So I'm finally back with my analysis of the Oscar nominations - yesterday I think it would be fair to say that other news immediately ground to a halt with the news of Heath Ledger's death. So, in a slightly more somber circumstance, let's continue.

First off, if you haven't seen the list of nominations, check out my previous (updated) article right here. Otherwise, let's get right to...

The Surprises:

There were two big surprises in the Actor and Actress categories: Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah and Laura Linney for The Savages. Neither actors won any awards leading up to the Oscars, and most people had written them off. Still, its great news, especially for fans of Jones, who turned in two great performances this year (the other being in No Country for Old Men).

Saorise Ronan sneaked into the Supporting Actress category for her role in Atonement despite being nominated for not much else besides a Golden Globe. (She's about to hit it big - she's the star of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones movie.) Likewise, while Johnny Depp might seem like a no-brainer, many close observers were expecting him to be left out of the Best Actor race on the basis that Sweeney Todd wasn't really that well received.

In the Best Director race, Jason Reitman (Juno) and Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) made it in despite the general consensus that the screenplays of those films had overshadowed the directing work. Speaking of screenplays, Sarah Polley's Away from Her was a surprise inclusion in the Adapted race.

Finally, in the Animated Feature race, Persepolis makes it in (hooray!) but so does...Surf's Up, a flop from early in the summer that everyone forgot about. Okay...

The Snubs:

The main film to get the cold shoulder from the Academy was Into the Wild - which also happens to be my favorite film of the year, not that I'm whatsoever bitter. It managed Supporting Actor and Film Editing, but Emile Hirsch was left out of the Actor race, as was Sean