Picture This!
2008's Oscar contenders are a fine bunch of movies, but choosing which one will walk off with Best Picture is a tough call.Will the academy select a contemporary thriller over a historical drama? Can a comedic touch triumph against a tour-de-force of acting. Only time will tell.
Of the five nominees only Juno has been a hit with both critics and the public, and at least one (Michael Clayton) is a true left-of-field choice. Juno is unlikely to walk away with the most coveted statuette however, due to the powerhouse competition of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood and the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men.
Then again, the Oscars are nothing if not notoriously fickle, and maybe the Academy will choose the comparatively lightweight, feelgood Juno, just as they rewarded Shakespeare In Love over Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line.
No Country for Old Men is the most deserving film to be win; a deceptively simple tale of stolen money and the bad men who want it back that packs plenty of mental meat to feast on and sports set-piece moments of tension that are simply perfect.
The Academy favoured The English Patient over Fargo back in 1997, and may figure it is time for Hollywood's Brothers Grimm to get the recognition they have received everywhere else.
There Will Be Blood is a close second, but is a great film made unmissable by Daniel Day-Lewis' extraordinary performance, and would not be the mighty work it is without Dan the Man.
Maybe the respected but outside bet Atonement will shock everyone and repeat its Best Picture success at the Golden Globes. Joe Wright's admirable adaptation of Ian McEwan's difficult source novel has touches of The English Patient about it, and Kiera Knightley's snub from the Best Actress category was a shock after her previous nomination for Wright's Pride and Prejudice.
Ultimately, we're putting our money on No Country for Old Men, but it's no sure thing and maybe after rewarding violence and corruption last year with The Departed the Academy will favour something more upbeat.
But, what could be more life-affirming than the Coen Brothers lean, mean and back at the top of their game?
Find out more about this years nominated movies by clicking on the reviews and galleries below.
No Country for Old Men
The Coen brothers return to form with the broody tale of a Texan chancer, a bag of loot and a killer with a cattle-gun.
Nominations - 8 including, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem, Best Director - Joel and Ethan Coen, Best Adapted Screenplay.
There Will Be Blood
Greed and corruption grease the wheels of America's oil business in a fascinating period drama from the director of Magnolia.
Nominations - 8 including, Best Picture, Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Director - Paul Thomas Anderson, Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography.
Michael Clayton
George Clooney is perfectly cast as the corporate 'fixer' who gets in over his head in Bourne writer Tony Gilroy's super-smart thriller
Nominations - 7 including, Best Picture, Best Actor - George Clooney, Best Supporting Actor - Tom Wilkinson, Best Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton.
Atonement
The Golden Globe winner reunites director Joe Wright with Pride and Prejudice star Keira Knightley in a wartime tale of ruined romance.
Nominations - 7 including, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress - Saoirse Ronan, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography.
Ratatouille
A culinary-inclined rodent heads to the world's gastronomic capital - Paris - to learn his trade in the kitchen of France's greatest chef.
Nominations - 5, Best Animated Picture, Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing.
Juno
Teen phenomenon Ellen Page is perfectly cast as the annoyingly pregnant schoolgirl with a mouth more sizeable than her belly.
Nominations - 4, Best Picture, Best Actress - Ellen Page, Best Director - Jason Reitman, Best Original Screenplay.
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby's heartwrenching account of his "locked-in" life as a stroke victim is brought to life this poignant tale.
Nominations - 4, Best Director - Julian Schnabel, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing.
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tim Burton grabs Stephen Sondheim's razor-sharp musical by the throat? and slits it with panache.
Nominations - 3, Best Actor - Johnny Depp, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design.
La Vie En Rose
An exhilarating, stunning and heartbreaking account of a talent too big for the tiny body it inhabited is the focus of this biopic on legendary French singer, Edith Piaf.
Nominations - 3, Best Actress - Marion Cotillard, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup.
Away From Her
Julie Christie gives a revelatory performance in the story of a devoted husband facing an emotional crisis when his Alzheimers-stricken wife forgets who he is and falls for another man.
Nominations - 2, Best Actress - Julie Christie, Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Bourne Ultimatum
Matt Damon's amnesiac ex-CIA assassin goes on a transcontinental quest to find answers and confront the government spooks who turned him into brainwashed killer.
Nominations - 3, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing.
Into the Wild
The haunting true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who ups and leaves his safe, middle-class life in order to live in the wild is a visual ode to America's wilderness.
Nominations - 2, Best Supporting Actor - Hal Holbrook, Best Film Editing.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
A mesmerising dissection of the relationship between the legendary outlaw and the young fan who gunned him down.
Nominations - 2, Best Supporting Actor - Casey Affleck, Best Cinematography.
American Gangster
Director Ridley Scott puts the Oscar-weight tag team of Washington and rowe together in this true-life crime epic about Frank Lucas, the Harlem druglord who created one of America's largest drug empires.
Nominations - 2, Best Supporting Actress - Ruby Dee, Best Art Direction.
Eastern Promises
David Cronenberg continues his fine run of form with this ruthlessly chilling depiction of a mob fixer working for the Russian mafia in London who's hired to make a delicate situation disappear.
Nominations - 1, Best Actor - Viggo Mortensen.
In the Valley of Elah
Tommy Lee Jones is the Vietnam veteran who is forced to investigate his AWOL son's death in Paul 'Crash' Haggis' sombre condemnation of US foreign policy, wrapped in an absorbing whodunit.
Nominations - 1, Best Actor - Tommy Lee Jones.
Charlie Wilson's War
Mike Nichols delivers a quick-fire comedy and cautionary tale of political chickens coming home to roost in this true life tale of a US congressman who helped ignite the Afghan-Russian war.
Nominations - 1, Best Supporting Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman.
