Anderson ian

As part of a special folk roots night

A monumental work of American gothic about greed, oil and murder, starring Daniel Day-Lewis

The nominations are just in for the 2008 Oscars, so here’s my first impressions of what’s what in the major categories. It’s no great shock to see No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood leading the field (8 nominations a piece), but there’s certainly a few surprises… Here, anyway, are the nominations in the main categories.

Gritty Texan thriller from the inimitable Coen Bros.

The guitarist could be up for an award for his soundtrack work

The Alarm's Mike Peters, The Animals and Jah Wobble all confirmed

It occurred to me, as I stumbled somewhat exhausted out of last night's screening of Paul Thomas Anderson's epic movie about oil, greed and murder, that both this film and The Assassination Of Jesse James seem to be a return to the kind of filmmaking not seen since Heaven's Gate.

You may have noticed that the big movie for this Christmas period is The Golden Compass, a $90 million adaptation of the first volume of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. It's got talking bears, witches on broomsticks and Nicole Kidman, as the film's villain, Mrs Coulter. It's the best performance in a film that has many surprisingly smart casting choices (Tom Courtenay, Daniel Craig, Jim Carter, Derek Jacobi), despite its rather hamfisted handling of the source material.

Well, OK, a Jonny Greenwood solo album. . .

An evening of tunes and pranks from Thom and chums on web show