Oscar Nominees Announced

[AlecWest]

The Oscar nominees were announced LIVE this morning on my local Fox Network affiliate (at about 5:30 AM PST). I was up at the time and captured the brief 4-minute video (320x240) announcement:

http://alecwest.com/noms.wmv

Two of my favorites are also top nominees - "Juno" and "No Country For Old Men." If either one of them wins Best Picture, I won't be surprised.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[Supreme2k]

Not specifically towards you, AlecWest, but Juno and No Country... were two of the worst movies of the year.

I guess, truthfully, I didn't really see (or hear of) any Oscar-worthy pics. Especially not the two mentioned over-hyped "films". Juno in particular was just a bunch of hipster-wannabe drivel, not even salvageable by the top-notch work of Jason Bateman and J.K. Simmons.

[Conquest10]

Has it been that bad of a year? Most of these movies I've never even heard of.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080122/ap_en_ot/oscar_nominations_list;_ylt=AvMO5vWfQna35...UbZz10amVxFb8C

[rallynavvie]

I've seen most of those this year (my nearest theater is an arthouse one) and I can find faults with all of them, however several of them I think are worthy films which I will likely buy (if I have not already) once out on disc. I think of those mentioned Atonement and There Will Be Blood were the two most deserving of wins.

Juno and No Country were mixed for me. I think being a Minnesotan helped a little when watching Juno as there are some things the writer picked up on spending too much time in the Cities that were completely missed by the New Yorker I went to see the movie with. My biggest gripe with it was the first scene in the movie which was never touched on for the rest of the film. I like Rainn Wilson and we should have had the opportunity to find out why he had such a "chummy" relationship with the protagonist. I'm hoping there is a lot of cut footage in the disc release.

No Country had even more of these walk-on characters that weren't explained. The storytelling is good and the antagonist is terrifying but what the hell was up with Stephen Root and Woody Harrelson? It's nice to leave some things up to the imagination, like perhaps the last part of the film, but it seems like there was a LOT missing from the theater release.

But like I said, I've had pretty mixed reviews of all those nominees.

[redstripes]

I didn't see No Country but I really do think Juno is deserving of at least some recognition...it was a witty script with great acting, and it had a very refreshing spin

[cyflyer]

I'm of the opinion that as time goes by movies get worse and cheaper cos they've basically run of ideas. Its all been done before.