The summer movie season is upon us. I thought I would take a short break from my regular reviews to give you a look at what’s coming up within the next couple of months.

Iron Man
Iron Man is a film adaptation of a Marvel comic book hero. The man behind the mask, Tony Stark, is played by Robert Downey, Jr. This is your classic good against evil fight and in the tradition of other comic book heroes, I expect that there will also be internal struggle within the heart of the main character. Directed by veteran actor, Jon Favreau (director, Elf), the highly anticipated, Iron Man is scheduled to release May 2.

Speed Racer
GO SPEED RACER!! I think I am looking forward to this one due to the novelty of it, but it might surprise everyone and actually be a good movie. Speed Racer is an adaptation from a Japanese animated series. The film is written and directed by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix Trilogy). I just hope they don’t try to make this one a trilogy. Speed Racer begins May 9.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Disney productions takes us into the next book of the The Chronicles of Narnia series. Prince Caspian takes the Pevensie siblings back to Narnia where hundreds of years have passed since their last visit. The cast from the first film returns with the addition of Ben Barnes (Stardust) in the role of Caspian. Prince Caspian is set to begin on May 16.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
This is a sequel 19 years in the making. The last Indiana Jones movie was released in 1989 when I was nine years old. I can’t remember a time when Indiana Jones wasn’t a household name. Even if this movie doesn’t meet my expectations, I will still enjoy the ride. Harrison Ford is in the title role with Steven Spielberg directing him. Shia LeBeouf (Transformers) joins the cast and Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is released on May 23.

Sex and the City
They’re back! Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha are still taking New York by storm four years after HBO called it quits for the series. Not much is known about this plot, but with all the Sex and the City fans out there, I predict it will be big during the weekend of May 30th.

The Happening
We’ve Sensed It. We’ve Seen The Signs. Now… It’s Happening. That tagline was way too good not to include. The Happening is M. Night Shymalan’s newest creation. This time he’s dragged Mark Wahlberg into his world. It’s about a large-scale natural disaster that people have to run from. That’s all we know going into it. What will the ‘twist’ be this time? I suppose we’ll find out June 13th.

The Incredible Hulk
Oh, Bruce Banner. You’ve been gone from the silver screen for so long. Oh wait, it’s only been five years. Seriously, this has to be some kind of record. Hulk was released in 2003 by director Ang Lee starring Eric Bana. This time Edward Norton is taking on the Hulk and pulling double duty as a co-screenwriter with Zal Penn (X-Men) and Transporter director, Louis Leterrier at the helm. I like the Incredible Hulk. I like Ed Norton. I just hope that it does well enough that the movie studios don’t remake it in another five years. The Incredible Hulk is also set to release on June 13th.

Get Smart
I’m familiar with the television series Get Smart, but I’m by no means any kind of fan of the series. I do, however, love Steve Carell. He is reprising the role of Maxwell Smart in this film adaptation of the TV show. By Carell’s side is Anne Hathaway portraying Agent 99 and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Agent 23. Not knowing much about the franchise, I’m compelled to see this film based on the talent of the cast alone. Get Smart is starting June 20th.

WALL-E
Disney/Pixar’s latest creation WALL-E is set to take center stage on June 27th. It’s about a cute robot in the year 2700. The trailer is beautiful and it’s a Pixar film. That’s enough for me. Some of the voices will be played by John Ratzenberger, Sigourney Weaver, Kathy Najimy, and Fred Willard.

The month of the July is the month of sequels. The biggest releases in July include, Hellboy II, X-files 2, and The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins. There will be more on those later along with a preview of the fall movie releases, which includes Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince.

In addition to the seasonal movie previews, I am also going to introduce a rating scale to my reviews. The scale is one through five (five being the highest) and is based off of whether or not it’s worth seeing in the the theater. Stay tuned…it’s going to be a big summer!

What do you do when you have your heart broken? Do you eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s? Do you cry on your best friend’s shoulder? Do you slip into a depressive coma for a couple of weeks? In Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the remedy Peter uses is a trip to Hawaii.

