The nominees for the 81st Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning. I’m really glad Mellissa Leo got nominated for her lead performance in Frozen River, truly that was an under-appreciated movie last year, powerful story, well-deserved for screenwriter Courtney Hunt who also got a nomination for original screenplay.
I knew Michael Shannon was gonna get mentioned. If you’ve seen The Revolutionary Road, you’d know what he did was an Oscar worthy material. Excellent job on his part.
I hope Taraji P. Henson wins for BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, Golden Globes made the mistake of not including her as a nominee.
During the announcement, some of the audience laughed when Robert Downey got nominated for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR for his hilarious role in Tropic Thunder but I hope this is a sign that the Oscars will recognize comedy even more from here on out. But of course, the trophy will likely go to the late great Heath Ledger
I think the toughest major category is ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY. Every one of the contenders has a good chance to win. It’s hard to predict whose name will be in the Envelope next month but my money would have to go to Mike Leigh who’s been nominated for 5 Oscars in the past, it’s long overdue.
I can’t believe Bruce Springsteen got snubbed for his Wrestler song! I think A.R. Rahman is awesome and all but whatever happened to the new Oscar rule about not allowing more than one song from the same movie to get nominated?!
Say what you want about Wanted. It may have been one of the most far-fetched movies last year but it got nominated for BEST SOUND and BEST SOUND EDITING. And I hope Iron Man gets to take one home for BEST VISUAL EFFECTS. I just don’t see how it couldn’t.
For BEST PICTURE, I’m sure some of us are disappointed, The Dark Knight is not on the list, neither Christopher Nolan nor his brother got mentioned for directing and screenplay, but like I said before, unlike Golden Globes, The Oscars is brave enough to nominate Milk.
This is definitely Slumdog Millionaire year. Clean sweep, baby!
My predictions are in dark maroon color.
BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams (Doubt)
Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Viola Davis (Doubt)
Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin (Milk)
Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)
BEST LEAD ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Kate Winslet (The Reader)
BEST LEAD ACTOR
Richard Jenkins (The Visitor)
Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
Sean Penn (Milk)
Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)
Gus Van Sant (Milk)
Stephen Daldry (The Reader)
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Courtney Hunt (Frozen River)
Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky)
Martin McDonagh (In Bruges)
Dustin Lance Black (Milk)
Andrew Stanton (Wall-E)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
John Patrick Shanley (Doubt)
Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon)
David Hare (The Reader)
Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tom Stern (Changeling)
Claudio Miranda (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight)
Roger Deakins, Chris Menges (The Reader)
Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire)
BEST EDITING
Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Lee Smith (The Dark Knight)
Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill (Frost/Nixon)
Elliot Graham (Milk)
Chris Dickens (Slumdog Millionaire)
BEST ART DIRECTION
James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis (Changeling)
Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando (The Dark Knight)
Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway (The Duchess)
Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt (Revolutionary Road)
BEST COSTUME
Catherine Martin (Australia)
Jacqueline West (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Michael O’Connor (The Duchess)
Danny Glicker (Milk)
Albert Wolsky (Revolutionary Road)
BEST MAKE-UP
Greg Cannom (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Caglione Jr., Conor O’Sullivan (The Dark Knight)
Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz (Hellboy II: The Golden Army)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
James Newton Howard (Defiance)
Danny Elfman (Milk)
A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire)
Thomas Newman (Wall-E)
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
A.R. Rahman, Gulzar(“Jai Ho”) for Slumdog Millionaire
A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam(“O Saya”) for Slumdog Millionaire
Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman(“Down to Earth”) for Wall-E
BEST SOUND
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo (The Dark Knight)
Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty (Slumdog Millionaire)
Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt (Wall-E)
Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt (Wanted)
BEST SOUND EDITING
Richard King (The Dark Knight)
Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes (Iron Man)
Tom Sayers (Slumdog Millionaire)
Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood (Wall-E)
Wylie Stateman (Wanted)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin (The Dark Knight)
John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan (Iron Man)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Betrayal
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306
BEST SHORT ANIMATED
Ubornaya istoriya – lyubovnaya istoriya
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up
BEST SHORT LIVE ACTION
Auf der Strecke
Manon sur le bitume
New Boy
Grisen
Spielzeugland
