Oscar odds 'n' ends

Notes from around Hollywood with the Oscars two days away ...

Kelly Macdonald gives a fine supporting performance in "No Country for Old Men."

- There's been a lot of talk about how this year's best picture nominees, with the possible exception of "Juno," are "movies nobody has seen." (Of course, the Academy Awards aren't supposed to be about the highest-grossing films, but that's a topic for another day.) But Slate's Dana Stevens makes the case that, for lovers of great film, this is actually an Oscars to care about. Besides, from Hollywood's point of view, the nominations have had their desired box office effect: Variety reports that revenues for the best picture nominees are way up this year, so more people are seeing the movies nobody has seen.

- Supporting performer nominations are nice, but for a number of the nominated movies this year, they don't do justice to all the fine turns to be found. To pick out just one example: the brief but indelible performances by Kelly Macdonald, Barry Corbin, Tess Harper and Gene Jones (the latter as the "Gas Station Proprietor" saved by a coin toss) in "No Country for Old Men." The Academy doesn't nominate casting directors, but many deserve a round of applause this year.

- If you haven't seen this year's best picture nominees, AMC Theatres is once again doing its Best Picture Showcase on Saturday. Five films, 30 bucks. And if you want to catch up with past Oscar winners, Turner Classic Movies (like CNN, a unit of Time Warner) continues its "31 Days of Oscar."

- Oscar weather forecast: An 80 percent chance of rain to start the day, declining to 30 percent by evening. Expected high temperature: 60 degrees.

- And speaking of forecasts, not everyone is going for the favorites. In a People magazine survey of "insiders," 39 percent said "There Will Be Blood" deserves to win best picture, 14 percent more than went with "No Country for Old Men." TheEnvelope.com's Tom O'Neil is going out on a limb and saying George Clooney ("Michael Clayton") will beat Daniel Day-Lewis for best actor, and CNN.com's film reviewer Tom Charity has a hunch Ellen Page may sneak in to win best actress. And I'm thinking the Academy is going to give Oscars to both Hal Holbrook and Ruby Dee - both deserved, but both won also on the strength of the Lifetime Achievement Award Theory.

How about you? Make your picks in our Inside the Envelope game. You could win an HDTV - which, though not an Oscar, is quite a prize in itself.

– From CNN.com Entertainment Producer Todd Leopold