Oscar throws a curve in 'Best Picture' race
"Dreamgirls," the musical loosely based on the rise of the Supremes in the 1960s, was nominated for eight Academy Awards but was left out of the Best Picture nominations, and many in Hollywood and the film industry would rate that the biggest surprise of today's announced nominations (but, it would be no surprise to our part-time reviewer Blake Rutherford, who somewhat dissed the film in a recent issue).
Best Picture nominees are "Babel," "The Queen," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Departed." (Ed. note: In a rarity of immense magnitude for me, I've actually seen four of the five already, before the noms. Wow. Speaks well mostly for Little Rock's ability to attract the "big" pictures earlier than we were used to, as Phil Martin aptly pointed out in a recent D-G column. And I really have no excuse for having not seen "Babel" yet.)
There's plenty more to see in the nominations as www.oscars.com.
