So what do I think? Truthfully, I don't think there are that many surprises. I've only seen two of the Best Picture noms so far because neither The Hours nor The Pianist has opened here yet, despite the fact that Hollywood has been showing the trailers for them, and I could care less about TLOTR:TTT.

Oops... I hadn't looked too closely. I see now that Richard Gere wasn't nominated for Chicago. I've never liked Richard Gere before, but I thought that, despite the beauty of the two leading women, he was about the only reason the movie was worth seeing. I see Reilly, Zellweger, Latifah, and Zeta-Jones were all nominated, but the only one who really made the movie missed out. Of course, he did have stiff competition. Cage, Day-Lewis, and Nicholson were all great also. Once again, I haven't been able to see The Pianist or The Quiet American yet, but I will.

I see also that Meryl Streep was nominated for Adaptation, but not for The Hours. On the other hand, Julianne Moore (who is lovely and a great actress, but always plays characters I can't fucking stand) is nominated for both Far from Heaven (which also hasn't played here yet, damn it!) and The Hours. Should I be surprised that Adaptation got as many acting nominations total as The Hours?

And how about Best Director? I bet most people thought Peter Jackson was a lock for a nomination, but instead he loses out to Almodovar (who, I don't care what people say, I can't fucking stand him or his stupid movies) and Polanski. Don't get me wrong, I like Polanski, but I'm surprised voters went for him over Jackson.

I'm sort of disappointed that Catch Me If You Can received only two nominations (Christopher Walken for Best Supporting Actor and John Williams for Best Original Score), because I still insist that's the best movie that came out last year (that I've seen).

Wow, Frida picked up a lot of nominations. Didn't get to see that one either. I don't remember whether it played here or not. If it did, it was for about a week and then it disappeared. This town sucks.

Trashing Almodovar again, why did Talk to Her get more noms than Y Tu Mama Tambien?

About Schmidt wins Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes but can't even get nominated for an Oscar?

The Man without a Past is stuck hoping for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, yet Talk to Her gets a couple other noms? Man, I hate Almodovar.

I thought the cinematography in Chicago was horrendous. How the hell did it get a nomination? Ah, Conrad Hall will probably win in some sort of posthumous tribute anyway.

What d'ya know? Five period pieces hog the nominations for Best Costume Design.

As per usual, a couple really shitty films get to vie for the chance to slap "Academy Award Winner" stickers on their boxes. This year The Time Machine is nominated for Achievement in Makeup, while Episode II is up for Visual Effects.

I guess they'll take any nominations they can get, but I don't remember sound being the high point for Road to Perdition.

Now that I think about it, how does TLOTR:TTT get nominated for Best Picture on the power of 5 other nominations all basically in technical categories? Shouldn't that spot have maybe gone to Far from Heaven or About Schmidt or Adaptation or even better yet, Catch Me if You Can?

Well, I've said more than enough on this subject.