I'll be the first to admit I was wrong, and I'll be the first to tell the Academy how they were wrong. Benjamin Button leads with 13 nominations, check out the nominees below...
Best Motion Picture of the Year The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader Slumdog Millionaire
(What? No Batman? I guess it wasn't good enough? I guess every other Guild and award giving committee was wrong? Stupid Holocaust, who knew you'd ruin the lives of others this way too!)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Richard Jenkins for The Visitor Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon Sean Penn for Milk Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler
(Happy to see Brad Pitt get a nom even though he won't win. I'm decently happy with this batch.)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married Angelina Jolie for Changeling Melissa Leo for Frozen River Meryl Streep for Doubt Kate Winslet for The Reader
(Kate Winslet for The Reader? Wasn't that a supporting role? I mean she's won all the other awards for supporting. And why the Revolutionary Road snub? She was amazing in that? I think Oscar just screwed Kate Winslet out of another Oscar. Also I'm sad Cate Blanchett got overlooked again for a great performance.) Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin for Milk Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008) Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I) Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008) Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)
(Michael Shannon is a sneak attack on the category, but a welcome one. But it would have been nice to see Dev Patel get some acting love for Slumdog Millionaire. Also don't get me wrong, I love RDJ, but I think that spot deserved to go to Colin Farrell) Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I) Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I) Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)
(Taraji was awesome, and we're happy everyone knows it. The double Doubt love seems excessive, but at least Marisa Tomei is representing for The Wrestler. But again, where is Kate Winslet? Oh right, she got bumped up to leading and systematically effed out of actually winning. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.)
Best Achievement in Directing
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire Stephen Daldry for The Reader David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon Gus Van Sant for Milk
( I guess Batman directed itself did it? One of the best and most ambitious films of the year just was on auto-pilot was it? Oh and sure, Darren Aronofsky doesn't deserve anything for crafting such an intimate and real film. Oh well, at least we can seek solace in the fact that Danny Boyle is going to win, I'd be okay with David Fincher too.)
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky Martin McDonagh, In Bruges Dustin Lance Black, Milk Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Wall E
(Frozen River? What's that? But I'm happy about In Bruges and Wall-E love.Course Wall-E couldn't have been much of a screenplay since it has no words.)
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Eric Roth, Robin Swicord The Curious Case of Benjamin Button John Patrick Shanley Doubt Peter Morgan Frost/Nixon David Hare The Reader Simon Beaufoy Slumdog Millionaire
(And Batman takes a back seat to the Holocaust yet again!)
Best Achievement in 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
(If Wally doesn't take it I'll be sad, but Benjamin Button and Slumdog did a fine job were both great too. And Maryse Alberti on The Wrestler, why forget him? And say what you want about Australia, but Mandy Walker did a phenomenal job on it. I guess the Academy wanted to show how wrong they could get it with this category.)
Best Achievement in 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
(I'm happy with Benjamin and Slumdog, and could see those winning. But I loved The Dark Knight too.)
Best Achievement in 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
(Again a happy toss up between The Dark Knight and Benjamin, but The Duchess did look impressive.)
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Catherine Martin Australia Jacqueline West The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Michael O'Connor The Duchess Danny Glicker Milk Albert Wolsky Revolutionary Road
(The Duchess seems like a sure shot, the Academy loves this shit. But Australia was totally wicked too.)
Best Achievement in Makeup The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight Hellboy II: The Golden Army
(It's hard to deny Benjamin this award, and if not him, then Hellboy was pretty incredible. It's hard to say that when the Dark Knight was so good too.)
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, 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
(What? Dark Knight overlook again?! I hope Slumdog, Wall-E or Benjamin win then.)
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Slumdog Millionaire A.R. Rahman, Gulzar ("Jai Ho") Slumdog Millionaire A.R. Rahman, M.I.A ("O Saya") WALL·E Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman ("Down to Earth")
(How in the hell did they overlook the Boss for "The Wrestler", simply mind boggling. I was really looking forward to him growling it out on stage and seeing Mickey Rourke cry.)
Best Achievement in Sound The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight Slumdog Millionaire WALL·E Wanted
(Gotta go Dark Knight.)
Best Achievement in Sound Editing The Dark Knight Iron Man Slumdog Millionaire WALL·E Wanted
(Gotta hit the Dark Knight again!)
Best Achievement in Visual Effects The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight Iron Man
(Hands down Benjamin Button. They married those visual effects and made you weep with them. The other two were great, but Benjamin made my jaw hit the floor.)
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Bolt Kung Fu Panda WALL·E
(Wall-E for the win!)
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany) Entre les murs (France) Revanche (Austria) Okuribito (Japan) Vals Im Bashir (Israel)
(I'm ignorant to this category this year.)
Best Documentary, Features The Betrayal - Nerakhoon Encounters at the End of the World The Garden Man on Wire Trouble the Water
(See above.) Best Documentary, Short Subjects
The Conscience of Nhem En The Final Inch Smile Pinki The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306
(See above.) Best Short Film, Animated Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya La Maison en Petits Cubes Oktapodi Presto This Way Up
(Presto is the best thing since sliced bread. It's on your Wall-E DVD. It can't lose.)
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