Monday’s incentive graphic proved to be fairly popular, so I’m sticking with a theme. Vote for Theater Hopper at BuzzComix to learn more! We have a really good shot of cracking the Top 5 by this afternoon!

Today’s comic is supposed to be commentary on the surprising nominations the Academy presented yesterday. Quite honestly, I didn’t expect to see most of the names on that list mentioned in the same breath with some of the other more established (re: popular and/or commercially) viable Hollywood stars.

There are a lot of dark horses I’ll be pulling for. Bill Murray, Johnny Depp, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Alec Baldwin, Ken Wantanabe, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Sophia Coppola notably.

Hey! What did I tell you guys about that Ken Wantanabe?! He’s the real deal, my friends! I don’t know what the odds are of a Japanese star winning an Oscar in his first English language film, but anyone who can break through so effectively is one to watch in the future. Why, he could be like Jackie Chan, but with INTEGRITY!

Of course, it wouldn’t be the Oscars with at least ONE misstep. Brother Bear for Best Animated Feature? Didn’t, like, seven people go to that movie? Oh, well. There weren’t a lot of animated movies to turn to this year. They actually nominated a French film – The Triples of Belleville – to round out the category. I haven’t seen it, but I’m dying to. Cami and I had an opportunity when we were in New York, but it ended up passing us by.

No matter. Finding Nemo is going to clean house with both of them.

I suppose I could go more in depth with this, but I don’t want to jinx a good thing. The Academy has done a very good job of recognizing talent that deserves it. I hope it’s a trend that continues. What I thought was going to be another ho-hum ceremony has now become very interesting for me because the nominees reflect more of my personal taste in film. I have much more invested in my picks success or failure.

If you’re interested in discussing the Oscar nominations further, be sure to register in the forums for some great round-table discussion!