ACCA 2003 Nominations Announcement!

Check out the nominees.

Entertainment Weekly seems to think 'Avatar' is the frontrunner...

...but more importantly, do you?

Nominations Announcement Video...

...just in case you wanted to see.

The 82nd Academy Award Nominations are here!

Behold the nominees, with the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Best Picture

* “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
* “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
* “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
* “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
* “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
* “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
* “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
* “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
* “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role

* Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
* George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
* Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
* Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
* Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role

* Matt Damon in “Invictus”
* Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
* Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
* Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
* Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role

* Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
* Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
* Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
* Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
* Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role

* Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
* Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
* Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
* Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film

* “Coraline” Henry Selick
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
* “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
* “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
* “Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction

* “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
* “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
* “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
* “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

* “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
* “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
* “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
* “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
* “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design

* “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
* “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
* “Nine” Colleen Atwood
* “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing

* “Avatar” James Cameron
* “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
* “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
* “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)

* “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
* “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
* “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
* “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
* “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

* “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
* “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
* “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
* “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
* “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

* “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* “District 9” Julian Clarke
* “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

* “Ajami” Israel
* “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
* “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
* “Un Prophète” France
* “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup

* “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)

* “Avatar” James Horner
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
* “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
* “Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

* “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short Film (Animated)

* “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
* “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
* “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
* “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
* “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)

* “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
* “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
* “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
* “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
* “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
* “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
* “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing

* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects

* “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

* “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

* “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
* “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
* “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

-Avatar and The Hurt Locker tied for the most nominations with 9 each...thoughts?

We're just hours away from the OSCAR NOMINATIONS!!!

Can you feel the excitement? Just to do a sort of pre-show, the poll here on the blog revealed that 71% of voters feel that Avatar will lead the field in terms of nominations (Inglourious Basterds came in 2nd with 11%, then The Hurt Locker with 8%, and Up in the Air with 5%). It's also worth nothing that the supposedly "leaked nominations" are a hoax, so DON'T BELIEVE IT. Right now we're just counting down the hours, so use this as an open space for anything related to the Oscar nominations, which are imminent...

P.S.- ACCA Voting is open, so kill time till the nominations by casting your vote here. Make your voice heard!

Today's the Big Day, so look for the DVD column tomorrow...

...something tells me everyone is more concerned with the nominations than my column, so I'll publish it tomorrow instead. Be sure to check here frequently this morning as we cover what the Academy decided to do!

The Oscar Nominations are tomorrow...

...so now's your last chance to chime in with your hopes, dreams, fears, predictions, and everything in between in regard to the big moment tomorrow morning
-Make your final thoughts known!

Podcast #11 debuts on the site, along with an article on snubbed women directors!

As promised, we're getting back on track here at The Awards Circuit with Podcasts, and have Podcast #11 for everyone. This one our final Oscar talk pre-nominations, and can be heard here, so listen and give us feedback!
We also have an article up on snubbed female directors that is worth a read, so check that out here and let us know what you think!
-Thoughts on the podcast and article?

Curious who will be announcing the Oscar Nominations on Tuesday morning?

Well, the actress chosen to present them is none other than Anne Hathaway. Here's the press release:

Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards® will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Oscar-nominated actress and Academy member Anne Hathaway.

Sherak and Hathaway will unveil the nominations in 10 of the 24 categories at a 5:30 a.m. news conference at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where hundreds of media representatives from around the world will be gathered. Nominations information for all categories will be distributed simultaneously to news media in attendance and via the Internet on the official Academy Awards Web site, www.oscar.com.

-I can't wait...

In anticipation of tomorrow's Golden Globes...

...here's an article from Variety doing a bit of a reassessment of how the HFPA and Academy match up:

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. has long touted its Golden Globes Awards as being able to predict, and possibly influence, which movies and performances will be nominated for the Oscars.

Well, the math has always been on their side. With 10 slots given for best picture (when including the musical-comedy category) at the Globes and five for the Oscars, it doesn't take a physicist to figure out that many will make the cut at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

This year, though, with the Oscars expanding its best picture race to a field to 10, the Academy members' tastes and preferences will match up directly with the members of the HFPA in the number of nominees available.

Not surprisingly, many believe the group's drama nominees will cross over, while the comedies will face a tougher road.

