Race for Oscar wide open

The nominations for the 80th Academy Awards are in, and, writers' strike notwithstanding, this year's ceremony could actually live up to the annual hullaballoo.

Encompassing a wider range of performers and genres than usual, it's the most unpredictable list of runners and riders for many a year.

For a full list of the nominees click here

Come February 24, bookies will be biting their nails as anxiously as the nominees themselves as almost every category is remarkable for its lack of shoo-ins and dead certs.

It all starts at the top. The race for Best Picture looks like being a tough three-way call between the Coen brothers' masterful neo-western No Country For Old Men, Magnolia director Paul Thomas Anderson's oil-in-them-thar-hills epic There Will Be Blood and the war-torn romance of Atonement.

With six other nominations, the latter represents this year's Great British Hope - despite director Joe Wright and stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy being overlooked for their work. But after bagging the Golden Globe for Best Film (Drama), it's still a major contender.

Seven nominations also underline the popularity of Bourne writer Tony Gilroy's legal thriller Michael Clayton. But it and low-key comedy Juno - fulfilling its billing as 'this year's Little Miss Sunshine' - would do well to beat the big three.

No Country and Blood top the table with eight nods apiece, but total only two representatives in the acting fields between them.

Of those, Daniel Day Lewis' greed-afflicted prospector in Blood is widely expected to earn him his second Best Actor gong. Johnny Depp's song-and-slash routine as Sweeney Todd may cause an upset, and George Clooney (Michael Clayton himself) is the Academy's current beau, but neither they nor Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) should spend too much time on their speeches.

No Country's ice-cold assassin Javier Bardem will also be hard to beat in the Best Supporting male category; always an interesting group. Philip Seymour Hoffman may reap a cumulative reward for his busy year with his scene-stealing turn in Charlie Wilson's War but if voters are feeling sentimental, Into The Wild veteran Hal Holbrook is certainly in the frame. And Casey Affleck was hugely impressive in The Assassination of Jesse James...

The best British bet lies with Julie Christie, whose nomination for Best Actress as an Alzheimer's sufferer in Away With Her combines the vote-winning elements of tragedy and terminal illness. Her main competition comes from Cate Blanchett, nominated for a second time for playing 'Queenie' in period sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Years.

It would be refreshing to see either Juno's teen prodigy Ellen Page or Marion Cotillard (Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose) step up to the podium, but history dictates that the former is too young and the latter too French. C'est la vie.

Such is Blanchett's Meryl Streep-like domination of the Academy that she's entered the Best Supporting ladies room as a man. Bob Dylan in I'm Not There, to be precise. Tilda Swinton does brilliant work in Michael Clayton and both Amy Ryan (of Ben Affleck's kidnap drama Gone Baby Gone) and Atonement's 13-year-old talent Saoirse Ronan are worthy contenders, but veteran Ruby Dee's inclusion for American Gangster borders on patronising.

Julian Schnabel's shock Golden Globe win for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - another true story of triumph over tragedy - makes predicting Best Director like pinning the tail on the donkey. His presence means that it won't be the straight fight between the Coen brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson that many may expect. Tony Gilroy's debut Michael Clayton is slick and efficient - but if those are criteria for serious consideration, whither The Bourne Ultimatum? Juno's Jason Reitman is undoubtedly the joker in the pack. But he won't come up trumps.

Outside the 'glamour' categories, there's still much to catch the eye.

Diablo Cody is Juno's likeliest winner for her smart, sharp original script. Amongst the best adapted screenplays, the Coens and PT Anderson face off once again, though Brit Christopher Hampton is a previous winner in this department for Dangerous Liaisons and could pick up a nice bookend for Atonement. But our money's on No Country...

Two nominations for his work on The Assassination of Jesse James... and No Country... make cinematographer Roger Deakins another potential British winner; likewise Atonement's art-and-set whizzes Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer and costume designer Jacqueline Durran.

Another good bet for Atonement is composer Dante Marionelli's fine score. Animated films though have done well historically in this area so Michael Giacchino and Pixar may sniff out a partner for Ratatouille's inevitable gong for Best Animated Feature.

With Cannes' winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days omitted from the Best Foreign Film list due to a technicality, the door is wide open. Austrian entry The Counterfeiters could sneak this one by virtue of having the highest profile; and the Academy likes a good war story....

....but have they forgiven controversy-glutton Michael Moore for his anti-Bush rant following his Best Documentary Feature win for Fahrenheit 9/11? He's in the frame again for Sicko, so here's hoping for another outburst.

Only one thing is certain at the Oscars. If someone says "I'm just glad to be nominated", they're lying.

Elliott Noble