Let My People Go!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I will be pissed if the Academy Awards don't happen this year, so the WGA strike better be settled by then, with the writers also getting everything they've been asking for from those greedy, money-hoarding studios.



And speaking of the Oscars, here are some of the nominees for the major categories. I know it's kind of early, but does anybody have any favorites (or recommendations for a guy like me who's just now trying to watch many of these films)?

Best Picture:
• "Atonement"
• "Juno"
• "Michael Clayton"
• "No Country for Old Men"
• "There Will Be Blood"

Actor:
• George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
• Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
• Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
• Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"
• Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

Actress:
• Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
• Julie Christie, "Away From Her"
• Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
• Laura Linney, "The Savages"
• Ellen Page, "Juno"

Supporting Actor:
• Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
• Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
• Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"
• Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

Supporting Actress:
• Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
• Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"
• Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"
• Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
• Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"

Director:
• Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
• Jason Reitman, "Juno"
• Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
• Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"

Foreign Film:
• "Beaufort," Israel
• "The Counterfeiters," Austria
• "Katyn," Poland
• "Mongol," Kazakhstan
• "12," Russia

Animated Feature Film:
• "Persepolis"
• "Ratatouille"
• "Surf's Up"

Documentary Feature:
• "No End in Sight"
• "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"
• "Sicko"
• "Taxi to the Dark Side"
• "War/Dance"