81st Academy Award Nominations
BEST PICTURE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Winner)
BEST DIRECTOR
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – David Fincher
FROST/NIXON – Ron Howard
MILK – Gus Van Sant
THE READER – Stephen Daldry
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Danny Boyle (Winner)
BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins for THE VISITOR
Frank Langella for FROST/NIXON
Sean Penn for MILK (Winner)
Brad Pitt for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke for THE WRESTLER
BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway for RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie for CHANGELING
Melissa Leo for FROZEN RIVER
Meryl Streep for DOUBT
Kate Winslet for THE READER (Winner)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin for MILK
Robert Downey Jr. for TROPIC THUNDER
Philip Seymour Hoffman for DOUBT
Heath Ledger for THE DARK KNIGHT (Winner)
Michael Shannon for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams for DOUBT
Penelope Cruz for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (Winner)
Viola Davis for DOUBT
Tarija P. Henson for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei for THE WRESTLER
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
FROZEN RIVER
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
MILK (Winner)
WALL-E
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DOUBT
FROST/NIXON
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Winner)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Winner)
BEST FILM EDITING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
FROST/NIXON
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Winner)
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – “O Saya”
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – “Jai Ho” (Winner)
WALL-E – “Down to Earth”
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
WALL-E (Winner)
The Oscar nominations were announced bright and early this morning, and I am still hyped up 12 hours later. Oscar nomination day is one of my favorite days of the year, and this year is no different. And of course, I have some opinions on the nominees and the snubs.
Best Picture: This is the first year ever that I have seen all 5 nominees even before the nominations were announced! Usually I’ve seen 2-3 by this time and then try to see the others before February. Last year, I had seen 3 out of 5 by this time (No Country for Old Men, Juno, Michael Clayton), saw 1 immediately afterwards with my roommate (There Will Be Blood), and refused to see the last one (Atonement). I’m extremely proud of myself for having seen all 5. As for who I would like to win? For me, it’s between Slumdog Millionaire and Milk. Slumdog was very entertaining and a feel-good movie with great acting and directing and phenomenal editing. Milk was amazing as well: great acting by everyone as well as a well-written and interesting script. Sean Penn and Josh Brolin embodied their parts perfectly. Plus I was born and raised in the Bay Area. =) Hopefully one of those two win. Frost/Nixon is my 3rd choice although I think it has a better chance of winning Best Actor. Benjamin Button and The Reader are tied for 4th place. Benjamin Button was very entertaining but not as good as the other nominees. The Reader had a great story and sensational acting, but again, I don’t think it is as good as Milk and Slumdog. The biggest snubs have to be The Dark Knight and Wall-E. TDK was one of the best movies of the year according to both critics and fans, but apparently not for Oscar voters. Wall-E is one of the best animated movies I’ve seen in years. The first half of the movie was all about 2 robots with barely any talking, and I wasn’t bored at all.
Best Director: Gus Van Sant or Danny Boyle, no question. David Fincher should have been nominated for Zodiac last year, The Reader is more about the acting, and I love little Ronnie Howard, but he has an Oscar already.
Best Actor: I’ve been saying for months that this race would be a battle between Sean, Mickey, and Frank. It’s between those 3. They all had amazing performances (I haven’t seen The Wrestler yet but have heard good things). I love Brad, but I loved him more in Burn After Reading this year. And congrats to Richard Jenkins for being nominated! Snub: Leo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road – I had read the book before seeing the movie and he embodied Frank Wheeler and made you feel for him while at the same time you were disgusted with him.
Best Actress: Meryl or Kate. Meryl or Kate. MERYL OR KATE!!! I would love if Kate finally got her Oscar. Meryl is her biggest competition. She blew me away in Doubt. I don’t know anything about Melissa Leo (dark horse contender), and when I think of Angelina Jolie in The Changeling, all I can think of is “I want MY son back!”. And please Academy, do not give it to Anne Hathaway. One performance does not make you a good actor (cough, Jamie Foxx and Mira Sorvino). I’m hoping she’ll be like Eddie Murphy and be a front runner who has their award dreams crushed because of a crappy movie they did that comes out during the awards season (Bride Wars and Norbit). And the lucky winner gets to be given the award by Daniel Day Lewis so it’s like they’ve won twice. If I won, I’d hug him and the Oscar and not let go.
Best Supporting Actor: My favorite category. I’ve seen all 5 performances, but I nearly went crazy when I saw that Josh Brolin was nominated. He is one of my favorite actors, and his bromantic buddy Javier won this same award last year so it must be destiny. In Milk, you could see Dan’s struggle with his upbringing and his fascination with Harvey. Josh did an amazing job. For me, it’s between Josh and Heath Ledger who received this nomination on the 1 year anniversary of his death. If Heath wins, I hope it’s because of his performance and not because they feel they have to give it to him because he died. He WAS The Joker just like Josh WAS Dan White. So here’s hoping one of them wins so I can celebrate.
Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis or Tarija P. Henson are my choices. For such small parts in their movies, they were powerhouses. Please don’t give it to Penelope. I couldn’t stand the smaltziness of Javier handing it to her. Plus she wasn’t as good as the others.
Best Original Screenplay: IN BRUGES!!! IN BRUGES!!! IN BRUGES!!! It’s a travesty that none of the actors got nominated, but I’ll take this as consultation prize. Thanks Academy.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire. Although The Dark Knight should be here as well.
Best Animated Feature: Wall-E. If anything else wins, then the Academy Awards voters are idiots.
Best Original Song: I want Jai Ho to win. But all 3 songs are great. And I can’t wait for the Bollywood dancing during the Slumdog performances. I would have loved it if a song from Forgetting Sarah Marshall was nominated – the Academy Awards would gotten 10 times cooler in my book. Biggest snub was Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” since that’s won a ton of awards already.
So there you go. Not as many surprises this year as in past years, but it should be a good show. I would have loved it if a comic book movie had been nominated for Best Pic (TDK or Iron Man), but maybe someday one will. And this is the first year in 3 years that my favorite movie of the year hasn’t won Best Picture. 2006 had The Departed and 2007 had No Country for Old Men (oh man, there was a lot of screaming and dancing when those 2 movies won their various awards). TDK was my favorite for 2008, but it wasn’t nominated. What can you do? Maybe one day I’ll be an Academy member so I can make my voice heard. And I already know this year’s awards show viewing won’t be as fun as last year’s with the No Country lovin’, the Brolin/Bardem bromance, the nerdgasm caused by Marty giving the Coens their Oscar, the tequila, and the constant shouting in our suite of “I’VE ABANDONED MY CHILD! I’VE ABANDONED MY BOY!” every time DDL or TWBB was mentioned. Man, that was a great show.