Peter, played by Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), is a musician/composer who is dumped by his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), a television actress. After the break-up, Peter decides to take a trip to Hawaii to hopefully forget about Sarah and begin moving on with his life. Unfortunately, Sarah is staying at the same resort with her new boyfriend, Aldous Snow. The two continuously bump into each other making for some very awkward moments.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the same brand of raunchy humor as Knocked Up and The Forty Year Old Virgin. If you did not enjoy either of those films, chances are you won’t like this one either. I would, however, recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good laugh and is not easily shocked. Forgetting Sarah Marshall gives you the same type of awkward moments, as The Office and the characters are easily relatable because of their authenticity.

I enjoy this new genre of romantic comedy because it gives actors a chance to shine in something other then dramatic roles. These films made popular by producer, Judd Apatow, are shedding a lot of light onto some new talent. Peter Segel, who has been in several of Apatow’s films, has a starring role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall not only as an actor, but also as the writer. The additional cast members include Mila Kunis (That 70’s Show), Paul Rudd (Knocked Up), and Jonah Hill (Superbad).

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. The MPAA have given Forgetting Sarah Marshall a rating of R for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity. I give it a rating of 3.5/5 because it is an entertaining movie, but doesn’t necessarily need to be seen in the theater.

In Shutter, a pair of newlyweds, Ben (Joshua Jackson) and Jane (Rachel Taylor) move to Tokyo, Japan shortly after their wedding. Ben has taken a photography job with a large company where one of his friends works. Throughout the film, Ben and Jane start experiencing strange phenomena, which Jane believes to be tied a car accident shortly after they arrived in Japan. The events Ben and Jane experience lead them to investigate the life of a girl who appeared in the middle of the road causing the car accident.

Shutter is a remake of a Thai film made in 2004 by the same name. And while it certainly isn’t the best horror movie I’ve ever seen, it does qualify as decent. I felt pretty uneasy throughout the movie once the action got rolling. I even jumped a couple of times. One of the creepiest elements of the movie was ‘the girl’. She was reminiscent of the girl from The Ring. However, she had a lot more screen time then The Ring’s girl.

I was actually intrigued by the plot device used for the ‘horror’ element. Ben and Jane begin to see streaks in their pictures that they pass over at first as ruined film. When Ben’s assistant sees them, she refers to them as ‘Spirit Pictures’. The explanation in the movie discusses how an intense emotion can tie a spirit to a person and can sometimes appear to them when picture are developed. After the completion of the film, I was interested in this concept enough that I did a quick search online. I did discover that this is a real idea and not just something thought up by the movie’s writers. Most spirit photos are either faked or can be explained scientifically, but to me, it’s still intriguing.

I’d recommend this movie to any horror fans. I think it will be most appreciated by those who are fans of the genre. Others may just see it as a waste of time. It is a little on the gruesome side, showing some violence and blood, but it’s pretty tame. One more fun fact of this movie. Fans of The Office, Heroes and Nip/Tuck will see cameo appearances by some regular cast members of those shows. Not too surprising. What else did they have to do during the strike?

Because of the nature of Vantage Point, it’s hard to describe the film without giving too many details away. However, I will do my best.

The basic plot is that the President of the United States, played by William Hurt, is giving a speech to a public forum in Spain at a summit to stop the war on terror. Right when he is stepping up to the microphone, he is shot and scrambled off in an ambulance. The story is told through the perspectives of several eye witnesses of the shooting: a regular citizen, a local policeman, a secret service agent, a news producer, and a terrorist.

If you’re not used to seeing a disjointed story-line, like on the TV show LOST, Vantage Point may be a little jarring to you. The five points of view from the five main characters are told separately. The way each character sees the action played out is shown and when one point of view is played out, time resets itself and you see another character’s point of view. I find this mode of story-telling interesting and stimulating. As a viewer, you’re never sure which direction the plot will go.

