And the nominees are...

That’s right, it’s finally that time of the year again. If you’re like me and have been anxiously waiting for the Academy Award nominations to be revealed since the day after last year’s show…then we should really be friends. Anyway, you better bet that I was surprised by some of the nominees and just as surprised to see a few missing from the list, such as…

Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) for Best Actor. Way to go, Ryan! You definitely deserve it but I don’t think anybody saw that one coming.

Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) for Best Supporting Actress. The Academy has some weird fix on nominating cute little girls (strange, no?). Not that she doesn’t deserve it for her Olive’s infectious spirit, but it’s something to think about.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond) for Best Actor. I’m shocked that he got a nod for this one (even though he was really good) and not for The Departed (where he was really really really good).

Volver not up for Best Foreign Language Film. True, I haven’t seen any of the ones nominated, but come on, this one is so wonderful!

Click for Best Make-up. It just really bothers me that now on DVD covers it will read “Click: An Academy Award nominated film.”

Nominations for United 93, including Best Director. Although I have yet to see it, it’s nice to see a critically acclaimed film from last spring be remembered.

Dreamgirls not up for Best Picture (!!!). And that’s all I have to say about that.

Stay tuned for Ren’s Oscar Picks/Predictions in the near future!