As expected, There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men lead the 2008 Oscar nominations. And seriously - are there any other competitors in the Best Picture category besides those two? Don’t say Atonement; that won the Best Picture Golden Globe out of sheer luck. Everybody knows the Globes love their weepy dramas as much as the Oscars love their intense, drawn-out epics.

The most unexpected nomination this year is without a doubt Ellen Page’s for Best Actress in Juno. Don’t get me wrong, Juno was a great little movie - the Little Miss Sunshine of the 2008 Oscar season, for sure - but I’m sure even Page is baffled by her simple performance standing alongside old pros like Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and Julie Christie (Away From Her).

If there is an upset at the 2008 Oscars (if there’s a standard ceremony), it will be Michael Clayton winning for Best Picture. The Oscar panel is notorious for handing off multiple awards to films with the biggest buzz while giving the all-important Best Picture nod to the underdog (remember Crash?).

Anyhoo, the nominees are… Read More »

We recently chimed in with our thoughts on the truncated Golden Globes, stating that the awards show is barely relevant to even the most hardcore pop-culture follower. The Academy Awards, on the other hand, are a far larger affair.

With the Golden Globes being scaled down to a high-society press conference, is the axe looming over the Oscars?

The 80th Annual Academy Awards are scheduled to be broadcast live on February 24, with the nominees announced on January 22, less than two weeks away.

Under the usual circumstances, a staff of writers would be knee-deep in zingers come January 22 - but no dice this year, with all this WGA strike hullabaloo.

Even Bruce Davis, the Academy’s executive director, doesn’t sound very optimistic about the shows’ outcome: “I’m not going to cite odds, but our hope is we can work something out or that the strike is resolved in time.” Ouch.

Has the WGA finally broke down the corporate heads? Quite possibly: Jon Stewart is scheduled to revisit his role as host at the Oscars, but in lieu of recent events may or may not follow through with his part of the bargain. If that’s the case, the Academy has no host, let alone a shoe-in ready to fill Stewart’s spot.

This situation is sticky. A resolution is in order, methinks…