Vantage Point is the big screen debut for director, Pete Travis and writier, Barry Levy. A stellar cast headed up by Oscar winner, Forest Whitaker and LOST star, Matthew Fox, pull off this head-spinning, whirlwind mystery. I firmly believe that if the cast hadn’t been so talented, that this movie would have completely tanked.

Vantage Point was a little predictable, but while I was able to figure certain things out, I wasn’t sure how the entire plot would tie together. I also liked the fact that even though part of the plot revolved around terrorism, it didn’t feel like a public service announcement or like the film had a political agenda to fill.

My only real problems with this film are that parts of it were too predictable, they didn’t completely explain the villains’ intentions and for the most part it was a believable plot, until they got to the car chase scene. Even though I had those issues with the movie, I wasn’t too distracted to not enjoy the movie.

The 80th Annual Academy Awards began with a animated trip through historic Hollywood. This scene would be the first of the evening’s many video montages through the history of the award ceremony. Jon Stewart was the host of the 3-hour long event. In his opening monologue he equated the writers’ strike in Hollywood to a fight with a significant other with the Oscars being the ‘makeup sex’. There is never a dull moment with Stewart and he did a good job keeping the flow of show going.

For me, the most memorable moments of the show would have to be the team of soldiers who presented the award for Best Documentary-Short via satellite from Iraq and Stewart making time for Oscar winner, Marketa Irglova, to say her thanks after she had been cut off by show producers.

Among the Hollywood glitz and glamour, there were the best and worst dressed. In my opinion, Tilda Swinton takes the worst dressed award this year. Winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, Swinton accepted her award in what can only be described as a velvet drape (I’ve also seen it referred to as an otter). She wore little to no makeup and her hair looked like she hadn’t seen a comb in weeks.

On the other side of the spectrum, 2007 Oscar Winner for Best Actress, Dame Helen Mirren was dressed to kill. Mirren presented the Oscar for Best Actor to Daniel Day-Lewis in a stunning red gown adorned with intricate bead work on her shoulders and back. The gown designed by George Chakra was both classy and elegant as is the actress.

In addition to Swinton and Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem won the first of four awards for No Country for Old Men. His acceptance speech was easily my favorite of the evening.

“It’s a great honor for me to have this. I want to, I have to speak fast here, man. Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think that I could do that and put one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head…” He ended with a tribute to his mother and family, which he said entirely in Spanish.

“Falling Slowly” from Once won for Best Original Song. And, while I didn’t fall out of my seat, I was surprised that it beat the odds of winning that category. After hearing the performance of songwriters and filmmakers Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, I am intrigued by this film and would really like to see it.

While it wasn’t a ‘top’ award winner of the night, fan favorite, Juno, did take the Best Original Screenplay category. In this case, I think that’s where most of the movie magic took place. It is totally deserved and a first, for screenwriter Diablo Cody. I’m sure we’ll see more from her in the future.

I was incorrect of my original assumption about how Oscar winners are chosen. It is true that only members of specific branches can nominate films for their category (film editors can only nominate films for the Film Editing category) and all eligible member can nominate for the Best Picture Category. However, once the nominees are chosen, all members of the academy can vote for every category.

For a complete list of winners vs. predictions click here.

All in all it wasn’t a bad show. It’s hard to be too critical of a show that was basically thrown together in a week and a half. With there being so much uncertainty with the writers’ strike, the producers of the show had to proceed with show preparations not knowing if there would be an actual show. With that in mind, most of the show was what I like to refer to as “death by montage”. There were so many montages that there were even joke montages produced to lighten the mood. Being a video editor myself, I appreciate the amount of work that goes into show montages, but I hope that next year will have more show. One thing the Oscars do not need is a time filler.

Throughout this past month, I have become increasingly interested in the outcome of the 2008 Academy Awards. For several years, I have labored under the opinion that the Academy Awards hold too much weight. I feel that the Viewer’s Choice Awards should hold more sway since without an audience, there would be no need for the movie in the first place. However, my opinion has changed a bit since I looked into the history of the Oscars.

