It’s that time of year again (I’m sure it comes around more than once every twelve months) when the Oscar nominations are made public. We’re a month away from the 81st Academy Awards, this year being held at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles on February 22.
There are very few surprises this year, with all the nominees seemingly having been called by industry pundits months ago. Still, the nominations point towards a good year for films, with a varied selection getting the nod in 2009. As is usual for the Oscars, drama has beaten out action quite easily.
The big winner in terms of nominations is The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, with 13 nominations. This is despite (or maybe because) of the many and various similarities the film has to Forrest Gump. Slumdog Millionaire has managed ten nominations while The Dark Knight and Milk have eight apiece.
I haven’t yet made my predictions because I need more than the few minutes looking over the list than I’ve currently enjoyed. But I’m hoping Slumdog Millionaire wins ‘Best Film’ and Heath ledger wins ‘Best Supporting Actor’. If they go that way then Oscars night will have been good for me.
Best Film
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
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 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 Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin – Milk
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road
Best Actress
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet – The Reader
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Adapted Screenplay
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
Original Screenplay
Courtney Hunt – Frozen River
Mike Leigh – Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh – In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black – Milk
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter – WALL-E
Animated Feature
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Art Direction
Changeling
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road
Cinematography
Changeling
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Costume Design
Australia
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters At The End Of The World
The Garden
Man On Wire
Trouble The Water
Documentary Short
The Conscience Of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness – From The Balcony of Room 306
Editing
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Austria
Waltz With Bashir
Makeup
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
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
Original Song
‘Down to Earth’ – WALL-E
‘Jai Ho’ – Slumdog Millionaire
‘O Saya’ – Slumdog Millionaire
Sound Editing
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted
Sound Mixing
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted
Visual Effects
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Animated Short
La Maison de Petits Cubes
Lavatory – Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up
Live Action Short
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon On The Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)
