Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Oscar Nominations

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

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 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 ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

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 SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh, In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, WALL-E

BEST 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

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany
The Class - France
Departures- Japan
Revanche - Austria
Waltz with Bashir - Israel

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water


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 - Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight - Wally Pfister
The Reader - Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
Slumdog Millionaire - Anthony Dod Mantle

COSTUME DESIGN
Australia - Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Jacqueline West
The Duchess - Michael O'Connor
Milk - Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road - Albert Wolsky

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306


FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
The Dark Knight - Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon - Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
Milk - Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire - Chris Dickens

MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight - John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

MUSIC (SCORE)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
Defiance - James Newton Howard
Milk - Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
WALL-E - Thomas Newman

MUSIC (SONG)
Down to Earth from WALL-E - Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyrics by Peter Gabriel
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire - Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyrics by Gulzar
O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire - Music and Lyrics by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

ANIMATED SHORT
La Maison en 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) 


SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight - Richard King
Iron Man - Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire - Tom Sayers
WALL-E - Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
Wanted - Wylie Stateman

SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight - Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
Slumdog Millionaire - Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
WALL-E - Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
Wanted - Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

4 comments:

Bob Keller said...

The Curious Case of the Academy Awards

I certainly feel the Academy Awards are becoming less relevant over the last few years. The nominees are increasingly obscure and often reflect agendas of The Academy rather than excellence in filmmaking.

I was not (and increasingly am not) a fan of The Dark Knight and feel it was, in fact, a third rate film (at best), so I'm not part of the outrage over its omission from the top spots.

And I realize Hollywood has long shown it is incapable of recognizing an animated picture. So, while Wall-E should have been nominated as Best Picture, I certainly didn't expect it.

But, beyond that, I can only shake my head is obvious disbelief.

I await your analysis before commenting further.

J McKiernan said...

Hey, Wiz...good to hear from you again.

I agree about the Oscars. I don't know if I'd say "less relevant"...but I would say "more and more predictable," and perhaps that leads to being less relevant. Time will tell.

I can, in honesty, say that I would give at a mildly positive review to each of the five nominees for Best Picture. I think "The Reader" is the most flawed. "Slumdog" is the best. The rest are somewhere in between that vast chasm of being Great and being Flawed.

My analysis is forthcoming. I await more discussion once that gets posted.

Can't wait to see what else you (and everyone else out there) has to say...

J McKiernan said...

I would give at *LEAST* a mildly positive review to each of the BP nominees is what I meant to say...

J McKiernan said...

By the way, CORRECTION...

I am so totally unimpressed with Ben Button that I completely forgot about its existence. "The Reader" is actually better than Ben Button...so...I would give at least mildly postive reviews to 4 out of 5 BP nominees...and a negative review to Ben Button.

Phew...glad I made that public.