news flash

So I didn't finish my golden boy selections before the Oscar nominations. Oops.

The nominations were announced this morning, and I came into work late so I could watch the broadcast. That's about as nerdy as I get (I wish ...), but I've been doing that since I was in middle school. The nominations are normally when the big surprises happen, and to here it live makes it all the more exciting. This year was no exception, with big shut-outs and surprising inclusions. Here's what people (Hollywood people, at least) will be talking about today:

- No The Dark Knight. Despite eight nominations (including Heath Ledger's foregone win in Supporting Actor), the superhero flick was snubbed in the Best Director and Best Picture categories. Bummer, as included the groundbreaking film would have virtually guaranteed improved ratings. Also, it's the best film of the year.

- Instead, we get The Reader. After Manohla Dargis' dismissive review in the Times when the film opened, I thought that this one was all hype and hot air. Guess I was wrong. Looks like Harvey Weinstein has re-asserted some of his mid-90s magic for getting obscure titles attention. I need to see this one.

- Kate Winslet, not a double nominee, gets a lead nomination for The Reader, not Revolutionary Road. So much for the Golden Globes being a predictive force. People expected Winslet to be named in the supporting category for The Reader (though everyone who has seen the picture agrees that it is a lead performance). So even though the campaigns said one thing, the academy thought for themselves. Cheers.

- Michael Shannon nominated for Revolutionary Road. By far the best element of this underwhelming melodrama (aside from the also-nominated production design ... seriously I DiCaprio and Winslet would be fighting and all I could think of was how I wanted their toaster), was Shannon's brief, ferocious turn as their mentally unstable neighbor. He's a New York theater actor (so good in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead last year), so it's a treat to see him included.

- Best Actress. This was the hardest category to peg. I really thought that critical favorites Sally Hawkins and Kristin Scott Thomas (in my favorite performance of the year) would make it, as would Cate Blanchett because, well, she's Cate Blanchett. Instead, Melissa Leo surprised for the indie Frozen River (which is fine, but very Lifetime), and Angelina Jolie actually made the cut for Changeling (a good performance in an awful movie). I thought Jolie would be snubbed because she didn't make it for better work in A Mighty Heart last year. They must have felt bad about that.

OK. Enough is enough! I'll keep you posted with my picks. I still need to see The Reader and Frost/Nixon, though I doubt anything will come close to my ardor for Milk (yay for including Josh Brolin).