With a Best Picture nomination under its belt, I guess it’s not appropriate to use “poor” as an Atonement adjective any more. The fact that Joe Wright didn’t get a Best Director nomination means the Academy voters liked it mainly for “soft” reasons — Brideshead Revisited vibe, moving love story, period sets and costumes. But Atonement nonetheless received three prestige-level nominations — Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Saoirse Ronan) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The four “soft” Atonement nominations are for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Costume Design.
As noted elsewhere, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood got eight nominations each — cheers and a clink of glasses for Miramax (which landed 21 nominations in total) and Paramount Vantage.
Michael Clayton earned six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Tony Gilroy), Best Actor (George Clooney), Best Supporting Actor (Tom Wilkinson) and Best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton). Ratatouille, The Diving Bell & the Butterfly and Juno were handed four nominations each. The Bourne Ultimatum, Enchanted, Sweeney Todd and Transformers got three each.