No Surprises In Oscar Noms

Best Picture:
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, And Good Luck
Capote
Crash
Munich

Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Heath Ledger
David Strathairn
Terrence Howard

Best Actor (Ladies' Division)
Reese Witherspoon
Felicity Huffman
Charlize Theron
Judi Dench
Keira Knightley

Supporting:
Boys
Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man)
George Clooney (Syriana)
Matt Dillon (Crash)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain)
William Hurt (A History of Violence)

Girls
Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)
Amy Adams (Junebug)
Catherine Keener (Capote)
Frances McDormand (North Country)
Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)

Director
Paul Haggis (Crash)
Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
Bennett Miller (Capote)
George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck)
Steven Spielberg (Munich)

The only one of these I've seen is A History of Violence, which I caught on an airplane a few weeks ago, and I can tell you William Hurt was so goddamn bad in that movie he not only brought down the temperature of the movie by about 15 degrees, he caused a potentially lethal drop in cabin pressure. The only bright spot was that the next movie—it was a long flight—featured a great performance by Reese Witherspoon (not Walk the Line but some crapola romantic comedy with the equally great Mark Ruffalo).