The Nominations

Well, the nominations are out and I must say The Oscar voters did OK. They usually get it at least in the ball park and this year is no exception. I will pat my own back and tell you that out of the fifty major nominations I called 43 on the button and missed seven (for me that's an average year)and I didn't miss more than one in any one category including Best Picture. I got 9 out of 10 pics, missing only "Crazy Heart". The surprising and deserving "District 9" took that last spot.

Omissions:
There where only a few that stood out. Poor Alfred Molina (An Education) got passed over again. That sucks. Matt Damon is a fine actor, but you wouldn't know it by "Invictus". Maybe the worst omission of the year was "500 Days of Summer" being left off the Original Screenplay list. Ben Foster and Samantha Morton (both from The Messenger) were more deserving than say Morgan Freeman and Penelope Cruz. Both Abby Cornish (Bright Star) and Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria) did Oscar-worthy work.

Good Calls:
Glad "The Messenger" got recognized for screenplay, if it couldn't be "500 Days of Summer". 'District 9" was a pleasant surprise for Best Picture. And the Foul-mouthed but very funny "In The Loop" was a great choice for Adapted Screenplay.

My Best calls:
I got Maggie Gyllenhall for "Crazy Heart" when nobody was calling that. And 9 out of 10 Best Picture predictions is pretty Psychic Hotline of me.

...and as usual with the Foreign Film nominations, "What the hell...???"