While it was almost a sure thing, I am freaking thrilled that Mickey Rourke finally has an Oscar nomination for Best Actor on his resume. Otherwise, the main thing that stood out for me about the nominations was that there were very few real surprises. I have managed to see most of the major films nominated this year, and I am planning on knocking off at least a couple more (Milk and Frost/Nixon) this weekend. Of the best picture nominated films I have seen, I didn't think any of them were as good as The Wrestler, Vicki Cristina Barcelona, Gran Torino, The Dark Knight or Rachel Getting Married but those were all long shots at best.
Mickey is up against a tough group in his category (how awesome that Richard Jenkins finally got a nod as well) and I think the Best Actor race will be the most interesting of the evening. I suspect my hopes that Anne Hathaway will win Best Actress have been dashed by the fact that Kate Winslet was not nominated for supporting actress, but it will be hard to complain if Winslet wins as she has been due for awhile. Once again, I question Streep being nominated but I need to get over it as it seems to be a foregone bloody conclusion each year. The supporting categories are just awesome though and I am especially glad to see Tomei and Downey acknowledged for their work.
I was struck that this is one of those odd years where the directors and Best Film categories are matched up perfectly, although I have a feeling that the awards might be split with Van Sant snagging best director and Slumdog Millionaire getting the picture nod.
Finally, where is Bruce Springsteen on the list of nominated songs?
