I can't believe it. "Moulin Rouge," the best film I've seen in a long, long time, which, last summer, I "knew" the Academy would snub, didn't get snubbed.

I maintain that it won't win, even though it perhaps should (I haven't seen all the films nominated for Best Picture), but it restores a bit of my faith in the Academy that an original film like "Moulin Rouge," released half a year ago (the Academy's memory is frequently very short) is not only remembered but appreciated.

At the same time I wonder why Baz Luhrmann missed a Best Director nomination for it. Moulin Rouge is more a director's film than most are. Luhrmann is far more responsible for the greatness of Moulin Rouge than, for example, Sam Mendez was for American Beauty's (which is not to say I object to his Oscar).

I'm also relieved to see Lord of the Rings there. I feared perhaps the Academy was too snooty to remember that a fun movie could also be great. Even better than the Best Picture nomination, however, is the nomination for Ian McKellen's portrayal of Gandalf. Fantastic.

Because, these days, we are poor, we have not seen the other three nominated films. Curiously, however, if, prior to this morning, you had asked me which four current movies I most wanted to see, it would be those three (Gosford Park, A Beautiful Mind, and In the Bedroom), plus The Count of Monte Cristo.

A Beautiful Mind was obvious. The subject matter had Oscar written all over it. It's upbeat. It's a favored director's best work yet. I don't want to cast suspicion over its nomination. I haven't seen it, and from what I can tell it probably *does* deserve the nomination. I'm merely pointing out how there wasn't a chance the Academy was going to miss considering it.

Gosford Park is a little more interesting of a choice. Robert Altman is one of the great directors of our time, but the last movie he made that garnered any particular notice other than by enthusiastic but quiet critics was 1993's Short Cuts. (Have you even heard of, let alone seen, "Cookie's Fortune"?) Gosford Park isn't any more commercial or accessible than his usual work, but apparently something about it attracted notice, and now I'm all the more interested in seeing it.

I also, by the way, must thank the Academy for what it DIDN'T nominate. Specifically what it did not nominate was "The Shipping News." I have not seen The Shipping News, and so I will not cast judgment on whether or not it SHOULD have been. However, its omission is another indication that the Academy was THINKING. It is mind-boggling to think about how much bad Oscar bait was concentrated in this one movie. It was distributed by Miramax, a company that has a long history of being able to "sell" the Academy on whatever in their inventory is handy (such as The Cider House Rules and Chocolat). The director was Lasse Hallstrom, director of BOTH Cider House and Chocolat. The cast included Kevin Spacey (Oscar favorite for The Usual Suspects, L.A. Confidential, and American Beauty), Judi Dench (Oscar favorite for Mrs. Brown, Shakespeare In Love, and Chocolat), and Cate Blanchett (nominated for the lead in Elizabeth, losing in the kind of mild controversy the Academy likes to make up for later). As I said, I don't have the grounds to say if the film is deserving or not, but it DID require some actual thought to turn it down.

I'll start the annual Oscar Nominations Game here in the forum when the Oscar ceremony draws a little nearer. It will be an interesting year.

And, thankfully, also a year in which the Best Picture award could go to any of the five nominated films and not outrage me as much as when Gladiator edged out both Traffic and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.