For 80 years the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have been bestowing awards on what they consider are the best of the best in the film world. The AMPAS is
composed of over 6,000 motion picture professionals. It is an honorary organization designed to foster cooperation, recognition of excellence and educational and technical progress within the motion picture industry. The AMPAS is broken into the following branches.

• Actors
• Art Directors
• Cinematographers
• Directors
• Documentary
• Executives
• Film Editors
• Makeup
• Music
• Producers
• Public Relations
• Short Films and Feature Animation
• Sound Branch
• Visual Effects
• Writers

“Oscar”, as the coveted statuette is fondly called, was originally designed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer art director, Cedric Gibbon and sculptor, George Stanley in 1928. Standing 13.5 inches tall and weighing in at 8.5 pounds, the statue depicts a knight holding a sword with the base being a reel of film with five spokes, which represent the five original branches of the AMPAS: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians. While the origin of the name “Oscar” is not completely known, there is a rumor that the statuette’s namesake is former Academy librarian, Margaret Herrick’s Uncle Oscar.

Winners are chosen by ballot vote from the Academy members. In order to vote for a film in a particular category, you must be a member of that branch of the AMPAS. For example, only members of the film editing branch may vote for the Best Achievement in Film Editing category. There is, of course, an exception to every rule. All member of the AMPAS are eligible to vote for the Best Picture nominee.

Before doing this research, I knew very little about how the Academy Awards worked and how the winners were decided. I still feel that People’s Choice should have more substance and credibility in the film world, however, I do appreciate that filmmakers are being recognized by their peers. And sometimes, that is the best validation a person can receive for their efforts.

While I have not seen all of the pictures nominated for Academy Awards this year, I have seen enough to have favorites for nearly every category and feel confident in making educated decisions for the others based on merit. I will highlight several of the ‘high’ interest awards here and make the complete list available for interested parties.

Actor in a Leading Role — My personal favorite is Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd. He has been nominated twice before for Finding Neverland and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. And while he is probably considered the favorite for winning the Golden Globe earlier this year, he has some tough competition. Past winners Daniel Day-Lewis, George Clooney and Tommy Lee Jones are all nominated as well as Viggo Mortensen. Clooney’s performance in Michael Clayton was outstanding and while I haven’t seen either The Valley of Elah or Eastern Promises, I’ve heard great things about Jones and Mortensen. I think that the winner will most probably be Daniel Day-Lewis. His performance was spectacular and that movie was made to win Oscars.

Actress in a Leading Role — I think that the favorite for everyone is Ellen Page for Juno. Is is her first nomination and I’m hoping her first win. The other nominees are all wonderful actresses and even though I haven’t seen the other pictures in this category, I have a feeling that the award will go to veteran actress Cate Blanchett.

Directing — The nominees in the Acievement of Directing category are ones that I’m not overly familiar with. I have, however, seen 4 of the 5 nominees. Based on that knowledge, my favorite is the Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men. I felt that the composure and direction of this film are what made it shine. THat being said, once again, I think that there’s a strong possibility that Paul Thomas Anderson, director of There Will be Blood, could take the category.

Original Song — While this typically isn’t one of the ‘bigger’ awards given, I felt compelled to make a comment concerning this category. Three out of the five nominees are songs composed for the Disney movie Enchanted. This film was a favorite of mine from this past year due to the like-ability factor. It was fun to watch. I also feel that the songs were some of the best songs written for a Disney movie in years. However, is it really necessary to nominate three songs from the same movie? My favorite from the movie is “That’s How You Know”. I will probably fall out of my seat if one of the other films wins for this category.

For a complete list of my predictions, follow the link below.

2008 Academy Award Prediction Ballot

The last two Best Picture nominees to be reviewed are Michael Clayton and No Country for Old Men. After watching both films, I had similar reactions to each and felt it only fair to review them together.

Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney in the title role, is about a lawyer who works for a large law firm in New York City. Michael Clayton is known as a ‘janitor’ and is used by his firm to clean up messes left by their clients. He finds himself in the midst of a dispute concerning their client, a large corporation, and a small family. Throughout the film, we, the audience, discover that the corporation also has a ‘janitor’ and they will stop at nothing to make sure their record is clean.