There are certain things that Academy members have traditionally looked for in a best picture nominee," says Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker. "I'm not sure a movie like 'The Hangover' has those elements."

The HFPA's drama nominees show up on many Oscar prognosticators; lists, but of the musical-comedy selections, it's difficult to say if any of the films will make the Acad's 10.

Historically, the Globes' musical-comedy nominees have rarely found favor with Academy voters. Last year, none of the nominees made the final list, including the winner, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." In 2007, only "Juno" broke through. And, for the remaining years of the decade, the list includes just seven musicals and comedies -- "Little Miss Sunshine," "Ray," "Sideways," "Lost in Translation," "Chicago," "Moulin Rouge" and "Chocolat."

Traditionally when you had five Oscar nominees, you'd have maybe one comedy or music-heavy movie cross over," says a veteran awards-season publicist. "This year, with 10 movies, who knows? You might get a couple of comedies, maybe an animated movie or maybe just more of the same."

Part of the great unknown is whether the expanded ballot will prompt some Academy members to change their voting philosophies.

I think it will, simply because it's human nature," says Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz. "The smaller the list, the more careful you are. Now some will think, 'I love "Star Trek," and you know what? I'm going to put it on there.' And they can do that without feeling like they're cheating some gem."

By that logic, "Star Trek" or another critical and commercial sci-fi success, "District 9," could make the Academy's list. Other movies ignored by the HFPA that might find some Oscar love include pics such the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man," Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" the coming-of-age story "An Education" or tony period pieces such as "Bright Star" and "The Last Station."

It wasn't a particularly good year to double the size of the best picture list," observes one Academy member. "You've got some good movies, but most were largely ignored by audiences. And you've got 'Avatar.' Is there room for 'Avatar' and 'District 9' and 'Star Trek'? I just don't think voters have that kind of populist mindset."

Pixar's CG-animated adventure "Up" didn't make the HFPA's list, only because animated movies have their own category and are thus ineligible. While the Oscars have an animated movie category as well, no restrictions stop Academy voters from placing "Up" or, say, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" in the best picture category.

It has been a tremendous year for animated movies," says film critic Leonard Maltin, citing "Coraline" and "Ponyo" along with the other titles mentioned. "You can't help but think one of these films will be nominated."

One final underdog contender not nominated by the HFPA that could make the Academy's list is "Crazy Heart," featuring Jeff Bridges' down-and-out country singer Bad Blake.

People love Jeff Bridges, and that has bought the movie a lot of good will, too," says an awards insider. "Seeing it nominated this year, with a field of 10, wouldn't be at all shocking."

-Thoughts on the article/upcoming Globes?

New Academy Member John August walks us through how the nominations work...

...and it's interesting to read. His complete thoughts are here, but this is a taste of what he (an accomplished screenwriter) has to say on his first year voting for the Oscars:

This is my first year as an Academy member, and my first year voting for awards. As a member of the Writers branch, I’ll be casting ballots for Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.

Since it’s all new to me, I thought I’d walk readers through the process.

A few weeks ago, I got a printed Reminder List — a catalog listing all the films eligible for Best Picture. It’s from this list that I have to pick and rank my top ten films. I’ll hand-write the titles on a form that goes in a green envelope, which must be received by the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP by 5 p.m. January 23, 2010.

-Thoughts?

EW's Dave Karger brings out his Oscar predictions...

...and he's usually pretty close in his picks, though this year all bets are off, especially in Best Picture. The full article with his explanations is here, but here's what he's predicting:

Best Picture
Avatar
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious
Julianne Moore, A Single Man
Samantha Morton, The Messenger

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Clint Eastwood, Invictus
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Pete Docter & Bob Peterson, Up
Scott Neustatder & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Adapted Screenplay
Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

-Thoughts on his predictions?

Curious how many votes it takes to get an Oscar nomination?

