The nominees for the Oscars 2000 race has finally been announced. Front runners like "American Beauty" and "The Insider" garnered 8 and 7 nominations respectively and surprise Best Picture contender "The Cider House Rules" tied with "The Insider" on the same number of nominations. Many contributed its inclusion from the Miramax Marketing department, which many felt it Oscar campaign last year helped "Shakespeare In Love" win Best Picture over sentimental favourite "Saving Private Ryan", though I personally felt that "Shakespeare In Love" was a more deserving winner nonetheless. This year's Oscar race is the most widely open in a long time with no big favourites like "Schindler's List" or "Titanic" dominating the nominations and it should be fun to see which film emerges the ultimate victor at the end.

The string of movies available for nominations this year were also of high quality and variety, though the Academy voters still made the more conservative choices, which is clearly observable from the list of Best Picture nominees. "The Green Mile" and "The Cider House Rules" did not make it to the Golden Globes nominations list, though both made it to the Screen Actors Guild nominations list. They edged out more innovative and less conventional movies like "Magnolia" and "Being John Malkovich" (both nominess for SAG and "Being ..." for Golden Globes) and this demonstrated the conventional tastes of the Academy.

Sean Penn was a surprise nomination, though not an unworthy one, but Jim Carrey was once again snubbed in the Oscar race. Meryl Streep won another nomination to tie with the great Katharine Hepburn with most nominated actress (12 altogether), though Katharine Hepburn's nominations were all in leading categories, Meryl Streep's first nomination cum win in 1979 was for Best Supporting Actress in "Kramer vs Kramer". Katharine Hepburn won 4 times out of 12 and Streep has only scored 2 wins (the other for "Sophie's Choice" in 1982). It is highly unlikely that Streep will win this time considering the fact that the best performance this year was by Hillary Swank for her performance in "Boys Don't Cry" (she won most of the critics circle awards except one which went to Janet McTeer for "Tumbleweeds"). Many joked that Streep would get a nomination even if she just sneezed in a movie.

"The Sixth Sense" scored a haunting 6 nominations, followed by "The Talented Mr. Ripley" with 5 and "The Green Mile" with 4 nominations.
 

                Best Picture
                  ''American Beauty''
                  ''The Cider House Rules''
                  ''The Green Mile''
                  ''The Insider''
                  ''The Sixth Sense''

                  Best Actor
                  Russell Crowe, ''The Insider''
                  Richard Farnsworth, ''The Straight Story''
                  Sean Penn, ''Sweet and Lowdown''
                  Kevin Spacey, ''American Beauty''
                  Denzel Washington, ''The Hurricane''

                  Best Actress
                  Annette Bening, ''American Beauty''
                  Janet McTeer, ''Tumbleweeds''
                  Julianne Moore, ''The End of the Affair''
                  Meryl Streep, ''Music of the Heart''
                  Hilary Swank, ''Boys Don't Cry''

                  Best Supporting Actor
                  Michael Caine, ''The Cider House Rules''
                  Tom Cruise, ''Magnolia''
                  Michael Clarke Duncan, ''The Green Mile''
                  Jude Law, ''The Talented Mr. Ripley''
                  Haley Joel Osment, ''The Sixth Sense''

                  Best Supporting Actress
                  Toni Collette, ''The Sixth Sense''
                  Angelina Jolie ''Girl, Interrupted''
                  Catherine Keener, ''Being John Malkovich''
                  Samantha Morton, "''Sweet and Lowdown''
                  Chloë Sevigny, ''Boys Don't Cry''

                  Best Director
                  Sam Mendes, ''American Beauty''
                  Spike Jonze, ''Being John Malkovich''
                  Lasse Hallström, ''The Cider House Rules''
                  Michael Mann, ''The Insider''
                  M. Night Shyamalan, ''The Sixth Sense''

                  Best Adapted Screenplay
                  ''The Cider House Rules,'' John Irving
                  ''Election,'' Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
                  ''The Green Mile,'' Frank Darabont
                  ''The Insider,'' Eric Roth and Michael Mann
                  ''The Talented Mr. Ripley,'' Anthony Minghella

                  Best Original Screenplay
                  ''American Beauty,'' Alan Ball
                  ''Being John Malkovich,'' Charlie Kaufman
                  ''Magnolia,'' Paul Thomas Anderson
                  ''The Sixth Sense,'' M. Night Shyamalan
                  ''Topsy-Turvy,'' Mike Leigh

                  Best Foreign Film
                  ''All About My Mother,'' Spain
                  ''Caravan,'' Nepal
                  ''East-West,'' France
                  ''Solomon and Gaenor,'' U.K.
                  ''Under the Sun,'' Sweden

                  Best Art Direction
                  ''Anna and the King''
                  ''The Cider House Rules''
                  ''Sleepy Hollow''
                  ''The Talented Mr. Ripley''
                  ''Topsy-Turvy''

                  Best Cinematography
                  ''American Beauty''
                  ''The End of the Affair''
                  ''The Insider''
                  ''Sleepy Hollow''
                  ''Snow Falling on Cedars''

                  Best Original Song
                  ''Blame Canada,'' from ''South Park: Bigger,
                  Longer & Uncut''
                  ''Music of My Heart,'' from ''Music of the
                  Heart''
                  ''Save Me,'' from ''Magnolia''
                  ''When She Loved Me,'' from ''Toy Story 2''
                  ''You'll Be in My Heart,'' from ''Tarzan''

                  Best Original Score
                  ''American Beauty,'' Thomas Newman
                  ''Angela's Ashes,'' John Williams
                  ''The Cider House Rules,'' Rachel Portman
                  ''The Red Violin,'' John Corigliano
                  ''The Talented Mr. Ripley,'' Gabriel Yared

                  Best Sound
                  ''The Green Mile''
                  ''The Insider''
                  ''The Matrix''
                  ''The Mummy''
                  ''Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom
                  Menace''

                  Best Sound Effects Editing
                  ''Fight Club''
                  ''The Matrix''
                  ''Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom
                  Menace''

                  Best Costume Design
                  ''Anna and the King''
                  ''Sleepy Hollow''
                  ''The Talented Mr. Ripley''
                  ''Titus''
                  ''Topsy-Turvy''

                  Best Documentary Feature
                  ''Buena Vista Social Club''
                  ''Genghis Blues''
                  ''On the Ropes''
                  ''One Day in September''
                  ''Speaking in Strings''

                  Best Documentary (Short Subject)
                  ''Eyewitness''
                  ''King Gimp''
                  ''The Wildest Show in the South: The Angola
                  Prison Rodeo''

                  Best Film Editing
                  ''American Beauty''
                  ''The Cider House Rules''
                  ''The Insider''
                  ''The Matrix''
                  ''The Sixth Sense''

                  Best Makeup
                  ''Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me''
                  ''Bicentennial Man''
                  ''Life''
                  ''Topsy-Turvy''

                  Best Animated Short Film
                  ''Humdrum''
                  ''My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts''
                  ''The Old Man and the Sea''
                  ''3 Misses''
                  ''When the Day Breaks''

                  Best Live Action Short Film
                  ''Bor, Min Bror''
                  ''Killing Joe''
                  ''Kleingeld''
                  ''Major and Minor Miracles''
                  ''My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in
                  New York''

                  Best Visual Effects
                  ''The Matrix''
                  ''Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace''
                  ''Stuart Little''