81st Annual Academy Award Nominations

[TM2-Megatron]

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
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
Gus Van Sant – Milk
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Sean Penn – Milk
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

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
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight (posthumous)

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

Best Original Screenplay
WALL-E - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter
Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh
Frozen River - Courtney Hunt
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh
Milk - Dustin Lance Black

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan
The Reader - David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy
Doubt - John Patrick Shanley

Best Animated Feature
Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson
WALL-E – Andrew Stanton

Best Foreign Language Film
Revanche – Austria
The Class – France
The Baader Meinhof Complex – Germany
Departures – Japan
Waltz With Bashir – Israel

Best Animated Short
La Maison En Petits Cubes - Kunio Kato
Lavatory - Lovestory - Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi - Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
Presto - Doug Sweetland
This Way Up - Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best Art Direction
Changeling – James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight – Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess – Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road – Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

Best Cinematography
Changeling – Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight – Wally Pfister
The Reader – Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle

Best 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

Best Documentary Feature
Nerakhoon (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Best Documentary Short
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306

Best Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
The Dark Knight – Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon – Mike Hill, Dan Hanley
Milk – Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens

Best Live Action Short
On the Line (Auf der Strecke)
Manon On the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Toyland (Spielzeugland)

Best 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

Best Original 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

Best Original Song
"Down to Earth" from WALL-E – Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman (music), Peter Gabriel (lyrics)
"Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman (music), Gulzar (lyrics)
"O Saya" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Best 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

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

Best Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
The Dark Knight – Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin
Iron Man – John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan

I'm pretty dissapointed this year... although I wasn't expecting great things from the Academy, I'd hoped they may get over their bias and give WALL-E the Best Picture nod it deserved. But at least they didn't give into the hype, and nominate TDK for something it never deserved. Strange how they left The Wrestler out of Best Song, though.

[Flanger-Hanger]

I'm surprised at the lack of song nominations this year too (but that Wrestler song was just god awful anyway, hope "Down to Earth" Wins!), maybe a shorter show? Probably not.

Wall-E still did get 6 nominations (in 6 different categorizes, take that BatB!) including screenplay which half surprised me since there is so little dialogue to begin with. Maybe they are trying to make a point with this. I should have bet on the nominations for this because I guessed all 6 correctly though!

Milk got 8 including best picture so that's good!

and The Dark Knight got 8 which is pretty generous for a superhero flick. The fans will bitch of course.

[brownie]

Personally, I felt that Wall-E deserved nominations for Best Picture AND Best Director. But it's not like I expected the Academy to do something different or unexpected.

[Jules]

Oh, so Glago's Guest wasn't good enough for a Best Animated Short short nomination?

And how come Pixar always get nominated for technical awards (sound, mixing, etc.) and never WDAS?

Gah ... at least BOLT got nominated.

[slave2moonlight]

Eh, this list is disappointing. At least Wall-E is a shoe in for the best animated feature. Not that I've seen the other two yet. They look great, but it would be hard to imagine that they're better.

I expected a little more recognition for Dark Knight. I almost feel like they only included it in the obvious categories just so people would watch.

[Dottie]

I am quite surprised that Kate Winslet got only one nomination and that her supporting role in The Reader was made a lead actress one and that she was given the nomination for that one and not "Revolutionary Road". I think this really slims her chances of finally winning a much-deserved Oscar.
But she could still win it, since the Academy likes giving out pity-Oscars (not that the award wouldn't be deserved, quite the contrary) or these "finally he/she gets it Oscars" (Anyone remember Julia Roberts' win?)
And if she does win for The Reader, then Ricky Gervais was right with what he made her say in Extras

I am however kind of mad that Sally Hawkins didn't get a nomination. Her performance was amazing, it's a lot harder to be funny and bright and bubbly all the time than to be depressed and cry.

I hope Slumdog Millionaire wins all major categories. It would show that the Academy is open for something different.

[disneyfella]

I am actually quite pleased with the list of nominations. I wil defend Benjamin Button until the end! I think it was the greatest film this past year, and thought that the last two awards shows have totally snubbed the film. It is nice to see it finally getting the recognition it deserves. Maybe other people will take another look at it.

One thing I was disappointed with, was that "Doubt" didn't get a Best Picture nomination. I feel that the film was vastly superior to "MILK" (which was a decent film, but I feel is getting WAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY to much acclaim when it isn't deserved. I almost felt offended by Sean Penn's performance sometimes...it was like he was channeling his "I Am Sam" character in a few scenes. He played this gay politician like a mentally handicapped person. While it was a brave performance, I think it failed miserably and was almost laughable at times. He looked like a 3 year old! I honestly believe this film is getting awards for its story content rather than anything technical or acting wise....which is funny because it seems to be getting nominated for all the acting and technical awards )

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the nominations list. It would have been nice to see Emma Thompson or Dustin Hoffman for "Last Chance Harvey" but the other actors are all fine too.

[Barbossa]

I'm disappointed that Dark Knight didn't get more nominations. In all it looks like a pretty boring selection of movies. They should've just given the Oscars to Heath and WALL-E right away.

The only movie I've seen from the best picture category is Benjamin Button. It was good, but not great. It was long and slow, It was lacking that little bit of extra to really make it stand out.

Only three movies nominated for visual effects? What the...?? Where's Iron Man, or some of the other summer blockbusters? Even the lead-lined fridge got shut out of this category.

[Widdi]

So glad that Kate got a lead nod for "The Reader" anybody who has seen the movie knows that she is not a supporting character. The movie is about her for god sake! It will also be hilarious if she wins for this movie. Anybody who watches "Extras" will know why.

Sad to see the Wall-E snub for best picture (though it was expected) and Defiance only got one nom? What gives?

Happy that Bolt made it into the animated category and that Amy Adams is getting recognition. Viola Davis gives what is probably the most memorable performance from Doubt, but she is barely in it.

I think Heath Ledger will probably be overlooked. The Academy really doesn't like giving posthumous awards out. Brolin may get the Oscar, but Michael Shannon is a strong contender as well. The nominee no one suspects often goes on to win.

And I don`t know why but I have this really strong gut feeling that Frost/Nixon is gonna take Best Picture. Which sucks cause it really shouldn't be nominated at all (Ala Crash and Shakespeare In Love).

[Disney-Fan]

At this point I just consider the Oscars ridiculous. The list declines from year to year. Oh, and Benjamin Button is far, FAR too overrated with critics.