There Will Be Atonement For Old Men and Pregnant Teens... and Clooney

I can remember days where I would have Oscar pools with friends, seeing who can best predict the outcome of the Academy Awards. Most years I'd seen every film shown within 200 miles of my place of living. My, how things have changed.

This year, I haven't seen a single nominated film for Best Picture, even though two of them ("There Will Be Blood" and "No Country for Old Men") were directed by guys who rank very highly on my list of directors working in the biz today (Joel and Ethan Coen, and Paul T. Anderson).

In fact, I'm not sure I've seen a single film nominated for anything... The fact that "The Simpsons Movie" got snubbed in the Best Animated Feature category doesn't help matters much.

With this in mind, take the following ramblings about this year's nominees with a grain of salt:

• Short of a "career achievement" nod to Tommy Lee Jones or a sympathy vote for Johnny Depp to win after a string of brilliant performances, there is no surer bet this year than Daniel Day-Lewis winning the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in "There Will Be Blood." Not only is he due for a win after losing to Adrien Brody in 2002, but Academy voters will relish getting the somewhat-reclusive actor to stand up on a world stage and just be himself.

• Julie Christie will win Best Actress for her portrayal of a woman battling Alzheimer's in "Away From Her." This is the first time I've heard anything about Julie Christie since I first watched the David Lean version of "Dr. Zhivago." Oh, and she once was attached to be in "American Gigolo" until Richard Gere dropped out and she decided to follow suit. Soon after she did that, Gere rejoined the project. Ouch.

• There will be a collective explosion of nerd-dom (I like to call it a "nerdsplosion") when fans of the Coen Brothers and Paul T. Anderson are forced to choose between the two (or make it three) in the Best Director and Best Picture categories for "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood." My guess? Academy voters will remember The Dude from "The Big Lebowski," drink White Russians and go bowling, completely forgetting to fill out their ballots. Advantage: Anderson.

• Eddie Murphy will get to attend the ceremony because "Norbit" was nominated for Best Makeup... No word on whether Murphy's baby's mama — "Scary Spice" Melanie Brown — will picket the event.

• I will not actually watch the ceremony and say I did... this trend will likely continue until Steve Martin is hired again to host the evening's events. (Sorry Jon Stewart, but Colbert is funnier, with or without union writers)