MOVIES: Oscar season (yawn)...

Maybe it's just that I've been laid up sick for the last three weeks, maybe it's that so few of the movies I really cared about this year got any major nominations, but I'm finding it harder than usual to get terribly excited about the Oscars this year.

The Best Picture field, for instance, includes Michael Clayton, a perfectly serviceable legal thriller, but one that didn't seem to me particularly special or noteworthy; Atonement, which isn't a bad movie until its horrible cheat of an ending; and No Country for Old Men, which is fatally crippled by the fact that its villain is less a human being than an abstract symbol. The only movie in the bunch that I can root for without reservation is Juno; as for There Will Be Blood, I'm not entirely convinced by some of its more over-the-top moments, but I wouldn't be appalled to see it win.

The acting categories? There are more performances than usual that I didn't see, and some of them I can't muster up any enthusiasm to see even now that they've been nominated.

Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, for instance; I didn't enjoy the first Elizabeth all that much, and can't imagine forcing myself to sit through a sequel that is, by all accounts, even less interesting. The other Best Actress nominees, I think, comprise the strongest of the acting fields this year; I'll be rooting for Ellen Page, but would be almost as happy to see Julie Christie win, and while I think Marion Cotillard and Laura Linney aren't quite in the same class as those two, they are fine performances, and neither would be an embarassing choice.

Best Actor: Haven't seen Viggo Mortensen or Tommy Lee Jones. Clooney's performance is of a piece with its movie -- perfectly adequate, but nothing exciting or distinctive. Depp's work in Sweeney Todd is too monochromatic to be a really great performance, and his singing is weak, which -- call me old fashioned -- I think counts against you when you're starring in a musical. That leaves Daniel Day-Lewis, by far the best of this bunch.

Supporting Actor: Haven't seen Holbrook; of my "haven't seen" performances, this is the one that I'm the most interested in actually seeing. Javier Bardem does as much as humanly possible in No Country, but Anton Chigurh is written as nothing more than a dull cipher. Casey Affleck is overshadowed by Brad Pitt for the entirety of James/Ford; that's not inappropriate for the character, but the challenge of playing a perpetual second banana is to let the audience see a well-rounded human being even when none of the other characters can, and I don't think Affleck rises to that challenge. Tom Wilkinson's performance is a hammy mess. That leaves Philip Seymour Hoffman as the best of the bunch, and while his work in Charlie Wilson's War was very nice, it was by far the least interesting of the three fine performances he gave in year-end movies (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and, even more so, The Savages were more deserving of nominations).

Supporting Actress: I made it only far enough into I'm Not There to know that the movie had nothing to offer anyone who wasn't already a member of the Dylan cult, and Cate Blanchett hadn't even shown up yet when I grew tired of all of the cutesy inside jokes and obscure references; it was like trying to solve a crossword puzzle in a language I don't speak. Ruby Dee's nomination is clearly a "thanks for a terrific career" nomination; the role wasn't that interesting, or really even large enough to merit nomination. The other three nominations are all well-deserved, and I'd be pleased to see either Saoirse Ronan or Amy Ryan win. The single biggest omission in any of the major categories, though, was Jennifer Garner, who not only should have been nominated here, but should have won the Oscar in a landslide.

Let's see...anything interesting in the down-ticket categories?

• Seeing the third Animated Film nomination go to Surf's Up was unexpected; I liked the movie more than most people, I think, so I'm not disappointed to see it there. The plot was on the predictable side, perhaps, but the animation itself was skillfully done, especially in the way it imitated various old film stocks as part of its "documentary" footage.
• The omission of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days in the Foreign Language category is inexcusable.
• I'll be rooting for Atonement and Ratatouille in the Best Score category, and while I don't know the nominated song from August Rush, the rest of that category -- "Falling Slowly" from Once and the three songs from Enchanted -- is a strong field of fine songs.
• Favorite high culture/low culture clash: La Vie en Rose vs. Norbit in the Best Makeup category.