The Reaction to the Cloud

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And the nominations have been announced.

Other than the blah support for Atonement that almost knocked me over, I was surprised by a few things:

• the screenplay for Away from Her being nominated, because it definitely wasn't spectacular - but then the offerings for that category weren't spectacular in general this year
• the screenplay for Ratatouille being nominated, because it also wasn't spectacular - but then they love their Pixar
  
• the curve ball that was the nomination for Surf's Up as animated feature
• the unexpected, yet still expected absence of Le Scaphandre et le Papillon from the Best Picture category, which to me only attests to the old-school, unadventurous mentality that plagues the awards
• the unexpected show of double-love for Cate Blanchett, who, while always wonderful, did not strike me as outstanding in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, especially not more wonderful than, say, Amy Adams in Enchanted. (Huzzah for Laura Linney though!)
  
• and the actually expected show of no-love for Sean Penn, who not only failed to get himself a Director nomination (and Emile Hirsche an Actor nomination), but also failed to have his marvellous Into the Wild nominated as Best Picture - how could they do that? Don't they love Sean Penn over at the Academy? I thought for sure they'd eat that shit up - ("shit" colloquially of course - I mean, I called the film "marvellous" sincerely, to which my personal nominations can attest [see right]).

Edits to come, pending the rest of the nominations, which were not televised....

And:

• Wow, all three songs from Enchanted?! They were good, but they weren't that good. I sense nostalgia for the Menken of yore. (Meanwhile, the ignorance-fest for Into the Wild shuts out Eddie Vedder from this category completely.)
• Nothing for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Boo! Really, it deserved at least one recognition somewhere...
  
• ...meanwhile, ugh, Atonement gets into the cinematography category - that just bothers me
• Interesting choices for musical score - I didn't find Michael Clayton or Ratatouille to be very exceptional and I have not seen - well, heard, I guess - The Kite Runner or 3:10 to Yuma
• Across the Universe for costumes? - but then the costume nominees usually contain one that is way out there and of a film that wasn't great (e. g., Troy). (Huzzah for La Vie en Rose though!)
• and hooray for the Animated Short nominees!

OK, now back to sleep.

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And, now that I've slept, some final thoughts:

• About score: The Michael Clayton score is a big "what?" to me; I can appreciate minimalistic background but this just feels unspecial. I don't mind the Ratatouille score, but it is very typical. I wonder, could its being nominated be a recompensatory recognition of Michael Giacchino for his more unique work on The Incredibles? The 3:10 to Yuma score is actually thoroughly enjoyable and am for its having a nomination. And The Kite Runner sounds like a knock-off version of your wonderful score for The Constant Gardener, Mr. Iglesias.
  
• About editing: I'm glad Le Scaphandre et le Papillon and Into the Wild got in there. Frankly any Into the Wild love is glad-making.
  
• and about screenplay: ....