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Daron Aldridge: The Reader inclusion shocked me for the same reasons. But it also reminds of the same type of campaigning/wallet padding that undoubtedly "earned" a Best Picture nomination for the inferior Chocolat in 2001 over Almost Famous and Cast Away and Cider House Rules in 1999 over The Talented Mr. Ripley or Boys Don't Cry. On to happier topics, I think that Mickey Rourke is a lock for Best Actor. The one person I expected to spoil it for him would be a nod for Clint Eastwood but that didn't happen.

Shane Jenkins: Yeah, The Reader is the Chocolat of this year. The biggest surprise to me was the exclusion of Springsteen's Wrestler song, which, prior to the nominations, I would have called a lock. The Academy decided that sheer nothingness was preferable to The Boss, and only nominated three songs when it usually selects five. Curious!

Tim Briody: I don't see Slumdog Millionaire not winning Best Picture. Also, I forsee lots and lots of jokes at the expense of The Reader in BOP's continuing awards coverage.

Max Braden: I was probably most surprised by the lack of Springsteen in Best Song, as Shane said. Earlier this fall I was thinking there would be lots of nominations for Synecdoche, NY but then for the opposite reasons did not expect this much attention for Slumdog. I don't know why there was no push for Michael Sheen - I thought he did more with his facial expression than Langella did with his voice. As far as The Dark Knight goes, I can just see them thinking "We'll just save the 15 nominations for the third installment." Frankly I had problems with its length so it didn't disappointment me to be left out. I'm pleasantly surprised that Robert Downey Jr. got nominated and if it weren't for Heath this year, he'd be my #1 choice.

Joel Corcoran: I think the biggest surprise was Melissa Leo's nomination as Best Actress for Frozen River, which I couldn't be happier about. She's deserved recognition for her talents at least since she was on Homicide: Life on the Street ten years ago, and Frozen River was a great little film. My biggest disappointment has to be such scant attention for either Iron Man or The Dark Knight. Both were excellent films, and either one deserved a Best Picture nomination ahead of The Reader (even though I really liked The Reader). The fact that Iron Man received so few nominations is just criminal. And my lead pipe cinch winner is The Dark Knight for Best Cinematography, but only because so many Oscar voters will be swayed by guilt over the film not getting a Best Picture nomination.

Jim Van Nest: One of the bigger surprises for me was Clint not getting a Best Actor nod. I thought for sure that his (likely) final performance would not only get him the nom, but probably net him the win as well. While I haven't seen Revolutionary Road, I still get this feeling that the Academy does not like Leo for one reason or another. Dude always shows up and always puts in a great performance, yet he always gets skipped over. One last thing is my disappointment that the Academy didn't have the guts to give WALL-E the Best Picture nom. I'm glad they recognized the screenplay, but it seems like a cop-out nom for not having the balls to invite it to the big dance.

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