2008 Oscar Nominations: Surprises, Snubs, and the No-Brainers

2008 Oscar nominations: surprises, snubs, and the no-brainers: Annually, the Oscar nominations stir quite a buzz and like every year - there are surprises and no-brainers decorating the list. There was no doubt that the much talked about indie film "Juno" was going to receive a nod or two. With a nomination for best motion picture of the year, original screenplay, and best director, it was only fair to give credit to Ellen Page for her performance as the lead role. Will her performance be enough to best the unforgettable Cate Blanchett who reprised her role as Queen Elizabeth in the "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"" If so, Blanchett always has a chance to bring home an Oscar for best performance by an actress in a supporting role (as Bob Dylan) for "I'm Not There."

For best motion picture award - the coming-of-age drama "Juno" will battle against "Atonement," "There Will Be Blood," "No Country for Old Men," and the George Clooney thriller/drama titled "Michael Clayton." This year, we also see an actress gain recognition for her writing, as Sarah Polley has earned a nomination for best adapted screenplay ("Away from Her").

A surprise in the list of nominations includes Tommy Lee Jones for best performance by an actor in his role for the Iraq-centered film "In the Valley of Elah." Up against George Clooney ("Michael Clayton"), Daniel Day Lewis ("There Will be Blood"), Johnny Depp ("Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street") and the Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"), some people are wondering how this Golden Globe snubbed actor made the cut. Interestingly, we see no Oscar nod for Denzel Washington, who starred in the controversial "American Gangster." However, Ruby Dee was able to snag a surprise nomination for her role as mother to Washington's character in "American Gangster."

Other interesting nominations go to Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji for their achievement in makeup for Eddie Murphy's "Norbit" and three nominations for the childhood favorite "Transformers" for in achievement in visual effects, achievement in sound mixing, and achievement in sound editing. A full list of the 2008 Oscar nominations can be found below:

Best motion picture of the year

"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Performance by an actor in a leading role

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

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

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

Performance by an actress in a leading role

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

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement"
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton"

Achievement in directing

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

Best animated feature film of the year

"Persepolis" Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
"Ratatouille" Brad Bird
"Surf's Up" Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Best foreign language film of the year

"Beaufort" Israel
"The Counterfeiters" Austria
"Katyn" Poland
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
"12" Russia

Adapted screenplay

"Atonement" Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her" Written by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
"No Country for Old Men" Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay

"Juno" Written by Diablo Cody
"Lars and the Real Girl" Written by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton" Written by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille" Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages" Written by Tamara Jenkins

Achievement in art direction

"American Gangster" Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
"Atonement" Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Golden Compass" Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"There Will Be Blood" Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Achievement in cinematography

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" Roger Deakins
"Atonement" Seamus McGarvey
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" Janusz Kaminski
"No Country for Old Men" Roger Deakins
"There Will Be Blood" Robert Elswit

Achievement in costume design

"Across the Universe" Albert Wolsky
"Atonement" Jacqueline Durran
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" Alexandra Byrne
"La Vie en Rose" Marit Allen
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" Colleen Atwood

Best documentary feature

"No End in Sight" A Representational Pictures Production: Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience" A Documentary Group Production: Richard E. Robbins
"Sicko" A Dog Eat Dog Films Production: Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
"Taxi to the Dark Side" An X-Ray Production: Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
"War/Dance" 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
"Sari's Mother" A Daylight Factory Production: James Longley

Achievement in film editing

"The Bourne Ultimatum" Christopher Rouse
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" Juliette Welfling
"Into the Wild" Jay Cassidy
"No Country for Old Men" Roderick Jaynes
"There Will Be Blood" Dylan Tichenor

Achievement in makeup

"La Vie en Rose" Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
"Norbit" Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

"Atonement" Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner" Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton" James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille" Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma" Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

"Falling Slowly" from "Once" Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush" Nominees to be determined
"So Close" from "Enchanted" Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

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 Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)" (Channel One Russia) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production Alexander Petrov
"Peter & the Wolf" (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best live action short film

"At Night" A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production: Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)" A Frame by Frame Italia Production: Andrea Jublin
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)" A Karé Production: Philippe Pollet-Villard
"Tanghi Argentini" An Another Dimension of an Idea Production: Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
"The Tonto Woman" A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production: Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

Achievement in sound editing

"The Bourne Ultimatum" Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
"No Country for Old Men" Skip Lievsay
"Ratatouille" Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
"There Will Be Blood" Matthew Wood
"Transformers" Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Achievement in sound mixing

"The Bourne Ultimatum" Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
"No Country for Old Men" Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
"Ratatouille" Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
"3:10 to Yuma" Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
"Transformers" Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Achievement in visual effects

"The Golden Compass" Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
"Transformers" Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier