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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Film The 2009 Oscarzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted by Lindy West on Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 10:35 AM

7ef8/1232647874-benjaminbutton.jpg

In case you were wondering, here's the complete list. That old baby got 13 nominations.

BEST PICTURE

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

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 IN A LEADING ROLE

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

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger -The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

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 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 FOREIGN FILM

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

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

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

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

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

BEST ART DIRECTION

Changeling
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Changeling
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST SOUND EDITING

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
Defiance - James Newton Howard
Milk - Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire - AR Rahman
WALL-E - Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Down To Earth from WALL-E - Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire - AR Rahman and Gulzar
O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire - AR Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

BEST COSTUME

Australia
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters At The End Of The World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

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
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST MAKE-UP

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory - Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Auf Der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon On The Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Comments (31) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Did I miss something, or did Springsteen's song for The Wrestler not get nominated? What is this bullshit? Wins a golden globe, can't even get nominated for the Oscars? That fucking dumb. At least Mickey & Marissa got nominated - not that they will win. Mickey should.

Posted by Raven on January 22, 2009 at 10:36 AM

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons" is really Forest Gump 09. Yawn.

I am very happy for all the nominations for "MILK" well done Academy. It was my best picture of the year.

Posted by Nik22 on January 22, 2009 at 10:37 AM

YEAH! Nice to see Richard Jenkins on there. Informed all my compadres about his performance in The Visitor!

Posted by Chris Fred on January 22, 2009 at 10:37 AM

that benjamin button creeps me the fuck out. i don't think i could ever watch that movie.

hurray for milk and slumdog!

Posted by boxofbirds on January 22, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Benjamin Button was mediocre at best. 3 hours of Brad Pitt revisiting his labotamized Joe Black "non acting" and that fucking hummingbird gave me douche chills. Pitt was soooooo much better in Burn After Reading. I guess the Academy had enough Coen Bros. last year. I'd give Button some of the technical awards and Best Supporting Actress (Taraji P Henson was by far the best thing in that movie) but anything else it wins I call bullshit on.

Posted by T-Bone on January 22, 2009 at 10:37 AM

"Milk" was just so beautiful - head and shoulders above many of the films nominated in most categories. Other movies may capture more Oscars, but I predict that Milk is the 2008 film that's going to be remembered.

Posted by Gurldoggie on January 22, 2009 at 10:46 AM

What, no Rambo for best picture?

Posted by Urgutha Forka on January 22, 2009 at 10:58 AM

@7 - you missed Tropic Thunder in Best Actor in a Supporting Role ...

Benjamin Button was good, but it's a love/hate thing - half the people love it and half the people hate it.

Most Oscars are won for the PREVIOUS ROLE OR WORK they did - not the actual movie they're nominated for.

Kate Winslet's going to win for Best Actress in a Leading Role - and she deserves it.

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 22, 2009 at 11:02 AM

Benjamin Button was certainly a beautiful movie (the scenery, the city, the Brad Pitt)... and it was enjoyable to watch... but, I didn't think that it was a "great film" worthy of a best picture Oscar. Art Direction, Cinematography, Costumes, etc., yes. But Best Picture? No. And Brad Pitt as best actor? No.

Posted by Julie in Eugene (formerly in Chicago) on January 22, 2009 at 11:07 AM

My prediction for Variety's headline the day after:
"Button Gets Nuttin'."

Haven't seen Winslet onscreen this year, but I lend support to @#8's belief about previous role(s) - she should have won at least one by now ('Eternal Sunshine...' anyone?), she probably will for this.

Posted by Reverend Z on January 22, 2009 at 11:09 AM

I liked Benjamin Button more until I realized that it really is an inferior clone of Forrest Gump. There are SO many similarities, it's insane. I hope it doesn't win anything but technical awards.

Posted by Propaniac on January 22, 2009 at 11:10 AM

Benjamin Button was the biggest fucking waste of money and film to have gotten any awards. What a pointless fucking movie. 3 hours of going nowhere and having "symbolism" shoved down my throat. Seriously? A backwards ticking clock? In a movie where the main character grows younger? Barf.

Posted by Carollani on January 22, 2009 at 11:23 AM

@8 and 10

Winslet said that Holocaust movies really won awards. See this clip from Extras, Counter 5:22.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xoug4pGw…

Posted by TheMisanthrope on January 22, 2009 at 11:29 AM

I too think the Benjamin Button nomination covers for Pitt's great work in Burn After Reading and The Assassination Of Jesse James, which was my favorite movie of 2007 (Yes, even over No Country).

Posted by laterite on January 22, 2009 at 11:37 AM

Carollani, you forgot the hummingbird as a symbol for the soul (or whatever). Double barf.

Posted by Julie in Eugene (formerly in Chicago) on January 22, 2009 at 11:40 AM

Herzog's first nomination! Is he favoured to win it? Vegas will tell us on the morrow...

Posted by shitbrain on January 22, 2009 at 11:57 AM

There is all this stuff floating around the Interweb about how The Dark Knight got snubbed for Best Picture. I personally believe that while Health Ledger gave an Oscar-worthy performance, the movie was a bit of a let-down. Too long (the "radar-vision" scene just seemed really unneccessary to me -- a chance for some visual effects person to do something interesting, that didn't add much of anything to the story). Some tightening up, and it would have been better. Also, I wish "Let the Right One In" had found its way on here as Best Foreign Film.

Posted by bookworm on January 22, 2009 at 12:24 PM

#13 - I love that episode. Kate Winslet coining the phrase "purple headed womb ferret" might be her greatest contribution to my life.

Also, um, can Brad Pitt really act? He doesn't bother me, I see why he sells and all... but ACTING? I don't see it..

Posted by Dougsf on January 22, 2009 at 12:26 PM

We should take all the money used on the Oscars and have an awards show for life-saving cancer researchers.

Posted by formanoreasta on January 22, 2009 at 12:29 PM

@13 - she's right, too.

and actually, a famous Brit researcher already found the cure for 50 percent of all cancers - over at the Wellcome Trust - we're just working on the other cancers now, and figuring out how to deliver it. Takes about 5-7 years for research to arrive at your doorstep, if you can get funding.

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 22, 2009 at 12:33 PM

I agree that "Let the Right One In" deserved a nomination. I can't get that movie out of my brain!

Posted by ray on January 22, 2009 at 12:53 PM

@15--"Button" would have won over my sap-prone self if it hadn't been for that fucking hummingbird. Right at the end it totally took me out of the film.
@17--Many shared that hope for "Let The Right One In" but apparently it wasn't even eligible for a nomination--Sweden submitted another film in its place.

Posted by madamecrow on January 22, 2009 at 12:54 PM

I think the most shocking of all nominations has to be Robert Downey Jr for his role in tropic thunder. I saw the movie, thought Robert was great, never thought the academy would agree. Obviously he is not going to win (everyone knows who will), but to get a nomination is hilarious and unexpected.

Posted by TrampyKnight on January 22, 2009 at 12:55 PM

People will bitch and kvetch about The Dark Knight getting "snubbed." Many have already pointed to a few nominees ousting others (no acting noms for Slumdog, nothing to speak of for Revolutionary Road) with other films, arguably more deserving really, like Milk taking their spots.

This year though, it seems like a lot of the nominations are...well...grab bag. There wasn't a really strong class of films. Companies just kept throwing films up on to the wall, and this is what stuck.

I don't think Benjamin Button will do that well because there's something nagging about the film. I liked the movie when I watched it, but when you think about it after the fact, more errors appear. Why is Hurrican Katrina in the film? Why do the filmmakers refuse to give Brad Pitt any real authority at all? (Also, the Forrest Gump connections, but it was written by the same guy, so there's your explanation right there.)

Posted by Brandon on January 22, 2009 at 12:57 PM

@22 - Despite the hummingbirds, the Katrina/flashback structure, that stupid fucking scene with the rocket taking off, the problems with his motivation for leaving his wife/daughter, the ridiculousness of going to India = free spiritedness and living life to your fullest.... Despite all that... the movie still appealed to my sappy side. I cried during the film, and then I picked it apart afterwards.

Posted by Julie in Eugene (formerly in Chicago) on January 22, 2009 at 1:20 PM

The Dark Knight was terrible. Heath Ledger was just okay. Lot of hype.

I agree with @1. I'm not a big Springsteen fan, but that music had a lot to do with that movie even getting made. wtf?

Posted by left coast on January 22, 2009 at 1:54 PM

WAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL E

Should have been in the best picture category.

Benjamin Button was a boring rehash of Forrest Gump.

Posted by I love you on January 22, 2009 at 2:47 PM

slumdog sucks...

Posted by rain on January 22, 2009 at 3:24 PM

i've read the reason springsteen's song wasn't nominated is a strange academy rule that eliminates songs that play over the credits--which is when bruce's song plays.

Posted by cineaste on January 22, 2009 at 3:47 PM

@27 - I also agree that Wall-E should have gotten best picture nod (Bob Mandello seems to think that the nomination for "The Reader" is expendable. However, I am heartened by the fact that it got a best screenplay nod, which is rare for animated films -- and an animated film that was at heart a silent movie.

At least now I won't have to split my loyalty between Wall-E and Milk.

Posted by fashnable1 on January 22, 2009 at 4:15 PM

MILK.

Posted by sasha on January 23, 2009 at 8:40 PM