So the Oscar nominations are in, and Juno is undeniably one of the big winners, its hearty commercial embrace having pushed the movie over the hill. I pointed out yesterday that Fox Searchlight is operating on a different plane when it comes to turning out the vote for its movies, and alongside the aforementioned surprise little hit of the final quarter of 2007 ($85 million and counting), further evidence arrives in the form of Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages, which, despite not (yet) having connected at the box office (it’s made only $3.6 million in a month and a half of release), garnered an expected Best Original Screenplay nomination, but also a Best Actress nod for Laura Linney, probably coming at the expense of Angelina Jolie and A Mighty Heart.



Writer-director Tony Gilroy’s end-around on studio financing worked out well, with Michael Clayton racking up nods for George Clooney’s lead performance, Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson’s supporting turns, Best Original Screenplay and, somewhat surprisingly, Best Director, in Gilroy’s debut. Joe Wright’s Atonement, meanwhile, used its “BAFTA bounce” to secure Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Saoirse Ronan) and Best Film nominations, despite neither of its leads (James McAvoy or Keira Knightley) being selected for the final winnowing.

Finally, with eight nominations — tied for the most, with Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men — critics can for the moment stop bellyaching about Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood being a snubbed masterpiece. They’ll get a chance to continue if the film is shut out in top categories, but for now, it’s a “made film,” a legit contender with the other big boys and probably an early front-runner, alongside the aforementioned Coen brothers flick and Michael Clayton. Oh, one other thing… what happened to the brilliant prognostications of The Envelope’s human noisemaker, Tom O’Neil, who I thought called for a Sweeney Todd sweep long ago?

Unlike the cancelled Golden Globes, the 80th annual Academy Awards will (allegedly) proceed writers’ strike or not, on Sunday, February 24 on ABC. More on the nominations throughout the day, as events and sobriety permit. For a full list of nominees, click here.