AnimeUKnews:

Studio 4C's movie Tekkonkinkreet is the only anime in the running for this year's "Best Animated Feature" Oscar. These preliminary nominations will eventually be whittled down to a final three choices for the award.

Also in the running are heavy hitting American CG efforts like Ratatouille, Shrek the Third and The Simpsons Movie. Tekkonkinkreet is arguably the least known film on the list, despite being directed by an American in Michael Arias.

I think that a darkhorse for Best Film could be The Kingdom. I know that it didn't do well in theaters, but I saw it and was really impressed with Jamie Foxx. This is definitely the type of movie that the Oscar people like as well (well-made, but a flop in ticket sales). I may be totally wrong on this, but it's just a thought.

Oscar nominees are announced today? Is this another one that will be screwed up because of the writer's strike?

its not the line and the winner is, its the crap in between

ha ha. Anyway here's the list:

Oscar Nominations 2008

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
(DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (Focus Features)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilsons War (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Universal)
Julie Christie in Away from Her (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in The Savages (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in Juno (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in Im Not There (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in American Gangster (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in Atonement (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)

Best animated feature film of the year
Persepolis (Sony Pictures Classics) Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
Ratatouille (Walt Disney) Brad Bird
Surf's Up (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Achievement in art direction
American Gangster (Universal)
Art Direction: Arthur Max
Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
Atonement (Focus Features)
Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood
Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Golden Compass (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners)
Art Direction: Dennis Gassner
Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Art Direction: Dante Ferretti
Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Art Direction: Jack Fisk
Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Achievement in cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Warner Bros.) Roger Deakins
Atonement (Focus Features) Seamus McGarvey
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Janusz Kaminski
No Country for Old Men (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roger Deakins
There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Robert Elswit

Achievement in costume design
Across the Universe (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky
Atonement (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Universal) Alexandra Byrne
La Vie en Rose (Picturehouse) Marit Allen
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Julian Schnabel
Juno (Fox Searchlight) Jason Reitman
Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.) Tony Gilroy
No Country for Old Men (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Paul Thomas Anderson

Best documentary feature
No End in Sight (Magnolia Pictures)
A Representational Pictures Production
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (The Documentary Group)
A Documentary Group Production
Richard E. Robbins
Sicko (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company)
A Dog Eat Dog Films Production
Michael Moore and Meghan OHara
Taxi to the Dark Side (THINKFilm)
An X-Ray Production
Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
War/Dance (THINKFilm)
A Shine Global and Fine Films Production
Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

Best documentary short subject
Freeheld
A Lieutenant Films Production
Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
La Corona (The Crown)
A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production
Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
Salim Baba
A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production
Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
Saris Mother (Cinema Guild)
A Daylight Factory Production
James Longley

Achievement in film editing
The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) Christopher Rouse
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Juliette Welfling
Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment) Jay Cassidy
No Country for Old Men (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes
There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Dylan Tichenor

Best foreign language film of the year
Beaufort A Metro Communications, Movie Plus Production
Israel
The Counterfeiters An Aichholzer Filmproduktion, Magnolia Filmproduktion Production
Austria
Katy An Akson Studio Production
Poland
Mongol A Eurasia Film Production
Kazakhstan
12 A Three T Production
Russia

Achievement in makeup
La Vie en Rose (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
Norbit (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount) Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (Walt Disney) Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
Atonement (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
The Kite Runner (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics) Alberto Iglesias
Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
Ratatouille (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
3:10 to Yuma (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Falling Slowly from Once
(Fox Searchlight)
Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Happy Working Song from Enchanted
(Walt Disney)
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
Raise It Up from August Rush
(Warner Bros.)
Nominees to be determined

So Close from Enchanted
(Walt Disney)
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
Thats How You Know from Enchanted
(Walt Disney)
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Best motion picture of the year
Atonement (Focus Features)
A Working Title Production
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
Juno (Fox Searchlight)
A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production
Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)
A Clayton Productions, LLC Production
Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
No Country for Old Men (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production
Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production
JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Best animated short film
I Met the Walrus
A Kids & Explosions Production
Josh Raskin
Madame Tutli-Putli (National Film Board of Canada)
A National Film Board of Canada Production
Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven) (Premium Films)
A BUF Compagnie Production
Samue

Doesn't matter whose in that category The Counterfieters is a shoe in. Brilliant, brilliant film.

Anyone up for a sweepstake on the Oscars?  You all pick your winners one who gets the closer is the winner.  I may run this on CPC Movies too and figure out a prize for the winner. 

Actually i'll do a forum Exclusive competition I think.  I have an idea for this....

-- Edited by Darth Mattitude at 21:44, 2008-01-22

No way in hell I'm reading thru that whole list. I don't think the Oscars are relevant anyway. Who watches these movies? Certainly not people in theaters. I've barely heard of any of them. Sweeney Todd is the best movie of the year by far.

No real surprises in the winners this year.

Not good news on the viewing figures though:

This year's Oscars ceremony has had the ceremony's lowest TV ratings in the US, according to initial figures.
The three-hour ABC broadcast drew an average of 32m viewers - a million less than 2003's figure, set a day after the US-led invasion of Iraq had begun.

Last year's ceremony was watched by an average of 41 million people.

In comparison, talent show American Idol, the most popular US TV series, averages 30 million viewers each week with its Tuesday night broadcast.

Modest hits

The ratings are the lowest since 1974, when the current ratings system first began.

The record low audience comes in a year when the Oscars race for best picture was dominated by films which received critical acclaim, but performed modestly at the box office.

Only one film out of the five best picture nominees - teenage comedy Juno - broke the $100m (£50.9m) barrier.

The night's big winner, violent drama No Country For Old Men, which claimed four awards including best picture, only made a modest $64m (£32.6m) at the North American box office.

The most-watched Oscars broadcast was in 1998 when 55m Americans watched box office blockbuster Titanic win 11 awards.

ABC said in a statement that this year's ratings did not account for an increasing number of homes watching the ceremony on personal video recorders.