‘Into the Wild’ leads Critics’ Choice nominations
Sean Penn’s adventure tale “Into the Wild” garnered the most Critics’ Choice award nominations on Tuesday, including best picture, best actor for Emile Hirsch and best director for Penn.
With seven nominations, “Into the Wild,” directed by Penn, edged out “Juno,” the offbeat comedy about a pregnant teenager played by Ellen Page that received six nods, including best picture and best actress for Page.
Five films snagged five nominations apiece: “Atonement,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Hairspray.”
Joining “Into the Wild” and “Juno” with best picture nods were: “American Gangster,” “Atonement,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “The Kite Runner,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “There Will Be Blood.”
Besides Hirsch, best actor nominations went to George Clooney for “Michael Clayton,” Daniel Day-Lewis for “There Will Be Blood,” Johnny Depp for “Sweeney Todd,” Ryan Gosling for “Lars and the Real Girl,” and Viggo Mortensen for “Eastern Promises.”
Along with Page, others getting best actress nods were Amy Adams for “Enchanted,” Cate Blanchett for “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” Julie Christie for “Away From Her,” Marion Cotillard for “La Vie en Rose,” and Angelina Jolie for “A Mighty Heart.”
American Gangster

Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Brian Grazer, Steve Zaillian and Ridley Scott team to tell the true juggernaut success story of a cult hero from the streets of 1970s Harlem in American Gangster.
Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), the quiet driver to one of the inner city’s leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city’s mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars.
Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation where only one of them can come out on top.