Wonder no more, as this article does a great job explaining, but here's the quick and dirty version:

Acting awards:
Members: 1,205 active
Votes required for nomination: 201

Art direction:
Members: 374 members (but 109 are costume designers, who vote in a separate category; that means that 265 members are eligible to vote for the art direction Oscar)
Votes required for nomination: 45

Cinematography:
Members: 201
Votes required for nomination: 34

Costume design:
Members: 109 (from the art directors branch)
Votes required for nomination: 19

Directing:
Members: 366
Votes required for nomination: 62

Film editing:
Members: 221
Votes required for nomination: 37

Original score:
Members: 234
Votes required for nomination: 40

Sound editing, sound mixing:
Members: 405
Votes required for nomination: 68

Original screenplay, adapted screenplay:
Members: 382
Votes required for nomination: 64

Best picture:
Members: 5,777

Votes required for nomination: 526

The 65 Countries (and films) in the hunt for the Foreign Language Oscar

They all can be found here, from the official press release. Most of the expected films that we've been tracking are there, though I couldn't tell you for the life of me which five will make the cut, so you be the judge...
-Which of those films do you think have the best shot at a nomination?

Today's Trailers: The Damned United, The Other Man, and The Baader Meinhof Complex,

Peter Morgan goes the sports route with 'The Damned United':

Also, we have the trailer for the commonly titled 'The Other Man':

Finally, we have the trailer for the Oscar nominated 'The Baader Meinhof Complex':

'Baader Meinhof' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

My take on the Best Picture Nomination Field expanding to 10 films...

Right now, I am as shocked as everyone else is about this announcement, as we really didn't see it coming (much as we might have been hoping for some kind of reform, to some degree) or expect this big a change. The question now is the quality of the change. I for one think it could go either way. It's the proverbial double edged sword.

-On the one hand, the Academy now has the opportunity to recognize and nominate (and potentially award) films that are far more diverse, daring, and frankly...better. The days of mediocre dramas that fit the bill of being Best Picture nominees but aren't actually good enough getting nominated might be over. We could see action films, comedies, cartoon, documentaries, and any other out of the norm film grab a nomination.

-On the other hand though, there are no promises that this will happen. The Academy only has the opportunity to make better choices. We don't know that they will. They could pick 10 mediocre movies instead of 5 just as easily as they could shake things up.

-Look at it this way, if last year we had 10 nominees, the extra five could have been:

The Dark Knight

WALL-E

The Wrestler

Iron Man

Rachel Getting Married

-However, the other five could have easily been:

Changeling

Gran Torino

Doubt

The Dutchess

Defiance

-One equals change, one doesn't. This makes for a very interesting Oscar year, but we won't know yet if it's a better one or not. What do you think?

One of the stars of Watchmen joins a current Oscar nominee in an upcoming flick!

So many possibilities, but the actually people are found in this article from Variety:

Spyglass has set Matthew Goode to star opposite Amy Adams in "Leap Year," the romantic comedy Anand Tucker will direct from a script by Harry Elfont and Deb Kaplan.
Adams plays a young woman who travels to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day. When weather forces her to veer off course, she enlists a cynical Irish innkeeper (Goode) to join her on a cross-country trip.
Shooting begins in March in Ireland.
Goode will next be seen in the Zack Snyder-directed "Watchmen," and he recently completed the Tom Ford-directed "A Single Man." Goode starred in "Brideshead Revisited" and "The Lookout."

-I dig Shopgirl, so I'm interested to see what Tucker does with this...

A Whole Bunch of Underrated DVD's out this week!

Indeed, many of the releases this week were regarded somewhat harsher than you'd think upon their theatrical debuts. Granted, none of these films are perfect, but two in particular were strangely given the shaft, at least in my eyes. One is my PICK OF THE WEEK, and it's a rather divisive film. It's:

W.

Oliver Stone's look at a life "misunderestimated" is definitely not what you'd expect from a George W. Bush biopic. At its heart it's more about a man with daddy issues and modest aspirations that seemed to fail upwards almost by accident in an ever ongoing attempt to please his father, who seemed to only have eyes for his brother. Even if you disagree with Stone's approach (either too soft for you liberals or too harsh for you right wingers), it's worth a view for Elizabeth Bank's very nice role as Laura Bush and Josh Brolin's fantastic work as the President himself. It's more than a mimic job, it's a true acting job.

