I sort of stopped reading David Edelstein's New York Magazine blog, The Projectionist, because -- well -- he just didn't update enough.  But I came across his reaction to yesterday's Oscar nominations via Nathaniel Rogers' Film Experience Blog this morning.  Glad to see he's still generating some web content.

He spends plenty of time essentially re-reviewing "Juno" and calling the film's fans "duped" (no fan is he) before finally getting into some snubs he considers rather egregious. Frank Langella's performance in "Starting Out in the Evening," Ashley Judd's raw portrayal in "Bug" and the box office-challenged "Grace is Gone" are among them.

He starts out like so:

The announcement of the Academy Award nominations is always the saddest day of the year, not because the voters’ choices are lousy (although they tend to be) but because so many worthy movies suddenly lose their luster. As long as the potential for a nomination exists, attention will be paid. Once the field dwindles, audiences desert the also-rans faster than you can say “Fred Thompson.” And it’s on to DVD…

And wraps it up thusly:

What of the rest? The Academy went with the critics in giving No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood its love, but my hunch is that neither has many enthusiastic supporters among the voters and will split the vote anyway. Too grim, too weird. Atonement would have been perfect Oscar bait if it had been any good. Michael Clayton is terrific — but is it too conventional a conversion melodrama? Could Juno squeak through? Diablo Cody might be one doodle that can’t be undid.

Read the rest.