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Well, on Tuesday the Oscar nominations were announced. You can go here to read the full list of nominees.

I don’t know how far into things I want to go. Certainly there will be a lot of media hoopla until the ceremony telecast in March.

I guess I can say that I was more than a little disappointed that Chicago walked away with the most nominations. Although I haven’t seen the movie yet, I just get this sinking feeling that everyone has resigned themselves to the fact it will win Best Picture. They’re treating it like some consolation prize for Moulin Rouge not winning last year. I’m not a big fan of musicals to begin with and I think the film will coast to the finish more on the merits of Miramax’s marketing power than the artistic effort of the film itself.

The Best Animated Feature category saw its nominees expand from three to five films this year. Among the chosen were Ice Age, Lilo & Stitch, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Spirited Away and Treasure Planet. Regrettably, I’ve only seen the two Disney flicks. If I had to choose between them Lilo & Stitch would have to get my vote. Of course I’ve heard great things about Spirited Away, but I’ll have to wait for it on video.

I guess I was pretty shocked to learn that Treasure Planet was even considered for this award. For starters, it wasn’t that great of a movie. Just a “re-imaging” of a classic book – Treasure Island – with futuristic gadgets and cyborgs. It was executed well, but not nearly as inventive of heart-warming as Lilo & Stitch.

Secondly, Treasure Planet took about an $80 million dollar loss at the box office. Reportedly it cost over $120M to make, but only raked in $40M at ticket booths. The impact of its failure was so severe, Disney actually had to scale back their animation department this year. And they’re rewarding it with a nomination?!

I have to say I’m most happy for Jullianne Moore and her double nominations – Best Actress for Far From Heaven and Best Supporting for The Hours. I saw both films. I didn’t care much for Far From Heaven, but I wasn’t really in the mood for it at the time. I can appreciate what it was doing, but I need a fresh head to see it again. Regardless, certainly the fact that Moore received two nominations tells you she’s doing something right. I certainly hope she gets it for Best Actress and not Supporting. That one will probably go to Meryl Streep in Adaptation (her 13th, I might add – beating Katharine Hepburn’s record).

I was happy to see Daniel Day Lewis nominated for Best Actor in Gangs of New York. I cannot think of another performance this year more deserving. Of course, voters will probably hand it over to Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt because everyone loves to watch him do his “cool thing” when he’s up on stage. This is his 12th nomination, by the way — matchin Heapburn’s record.

If anything, Martin Scorsese should win Best Director for Gangs. The Academy has been jerking him around for too long. They should give him the award now before he dries up and they’re forced to give him one of those gold watch “Lifetime Achievement” awards.

I would have liked to have seen Marty win for Goodfellas or The Last Temptation of Christ, but Gangs was an epic in every sense. A win could serve double duty recognizing the efforts of that film as well as giving the nod to the immeasurable contribution he’s given to American cinema over the last 40 years.

I think that about does it for my opinions on the Oscars. Cami and I plan on seeing the two Best Picture nominees we didn’t get to yet – Chicago and The Pianist. If we can get to it, we’ll probably see all the films with Best Actor and Actress nominees as well. A few of them like Frida and The Quiet American we probably won’t see. But Adaptation and About Schmidt are definitely on our list.

What do you think of the nominations this year? Drop me a line and we can chat about it. I don’t get a lot of e-mails, so I’m usually pretty good about responding. Just wait. Now I’ll get a ton of mail and won’t be able to get to them all. Oh, well.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another new comic!