But the less predictable nominations for best picture are Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth - which received seven mentions in all - Roberto Benigni's Holocaust-based comedy Life Is Beautiful, and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, his first in 17 years and a much more elliptical war film than the Spielberg.
Such an outcome undoubtedly would be damaging to Mr. Romney, and would make his nomination less assured.
As the number of remaining pledged delegates dwindles, Hillary Clinton's path to the nomination seems less and less plausible.
In fact, Mr. Toobin says that President Obama has made lower-court nominations less of a political priority than his predecessors, having failed, he adds (as of the summer of 2012), even to submit nominations for 43 federal judgeships.
This year, no less than 12 nominations have gone to films about fractured families, either drowning in ennui ("American Beauty"), wandering aimlessly ("Tumbleweeds") or desperately administering to unraveling family ties ("Magnolia").
"Mad Men," the stylish 1960s drama that won the 2008 Emmy for best of its class — in its first year of eligibility, no less — received 16 nominations, the most for any drama series this year.
ON Monday the Senate finally confirmed three federal judges nominated by President Obama last year, thanks to a deal between the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, to move forward on some of the less controversial judicial nominations.
Anything less than three nominations for the men (and with the depth here — consider "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "Veep" — there should be) and we might finally see another comedy crowned in August.
In its 2015 Oscar nominations, revealed this morning, the Academy showed much love for "Grand Budapest" and "Birdman," which led with nine nominations each; less for "Selma," which was nominated only for Best Original Song and Best Picture; and none for Jennifer Aniston, who received no nod for her dramatic turn in "Cake".
There are a lot of if-then statements here, and I would not assign high odds to Mr. Perry making a comeback — much less actually winning the nomination.
