Sure, "Michael Clayton" was good. But this good?

As expected, when the Academy Awards nominations were announced yesterday morning, "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" led the pack with eight nods each.

But Clayton, about a lawyer conflicted by conscience, garnered seven nominations — one in almost every major category — including best picture, best director (Tony Gilroy), best actor (George Clooney), best supporting actor (Tom Wilkinson) and best supporting actress (Tilda Swinton).

That's a lot of potential hardware in the biggest spots. But every one of the nominations is deserved.

Yet, in the odd way these things work, it doesn't mean "Clayton" was the best movie of the year — it wasn't. For whatever reason, 2007 produced an unusually good crop of films.

"Clayton" was kind of a throwback, an intelligent thriller for grown-ups, with (obviously) some great acting. But of the other best-picture nominees, "Blood" and "No Country" were huge achievements, "Atonement" (which also got seven nominations) only a little less so.

And "Juno" was a quirky delight, as well as a most-welcome addition to the category.

To four categories, in fact. In addition to its best-picture nomination, "Juno" star Ellen Page was nominated for best actress, director Jason Reitman for best director and Diablo Cody for best original screenplay.

"Juno" was too good for its nominations to be called pleasant surprises; buzz has been building around it since it was released, and it's a huge financial success (always a consideration to Academy voters).

There were few surprises.

It's not a shock that Daniel Day-Lewis' towering performance in "There Will Be Blood" resulted in a nomination, nor that the Coen brothers were nominated for directing "No Country," or Paul Thomas Anderson for directing "Blood."

Similarly, Julie Christie and Marion Cotillard getting bestactress nominations for "Away From Her" and "La Vie en Rose," respectively, was expected — critics and audiences alike have been praising them for months.

The same is true for Cate Blanchett's nomination in two categories: for best actress in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and best supporting actress — as Bob Dylan — in "I'm Not There." She stands a much better chance of winning in the latter category.

The other somewhat-expected nomination for gender bending, John Travolta as a woman in "Hairspray," didn't happen.

Indeed, what surprises — and disappointments — there were among the nominees fell mostly into the left-out department, the exception being Tommy Lee Jones' magnificent performance in "In the Valley of Elah" garnering him a best-actor nomination. Unexpected, yet worthy.

Among those missing, "Into the Wild" had picked up some awards along the way, including a few for director Sean Penn, but it was nearly shut out of the major categories; only Hal Holbrook got a nomination, for best supporting actor.

But which film would it replace? Which director? Bad luck for Penn translated into good luck for audiences; there was simply too much good stuff this year.

Also left out were Keira Knightley and James McAvoy of "Atonement", though Saoirse Ronin was nominated as best supporting actress.

It's a shame Josh Brolin's work in "No Country" went unrecognized — he's that film's secret weapon — but at least the movie's Javier Bardem is shaping up as the clear front-runner in the best supporting actor category.

If, in a year like this, there's such a thing as a front-runner.

Bill Goodykoontz is chief film critic for Gannett News Service. Read his blog at www.goodyblog.azcentral.com.