The art house fare that dominates this years Academy Awards nominations may please critics, but it is going to put off mainstream audiences once again

By Alex Ben Block

BEVERLY HILLS, CA (Hollywood Today) – 1/22/08 – Even if the writer’s strike is over on Feb. 24 when Oscars are handed out, the appeal of this year’s nominees, led by “No Country For Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Michael Clayton,” will be limited. The 80^th Academy Award nominations are not just art house movies, but most of the leading contenders are so dark, violent, slowly paced and often purposely confusing or obscure that it will put mainstream audiences off the awards this year.

<The two films that got the most nominations, with eight each, “No County” and “There Will Be Blood” are especially vicious and difficult films for a wide audience to understand or enjoy. Although they are both critical darlings, they are not accessible movies like prior winners such as last year’s “Departed” or the classic audience/critic hits, 1997’s “Titanic” or 2003’s “Lord of the Rings.” The TV ratings are likely to reflect that.

Among the very few successful movies at the box office last year among the major nominees are the indie film “Juno,” (aka this years “Little Miss Sunshine”), with a domestic gross of about $88 million so far; and the Disney animated movie “Ratatouille,” the ninth most popular box office attraction last year with a gross of over $206 million, which earned five nominations including Original Screenplay, as well as the expected nomination for Best Animated Feature.

The big surprises this year are among those who did not make the list, or movies that got fewer nominations than expected. For instance, while Golden Globe winner “Atonement” got seven nominations, the only acting nod was for Saoirse Ronan, playing a 13-year-old whose misunderstanding of her sister’s actions leads to tragedy. The surprising omission is Keira Knightley in the Best Actress category.

Ronan is the youngest nominee, while the oldest is Ruby Dee, age 83, nominated for “American Gangster,” a movie that otherwise has to be considered a major disappointment with only two nominations. Despite excellent individual reviews, neither of the pictures leading actors, Denzel Washington or Russell Crowe was nominated.

Others missing from the actress category who were expected to get nominations include Angelina Jolie for “A Mighty Heart;” Jodie Foster for “The Brave One;” Julia Roberts for “Charlie Wilson’s War;” Helena Bonham Carter for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”; and Nikki Blonsky for “Hairspray.”

Among the actors, there are fewer surprises. One exception is Denzel Washington, shut out for both “American Gangster” and “The Great Debaters.” Tom Hanks, who has seemed like an Oscar magnet in the past, was passed over this year for his role in “Charlie Wilson’s War.”

The most surprising inclusion among the best actor nominees is Tommy Lee Jones for the little seen “In The Valley of Elah,” as a Vietnam vet searching for his missing son. This is Jones third nomination and his first since “The Fugitive” in 1993.

Johnny Depp picked up a best acting nod although the movie “Sweeney Todd” was mostly forgotten, with two other nominations art direction and costumes. Viggo Mortensen was nominated for “Eastern Promises,” which was its only nod.

Among best pictures, all five films were anticipated, but that doesn’t mean others weren’t left out. That list includes “The Savages,” which got two nominations; “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” which was shut out; and “I’m Not There,” which earned Cate Blanchett one of her two acting nominations. There was also anticipation for “The Bourne Ultimatum,” but its three nominations were all for technical achievement in film editing and sound.

Blanchett was also nominated for “Elizabeth: The Golden Age.” She previously won for “The Aviator” in 2004, and was nominated for “Elizabeth” in 1998, and “Notes On A Scandal” iin 2006.

In the category of Achievement in directing, four of the five nominees match up with the nominations by the Directors Guild of America. They are Julian Schnabel for “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Tony Gilroy for “Michael Clayton,” Joel and Ethan Coen for “No Country for Old Men,” and Paul Thomas Anderson for “There Will Be Blood.” The directors had also nominated Sean Penn for “Into The Wild,” but his place on the Academy list went to Jason Reitman for “Juno.”

This is only the second feature film by Reitman, 30, after “Thank You For Smoking.” He is the son of director Ivan Reitman, who has directed 17 films, several of which were box office blockbusters such as “Ghostbusters,” but never earned an Oscar nomination.

Another first time nominee is Casey Affleck for “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” which received only two nods (the other for cinematography). Affleck, 32, is the brother of Ben Affleck, who won an Oscar for writing but has never been nominated as an actor. Casey Affleck is married to Summer Phoenix, sister of the late River Phoenix (a 1989 Oscar nominee who died in 1993) and Joaquin Phoenix, who was nominated in 2005 for “Walk The Line.”

For those seeking controversy, Michael Moore is nominated in the best documentary category for “Sicko” along with Meghan O’Hara. Moore won the Oscar in 1993 for his documentary “Bowling For Columbine.”

Another oddity is Disney’s popular musical comedy “Enchanted,” which earned three nods, all in the same category – for best song. The nominated songs are “Happy Working Song,” “So Close” and “That’s How You Know.”

The Academy Awards are scheduled for Feb. 24, and organizers say the show will go on, whether the strike is over by then or not. Our prediction is that the strike will be over but that will not help attract mainstream viewers who will wonder what happened to all the movies they saw in the past year. That could be a problem for ABC, which televises the awards, and will be looking for huge ratings once again.