To nobody's surprise, James Cameron's towering epic, Titanic, swamped all the competition in the nominations for the 70th Academy Awards, announced in Beverly Hills yesterday. It romped home with 14 nominations, ahead of Good Will Hunting and L.A. Confidential, which received nine nominations each.

There was bad news for the principal Irish contender, Jim Sheridan's The Boxer, which received no nominations, the first of Sheridan's four films not to secure at least one place on the Oscars shortlist. However, there was great news for the delightful Northern Ireland production, Dance Lexie Dance, directed by Tim Loane, which was nominated for best live-action short film.

Titanic already has set records with its budget - at $200 million, the biggest in cinema history - and it is now poised to become the first film ever to take over one billion dollars at the international box-office. It did not break any records in the Oscar nominations, but it did succeed in equalling the all-time record of 14 nominations, set by All About Eve in 1950. The movie's next challenge will be difficult - equalling or surpassing the all-time record of winning 11 Oscars, set by Ben-Hur in 1959.

Yesterday's nominations marked a triumph for the young actor and screenwriter, Matt Damon, whose touching and compelling film, Good Will Hunting, secured nine nominations. Directed by Gus Van Sant, the film features Damon as a young South Boston janitor with a photographic memory and an extraordinary gift for solving the most complex mathematical problems. Damon himself received two nominations - best actor and best original screenplay, which he shared with actor Ben Affleck who plays his best friend in the film. The nominations marked a vindication for Curtis Hanson's terrific thriller, L.A. Confidential, which was shamefully passed over for awards by the Cannes jury last May and went on to earn nine Oscar nominations yesterday, including best picture, director and supporting actress (Kim Basinger). It was unlucky to receive no nominations for its superlative male cast who, one assumes, cancelled each other out in the voting process.

A hugely suprising cinema success, the low-budget British picture, The Full Monty, raised eyebrows again yesterday when it collected four Oscar nominations - best picture, director (Peter Cattaneo), original screenplay and original comedy or musical score. Among the major film-makers who are sure to be disappointed are Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, whose new films, Amistad and Kundun, respectively, received four nominations each, but none in the major categories of best picture and director.

Spielberg's other 1997 release, the box-office blockbuster, The Lost World, received a single nomination, for visual effects, while the top US box-office movie of last year, Men in Black, received three nominations - art direction, makeup and original musical or comedy score. Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry and Mike Newell's Donnie Brasco each received just one nomination, for their screenplays, while Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown also got just one placing, for actor Robert Forster. The Ice Storm, The Winter Guest, The Rainmaker and Washington Square were among the fancied films which received no nominations.

This is how the nominees shape up in the six main categories. There are five nominations in each category.

Best Picture

The three Oscar front-runners deservedly made the list: Titanic, L.A. Confidential and Good Will Hunting. James L. Brooks, whose Terms of Endearment won the Oscar in 1983, is back on the shortlist with As Good As It Gets, a serious comedy which got seven nominations. Taking the fifth place on the list, The Full Monty shut out such contenders as The Boxer, Amistad, Wag the Dog, The Apostle, Donnie Brasco, The Wings of the Dove and The Ice Storm.

Best Director

All of the nominees here are up for best director for the first time. Four of the best picture contenders figure on the shortlist - James Cameron for Titanic, Curtis Hanson for L.A. Confidential, Gus Van Sant for Good Will Hunting and Peter Cattaneo for The Full Monty. With James L. Brooks failing to take the fifth place, the surprise nominee here is the gifted Cairo-born, Toronto-based Atom Egoyan for The Sweet Hereafter. As recently as a few years ago it would have been unthinkable that such firmly independent maverick film-makers as Egoyan and Van Sant would ever be nominated for Oscars. Their inclusion signals a refreshing sign of the times.

Best Actor

Golden Globe winner Peter Fonda is in for Ulee's Gold, in which he plays a reclusive Florida beekeeper. Fonda's father, Henry, won one Oscar, and his sister, Jane, won two; Peter's only previous nomination was in the best original screenplay category for Easy Rider back in 1969. Securing his 11th nomination for As Good As It Gets, Jack Nicholson is now the second most nominated performer in Oscar history, behind Katharine Hepburn.

Nicholson already has won two Oscars (for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Terms of Endearment), as has Dustin Hoffman (for Kramer Vs. Kramer and Rain Man), who is back in contention again for Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog in which he plays a Hollywood producer modelled on the famously colourful producer, Robert Evans. Robert Duvall, an Oscar winner for Tender Mercies in 1983, is back on the shortlist for The Apostle, which he also wrote, produced, directed and partly financed. Bay far the youngest nominee is flavour of the year Matt Damon for Good Will Hunting.

Best Actress

It is both a tribute to the quality of British acting and an indication of how few good roles are available for women in American movies that four of the nominees for best actress are British - - Helena Bonham Carter (The Wings of the Dove), Kate Winslet (Titanic), Judi Dench (Mrs Brown), and Julie Christie (After- glow), who won this category for Darling way back in 1965. The only American nominee is Helen Hunt from the TV series, Mad About You, who impressively seizes upon the opportunity to stretch her range in As Good As It Gets.

Best Supporting Actress

The 87-year old Gloria Stuart, who makes a comeback in Titanic, is on the shortlist with Golden Globe winner Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential), Joan Cusack (In & Out), Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights) and Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting).

Best Supporting Actor

The big surprise here is the omission of Rupert Everett for My Best Friend's Wedding. The five who make it include two actors on the comeback trail - Burt Reynolds for Boogie Nights and Robert Forster (Jackie Brown). The other three places are taken by former chatshow host Greg Kinnear for As Good As It Gets, Robin Williams for Good Will Hunting, and former winner Anthony Hopkins for Amistad.

In Other Categories

Spike Lee is up for an Oscar in the best documentary category with the well-regarded Four Little Girls. The mostly unfamiliar nominees for best foreign-language film are Character (Netherlands), Four Days in September (Brazil), Beyond Silence (Germany), Secrets of the Heart (Spain) and The Thief (Russia).

Among the more high-profile entries which failed to secure a place were Western (France), Gabbeh (Iran), Princess Mononoke (Japan) and this year's Golden Globe winner, Ma Vie en Rose (Belgium).

The 70th Academy Awards will be presented in Los Angeles on March 23rd