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.)
--Greg MacLennan
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