as if to lock away the past so as not to pollute to present, but can it remain contained like that? Both homes are believable and familiar.

All in all it’s a quirky-funny film with good performances, good direction, a good soundtrack, and when I left the theater I felt glad I had seen it. I expect I will be purchasing this eventually when it becomes available in disk format, and I recommend it highly to anyone reading this.

No Country for Old Men is the latest film by the Coen brothers. Directors of such films as O Brother, Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, and Fargo.

They seem to alternate between making perverse but silly movies that are simply entertaining, like O Brother…, and Raising Arizona, and making dark, perplexing movies like Blood Simple and Fargo. No Country for Old Men is of the later type, although it may be darker and more perplexing than either of those.

The casting for this movie is dead on perfect. Tommy Lee Jones is a sheriff who has seen much, and seems troubled by the changes in the world, and it is his voice that opens the movie. Josh Brolin is just an ordinary man who stumbles into a very complicated situation, makes a few critical choices, and stumbles out with a bag full of money. Javier Bardem is a brutal, relentless enigma with a pageboy haircut who is devoted to only a single track—recover the money, and who has no, and I mean no, compunction about killing along the way.

Each of these three actors gives an incredible performance. I wouldn’t have been surprised to say that about Jones and Bardem, in fact I would expect no less, but I never imagined I would be saying that about Brolin. This may just be the role he was born to play, and he makes the most of it. It’s a gutsy, physical performance that highlights both the strengths and failings of the character he plays perfectly.

Javier Bardem’s performance as Anton, the almost Terminator-esque killer, is every bit as incredible. He has invented yet another wholly new incarnation for evil. Perhaps the most uniquely interesting one since Hannibal Lecter first appeared in Silence of the Lambs.

And then Tommy Lee Jones is the heart of the movie. The sheriff who can’t comprehend the terrible things he sees in the world, and yet who seems to have come to terms with at least some of it.

The other wonderful thing about this film is the cinematography. Once again, the Coen Brothers, through their partnership with cinematographer RogerDeakins, have composed a visually arresting movie. There are wonderful shots of the Texas range at night and in the heat of the day, with thunderheads sparking on the horizon; interspersed with shots of dreary trailer homes baking in the Texas heat and a man drinking a glass of milk reflected in a blank television screen; and the scuff marks a dying man makes with his heels on a tile floor. This is a movie to savor visually while absorbing the plot and dialog and relating to the characters. It has it all.

The first two thirds of the film act essentially as a discovery and then a chase, but the final third takes a radical change in direction. I’m not sure what to say about that portion of the film, especially without spoiling it, and I do think it probably might cause a lot of consternation for the audience. The only things I would suggest for a potential viewer is to make note of the fact that it is the Sheriff’s voice that opens the movie. I think that is important. And also to note several conversations along the way that involve the concepts of fate and chance, opposed to the reality of the choices the characters make.

Honestly, I’m still mulling over aspects of this movie, and remembering individual scenes and bits of dialog. This is a movie that it is good to see with someone else and to discuss over coffee or beers afterwards, because there are many areas open for interpretation and you just might find it enlightening to hear how someone else viewed certain of the scenes.

I highly recommend this movie. See it soon while you can see it on the big screen and experience the full effect of the cinematography.

I myself look forward to watching it again at some point to see what other interpretations I might find for a few of the more mysterious sequences. One of my favorite films of the year.