I felt that this story was reminiscent of Erin Brockovich. Each had a similar plot in that it was a David vs. Goliath case and lawyers were pitted against other lawyers. However, I thought that Erin Brockovich was a better movie because the viewer can relate to the issues of the defendants and the lawyers in that case. In Michael Clayton, there’s nothing to relate to because the film doesn’t paint a complete picture of any of the characters making it virtually impossible to understand them.

No Country for Old Men shows the truly dark nature of humans. It is set in and around small Texas towns in the year 1980. The film opens with a rather distinguishable voice over describing a criminal that was incarcerated for heinous crimes he had committed. The story was told by the officer who caught him. Throughout the introduction quiet images of the small Texas town are shown to provide background. The first character shown is a man dressed completely in black. The first action to take place is a killing by this character. Later on, another character is introduced. This man is a hunter who stumbles upon a large amount of money. His greed drives him to take it and then run from the man in black throughout the rest of the movie.

I found this film interesting because of the lack of music. It is totally driven by dialogue and sound effects. I felt that made the villain more threatening and the film more suspenseful.

I had high hopes for both of these films. The hype surrounding them and their nominations for Best Picture stirred my interest in them. Unfortunately, they each fell flat. The interesting thing is that they both fell flat the same way. Each film had an exceptionally good build up, but little or no climax. I think I would have felt more fulfilled had I been more drawn in by the story. The cinematography and filmmaking in each movie was spectacular as was the acting. I also felt that the writing, dialogue-wise, was brilliant. It just wasn’t enough to win me over.

Oscar Notes: I see both of these films being big winners in categories other then Best Picture. After seeing all of the Best Picture nominees, I feel that There WIll Be Blood is probably the favorite. My personal favorite from the category is Juno because it is enjoyable to watch, followed by Atonement, which was the 2008 Golden Globe winner for Best Motion Picture.

Michael Clayton - nominated in the following categories.

• Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
• Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
• Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
• Achievement in Directing
• Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
• Best Motion Picture of the Year
• Original Screenplay

No Country for Old Men - nominated in the following categories

• Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
• Achievement in Cinematography
• Achievement in Directing
• Achievement in Film Editing
• Best Motion Picture of the Year
• Achievement in Sound Editing
• Achievement in Sound Mixing
• Adapted Screenplay

By definition, atonement means “reparation for a wrong or injury”. It is most commonly used with Christianity in reference to the Atonement, or the reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ. The amazing thing about the next Best Picture nominee, Atonement, is that the definition of the word describes the film so perfectly.

Looking at the face value of Atonement, the trailer portrays it as another romantic period piece starring Keira Knightley. I can, however, assure you that there is much, much more to this film. Based off of a novel by British romance writer, Ian McEwan, Atonement shows you that things are not always what they seem.

The story takes you through the romance between Cecelia Tallis (Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). Their rather sordid affair leads Cecelia’s younger sister, Briony, to believe that he is an evil man. She witnesses many acts that she feels are true, but as in many cases, what you see, is not always what you get. Briony witnesses a crime, in which, she believes Robbie to be the criminal and her account of that act tears the lovers apart.

The film shows the audience what Briony sees and then what really happened. In my opinion, it is an interesting approach to telling this type of story. At first, you are disoriented by the jump in perspective, but similar to the ABC series, LOST, you quickly find your way through the plot.

As much as I enjoyed Juno, so far Atonement is my favorite of the Best Picture nominees. It has passion, story, fantastic performances and the filmmaking is outstanding. I also felt that the sound editing/mixing was phenomenal. Bits and pieces of the lives of the characters are wrapped into the score through sound effects.

