Here are a few noteworthy films/artists who got left out of the Oscar nominations as well as a couple of notably unworthy nominees:

Best Picture: I’ll bet most of the Academy’s voters never saw the Digital 3-D version of Beowulf by Robert Zemeckis – it’ll probably stand (I haven’t seen them all yet) as my Best Picture of 2007. I also was disappointed that Stardust wasn’t nominated. All five nominees are very fine films. Of the nominees, my favorite – but not by a wide margin – is No Country for Old Men.

Best Actor in a Leading Role: I would have nominated Josh Brolin for No Country in Old Men. But the best performance of the year, hands down, was Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood – and it actually got nominated. It’s so clearly the best performance that I’ll do what I usually don’t and predict a win for Mr. Day-Lewis.

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Two great lead performances were overlooked by the Academy. Belén Rueda was mesmerizing in The Orphanage, a Spanish-language suspense/thriller. Claire Danes played a star, fallen from the sky and transformed into human form in Stardust – a heart-tugging romantic performance. Of the five nominees, my favorite is Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: First of all, Casey Affleck (nominated for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) played the main character in the film so it was hardly a supporting role… and I don’t think his performance in the league with the other four nominees – all very strong. Of the nominees, my favorite is Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men).

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: The academy overlooked two deliciously sexy and evil villains. Michelle Pheiffer played a delightfully cruel witch in Stardust who wanted to cut Claire Danes’s heart out and eat it so she could live for another 400 years. And then there’s Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s Mother in Beoulf – it isn’t a big part but she created the most memorable big-screen villains in years.

Best Director: Here we have three great achievements, all worthy of an Ocsar: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood), the Coen Brothers (No Country for Old Men) and Jason Reitman (Juno). And then there’s a good but not Oscar-worthy film by Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton it’s just not in the same league with the top three. Finally, there’s my pick for the most puzzling film to get multiple Oscar nominations in many years: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel. It’s simply a compelling human interest story that never should have been made into a movie. Here’s what you’ll see for about 70% of the runtime: a man paralyzed except for his left eye communicating through a nurse who dutifully recites the alphabet, letter by letter until she gets to the letter he wants, at which time he blinks – then you repeat the process with the next letter. Painfully slow and tedious, it’s one of the worst movies of 2007. And I think they blew it by passing over Robert Zemeckis, director of Beowulf.

Best Adapted Screenplay: I’m disappointed that Roger Avery (notable for having collaborated with Quentin Tarrintino on Reservoir Dogs, True Romance and Pulp Fiction) and Neil Gaiman did a brilliant job of adapting the ancient Beowulf tale for the big screen. They made a few radical changes but it worked beautifully as a fantasy film that retained the DNA of the classic Anglo-Saxon poem. But how on earth did Ronald Harwood’s script for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly possibly get nominated? It’s the worst adapted script in years.

Best Original Song: They missed the best: “A Hero Comes Home” from Beowulf, written by Alan Silverstein and sung by Robin Wright-Penn. And why are there three nominees from Enchanted? "That's How You Know" (Enchanted) is a fine song – the best of the nominees.

Best Achievement if Visual Effects: Here again, I don’t believe that very many Academy voters saw the Digital 3-D version of Beowulf or they would have been compelled to honor it in this category.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: The Academy did manage to recognize the merit of Ratatouille – but it’s more than the best animated film of the year – it’s among the top five overall. I haven’t seen Persepolis (also nominated) – but I’m looking forward to it.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: Where’s The Orphanage ? But I must say, I haven’t seen any of the nominees.

Here’s a link for IMDb’s list of nominees 80th Annual Awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. with links to all of the people and movies involved.

All photographic images on this page are copyright their respective owners.