-The other film that was not given its due among this week's releases is Blindness. Greeted harshly at Cannes, this film about an epidemic of, well...blindness, never recovered from the beating it took in France. It's a pity because it's actually a very interesting film about the breakdown in society. Its execution may not be perfect, but strong performances from Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo more than make up for it.

-Also out we have Spike Lee's World War II film Miracle at St. Anna, which is, like many WW2 films, too long and like many Lee films, somewhat unfocused. That being said, it's not a bad film by any stretch and worth a look if you think it's something you'd enjoy. There's Bruce Campbell's self referential My Name is Bruce, which is mildly amusing but ultimately less than you'd hope for, Soul Men, which isn't very good at all, but in respect for the late Bernie Mac, I'll pass up a chance at a scathing write-up of it, the romantic flick Nights in Rodanthe, which unfortunately feels like it lasts much more than a handful of nights, and last but not least, the small film Frozen River, which garnered two Oscar nominations. I didn't care much for the film or writer/director Courtney Hunt's script (which somehow got nominated), but Melissa Leo's nominated lead role is among the best work by any actor or actress this year. It's worth seeing if you're interested in seeing all the nominated works of 2008.

-My Vintage pick is a film with a typical Adam Sandler character in it. Thing is, it's not a typical Sandler movie. It's Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love. Essentially a stock Sandler character doing stock Sandler things, just with the laugh track muted. What you end up with is a fascinating look at self destructive behavior, a new degree of appreciation for Sandler's acting skills (see Reign Over Me as well for further proof that one day you very well might hear "Academy Award Nominee" Adam Sandler in an ad), and a larger revelry for the talent that is P.T. Anderson. Definitely something to watch if you've never seen it or to revisit if you have.

-What will everyone be watching this week?

Group Picture from the Nominee Luncheon

-Here's the group shot...over at Awards Daily there's some other photos, so enjoy this one and check out the others over there!

Variety Chimes in on the Big Omissions

Yes, even they seem a little pissed, at the very least puzzled:

As in any year, the omissions were almost as interesting as the contenders, and this year there's a stellar list of no-shows, including Christopher Nolan, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Springsteen, Miley Cyrus -- and Batman himself.
Though Warner Bros.' "The Dark Knight" scored an impressive eight bids, it was left out of the best pic race -- virtually guaranteeing that the fanboys will be igniting the Internet with their laments.
Though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences voters have nominated popcorn-blockbuster films in the past, such as "E.T.," "Titanic" and "Gladiator," some felt "Dark Knight" had an uphill struggle to become one of the anointed five. It's a comicbook pic, and it's a sequel in a franchise where the five earlier editions were not nominated.
But the film had a gravitas, dealing with the abuse of power and terrorism in a manner that touched upon audience fears and concerns. The serious themes were complemented by razzle-dazzle filmmaking and performances, which led the film's supporters to believe that it could score with Oscar in the way the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy did. Nolan's recognition by the DGA supported that theory.
The eight noms show widespread admiration for "The Dark Knight," but only PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants know whether it came in sixth -- or lower -- for best pic.
Springsteen's title tune for "The Wrestler" won a Golden Globe this month, and Cyrus was co-writer of "I Thought I Lost You" from "Bolt."
Though Holocaust-WWII films have a reputation as being irresistible fodder for the Academy, "The Reader" was the only one to score, with also-ran status afforded to the year-end group of "Adam Resurrected," "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," "Defiance," "Good" and "Valkyrie."
And the waning genre of Iraq-themed pics were shut out, including "Body of Lies" and "Stop-Loss."
There is always a discrepancy between the year's biggest hits and the Academy voting. But this year, there was less of a divide than usual. Of the year's top 10 grossing films worldwide, four of them drew noms. The top grossers in order, with Oscar contenders in italics: "Dark Knight," "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "Kung Fu Panda," "Hancock," "Iron Man," "Mamma Mia!" "Quantum of Solace," "Wall-E," "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."
This year, there were also films that never gained traction with awards voters, including "The Yellow Handkerchief," "Australia," "Appaloosa," "Cadillac Records," "Che," "Elegy," "I've Loved You So Long," "Last Chance Harvey," "Nothing But the Truth," "The Secret Life of Bees," "Seven Pounds," "Synecdoche, New York" and "W."

-Cool article, kind of a checklist of pissed off people and films...