Oscar Notes: In my review of There Will Be Blood, I reported an incorrect number of nominations for Atonement. It is nominated for 7 Academy Awards, not 8. Here’s the breakdown. While these nominations are well-deserved, I also feel that Atonement should have been nominated for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

• Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Saoirse Ronan (Briony)
• Achievement in Art Direction - Sarah Greenwood (Art Direction), Katie Spenser (Set Direction)
• Achievement in Cinematography - Seamus McGarvey
• Achievement in Costume Design - Jacqueline Durran
• Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) - Dario Marianelli
• Best Motion Picture of the Year - Tim Bevan, Eric Feliner and Paul Webster (Producers)
• Adapted Screenplay - Christopher Hampton

Loosely based off of Oil! by American author Upton Sinclair, There Will Be Blood is the second Best Picture nominee on my list. This film is not for the casual film viewer and if you are looking for a ‘feel good’ movie, look elsewhere.

There Will Be Blood tells the story of a prospector, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis, The Ballad of Jack and Rose), in the early 1900s. He begins his business and with his son, H.W., and they build an oil business based out of land leased in New Mexico. The plot thickens when a young man by the name of Paul (Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine), visits Plainview in order to turn him onto some land where there may be some heavy oil prospects. Once Plainview investigates this hunch, he begins to con the small community in order to buy the tracts of land needed to achieve his goals.

This was a difficult movie to watch. I found myself feeling uncomfortable and depressed while I sat in the darkened theater. However, I realized that was the general mood of the main character. In that respect, the filmmakers succeeded into drawing me into the life of Daniel Plainview. Artistically, it’s beautiful and extremely well-made. The acting is phenomenal and as I mentioned before, the writing draws you into a dark, dreary, oily world.

One thing I think will really be overlooked in this film is the musical score. I am always of the opinion that music drives movies, but that is especially true with There Will Be Blood. The score is another character in the film. It plays its own role and has a definitive mood throughout the picture.

OSCAR NOTES: Towards the end of last year, I began seeing ads for There Will Be Blood. Each ad I saw eluded to possible Oscar nominations. In the end, the Academy has given 8 nods to the film in the following categories:

• Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Daniel Day Lewis
• Achievement in Art Direction - Jack Fisk (Art Direction)/ Jim Erickson (Set Decoration) Achievement in Cinematography - Robert Elswit
• Achievement in Directing - Paul Thomas Anderson
• Achievement in Film Editing - Dylan Tichenor
• Best Motion Picture of the Year - JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi (Producers)
• Achievement in Sound Editing - Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood
• Adapted Screenplay - Written for the Screen by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Two of other Best Picture nominees (Atonement and No Country for Old Men) also received 8 nominations tying There WIll Be Blood for the most nominations. Despite what seems a negative review, I did enjoy this movie as a piece of art. It was striking and I can see how it was nominated for so many awards.

During the month of February, I will be departing from the regular movie review format to bring you something a little different. It is Oscar month and even with the writers of Hollywood on strike, some pretty amazing work was done in the movie world this past year. In the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards, I will review each of the five nominees for Best Picture as well as give predictions for the other categories. The first Best Picture nominee is Juno.

Juno is the story of a girl in a predictable situation that acts in an unpredictable way. Juno, played by Ellen Page (nominated for Best Actress), finds herself pregnant after having sex with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). She realizes that her situation while life altering for her could potentially benefit someone else. With the help of her friend, Leah, Juno finds a couple who have been unable to conceive a child and are looking to adopt. Once Juno decides to give her baby to the couple, played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, she then has to carry the child to term and deal with the stares and moral judgments of others.

I really enjoyed this movie. Not only was it fun to watch, but it also takes a serious social issue and shows how to make the best out of a not-so-good situation. The acting and writing was incredible and the ensemble cast really made this picture work. Director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) brought the picture together beautifully. I would recommend Juno to anyone who enjoys the independent-type films.

OSCAR NOTES: I really feel this film deserves to be nominated for Best Picture, although I felt it was a departure from the ‘norm’ of Best Picture nominees. In that respect, I was surprised to see it on the list. I think it was probably nominated based on the writing and superb storytelling in Juno. It was nominated in three other categories: Best Achievement in Directing - Jason Reitman, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Ellen Page, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - Diablo Cody.