Another year has brought another set of nominees to mull over, with a handful of surprises mixed with what was, for the most part, a predictable slate of nominees.

I scored 5/5 in Best Cinematography, 3/3 in Best Visual Effects and 4/5 in Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score, to go along with a 2/3 prediction in Makeup. The other aural categories did me in – correctly foreseeing only 3 of the 5 nominees in Best Sound Mixing and just two in each of Best Sound Editing and Best Original Score.

Oh well.

For the most part, I’ll discuss the nominees by category today, but allow me to first make a few notes.

To start, I think we need to note the performance of “The Bourne Ultimatum.” Three nominations for a third film in a series, when both of the film’s predecessors failed to score a single tip of the hat, is an impressive achievement. It should be attributed to the fact that, not only has the series become better with each installment, but director Paul Greengrass, saddled with talent, has come to an Academy with open arms. He’s one to watch in the future (as if he wasn’t already).

Never underestimate the power of Best Picture nominees, either. “Atonement,” “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” all did very well indeed, racking up four crafts nominations apiece.

Total shut-outs for “Spider-Man 3,” “300” and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” are not shocking, but still somewhat unexpected, due to a combination of guild support and big names aboard the titles.

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” turned out to be a disappointment as the potential tech behemoth got just two nominations in these categories. But, as I suspected might happen, fellow musical “Hairspray” was totally blanked.

On to the categories. We’ll tackle half today, half tomorrow.

Best Art Direction

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” managed to become, surprisingly, only the third Tim Burton effort to garner recognition from the art department side of things. “Batman” and “Sleepy Hollow” won the award in 1989 and 1999 respectively, and I’d venture to say Dante Ferretti would likely follow suit for this film if we were strictly looking at typicality of the winners in the category.

Ferretti will receive tough competition from veteran Jack Fisk, who finally earned the first nomination of his 35-year career for “There Will Be Blood” (he met his wife, Sissy Spacek, on the set of “Badlands!”). Sarah Greenwood, meanwhile, managed the second citation of her career for “Atonement” (she should probably keep working with director Joe Wright considering these odds).

Both Fisk and Greenwood were expected nominees and, more importantly, worked on films which clearly hit with AMPAS a lot more than Burton’s.

I was able to predict our token fantasy nominee in Dennis Gassner for “The Golden Compass,” edging out sequels “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” However, I missed the last slot, thinking that Guy Dyas would score for “Elizabeth: The Golden Age.” Instead, Arthur Max got his second nomination for “American Gangster,” which I find somewhat surprising, even with the guild nomination last week.

Best Cinematography

The highest profile of the crafts categories went as expected: a double nod for Deakins, in addition to citations for Kaminski, Elswit and McGarvey. This is the first time since 1996 that the ASC landed all five nominees, however. The guild added a sixth nominee that year, so who knows what might have happened with only five.

I want to say that Deakins will finally win, but might they go for the Best Picture nominee, and likely winner, “No Country for Old Men,” or the more typically ‘gorgeous’ film, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford?” I’m tempted to say he may cancel himself out, allowing one of the other gorgeous films to triumph. But they don’t vote for the name, they vote for the film. So we’ll see.

Best Picture nominees usually emerge victorious in this category, which is an advantage to “No Country,” “Atonement” and “There Will Be Blood.” “Jesse James” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” however, are just so showy. This is going to be one hell of a race.

Best Costume Design

Colleen Atwood (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”), Jacqueline Durran (“Atonement”) and Alexandra Byrne (“Elizabeth: The Golden Age”) were obvious nominees in this category who I now expect to battle it out for the win.

Marit Allen received a posthumous nomination, as slowly became expected across the net last week, for “La Vie en Rose.” This is a nice way to say goodbye to a veteran, and not an undeserved nomination on merit either. It is a shame she did not live to receive this honor.

I truly struggled with predicting the last spot here. The eventual nominee came kind of out of left field (in the true fashion of this branch) when Albert Wolsky slid in for Julie Taymour’s “Across the Universe.” It is a true tribute to the degree Wolsky, a veteran if there ever was one, is respected by his peers.

Best Film Editing

Roderick Jaynes becomes the first fictional person to earn a second Oscar nomination. I suspect “he” is also on his way to becoming the first fictional editor ever to win.

Dylan Tichenor finally earned a first nod for “There Will Be Blood,” as Paul Thomas Anderson’s film racked up a total of 8 nominations. Christopher Rouse’s nomination for “The Bourne Ultimatum” is one of three mentions for the film and should be considered a threat. It’s also Rouse’s second straight nomination (after last year’s “United 93”). I don’t feel that Greengrass and Rouse reached the same heights they did last year, but the duo clearly know how to work efficiently together.

That Jay Cassidy (“Into the Wild”) and Juliette Welfing (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) managed to get nominations here when their films did not garner Best Picture recognition is pretty surprising, in my opinion. Neither film seems like a showcase for editors, especially as John Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”) did not score while his film did. But that is neither here nor there. I did, after all, predict Cassidy, and had Welfing in seventh place.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: I strongly disagree with this final notion. “Into the Wild” featured an episodic narrative that drew upon footage from various places and from varying themes within the structure of the film. I would say that is the epitome of a “showcase” for an editor.

Likewise, Juliette Welfing had to integrate the inner and outer worlds of Jean-Dominique Bauby on the way to creating a coherent narrative with dedicated thematic commentary throughout. I’d say it was one of the finer editorial achievements of the year, and one quite challenging for any given editor.)

It’s also worth noting that this is the third straight year this category has only matched up with Best Picture 2/5. Looks like the beginnings of a trend…

Best Makeup

The makeup branch usually surprises us, and this year was no exception.

Ve Neill is back in the game, not for “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet,” as many had expected, but for “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” She’ll attempt to win her fourth Oscar this year, with one of her past wins (“Ed Wood”) also coming for makeup on a Johnny Depp starrer. “Pirates” was also by far the most lucrative of the nominees, and let’s not deny how showy and key the makeup was to this series.

But Neill will face tough competition from Jan Archibald and Didler Lavergne, who have managed the first nominations of their careers for “La Vie en Rose.” Aging, illness and the re-creation of a famous persona make for strong contention in this category. I suspect it’ll result in a win.

Lastly, we have “Norbit.” Never underestimate Rick Baker in this category. Well, sometimes. He didn’t get in for sure-thing “Planet of the Apes,” after all, but he’s still a giant in the field. This film has already got a reputation for being all-time worst material, and now it is an Academy Award nominee. Go figure. Eddie Murphy in a fat suit appealed to this branch more than John Travolta in same. Never try to figure them out.

Tomorrow: Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects!