next »

[elmono311]

And I give you the 2009 Oscar nominees for movies in 2008. As usual, I'll italicize the ones I think will win and underline the ones I want to win. I'll also comment on the nominees if I feel the need to in each category.

Best Picture
I am honestly surprised The Dark Knight didn't get nominated...

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

Best Actor
Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke: It's really nice to see the two of them in this category, especially Rourke for the comeback he's made these past few years.

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

Best Actress
Geez, Merly Streep and Kate Winslet nominations again. Will Winslet finally win a statue this year? Those two, along with Cate Blanchett, seem to Oscar nominee juggernauts. And on that note, I'm surprised Blanchett wasn't nominated for Benjamin Button. Anne Hathaway and Angelina Jolie were surprising and I'm glad Hathaway is getting away from her Princess Diaries days (yes, I know, she showed her boobs in a movie already...)

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

Best Supporting Actor
Wow, Robert Downey, Jr.'s nomination for Tropic Thunder is a huge surprise and if it weren't for Heath Ledger also being nominated, I would have picked Downey. I'll still root for him, though, for the upset win, which most likely won't happen.

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

Best Supporting Actress
Some interesting choices here, with Amy Adams, Penélope Cruz, and Marisa Tomei. Amy Adams star continues to rise. This one I can't really guess who will win, which is pretty standard in the Best Supporting Actress category.

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

Best Director
The only director I don't know on this list is Stephen Daldry. I've always been a David Fincher fan and am happy to see him here. Interesting to see Danny Boyle of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later fame as an Oscar nominee. I like him, too.

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant for Milk

Best Original Screenplay
Well will you look at that. An animated movie up there with the big dogs in a major award category... since the Best Animated Movie category has destroyed any chance of an animated movie from being nominated for Best Picture ever again (Beauty and the Beast was the only one to be nominated)

Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
Wall-E

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Cinematography
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Art Direction
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Best Costume Design
The Academy loves period pieces with the big flowing gowns...

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Best Makeup
Well here's one where it could go any which way... does CGing someone to make them look old and frail count as makeup? Because if it does, then I'd have to take that into consideration.

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

Best Original Score
I remember when Danny Elfman was seriously robbed of an Oscar for Men in Black...

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

Best Original Song
I'm thinking Slumdog Millionaire will split the votes, allowing Wall-E to win.

"Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire
"O Saya" from Slumdog Millionaire
"Down to Earth" from Wall-E

Best Sound
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

Best Sound Editing
I still don't know what the difference between Best Sound and Best Sound Editing is. So they have these two redundancies but no Best Stunt Choreography category (Yes, I am a supporter of that category. Stuntwork is a major part of any film and needs the recognition). Yes, you see that correctly, I want Iron Man and Wall-E to both win it...

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

Best Visual Effects
I would like Iron Man to win but Benjamin Button will because it was used more artistically and I do think it's impressive how they used Brad Pitt's face for the old geezer parts.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Best Animated Feature
Are you seriously kidding me? Why do they even have this category? It's plainly obvious which one is going to win.

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Best Foreign Language Film
Blah

Der Badder Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex) - Germany
Entre les murs (The Class) - France
Revanche - Austria
Okuribito (Departures) - Japan
Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir) - Israel

Best Feature Documentary
Blah

The Betrayal - Nerakhoon
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Best Short Subject Documentary
Blah

The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306

Best Animated Short
I remember watching Presto in front of Wall-E and by default I'm choosing that one.

La Maison en Petits Cubes (House of Small Cubes)
Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya (Lavatory Lovestory)
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

Best Live Action Short
Blah

Auf de Strecke (On the Line)
Manon sur le bitume (Manon on the Asphalt)
New Boy
Grisen
Spielzeugland

[disnut8]

I'm just sticking with the major awards and italizing only my choices.

Best Picture

I am glad The Dark Knight didn't get nominated because while it was a good movie, it was a good, not great movie.  I have this thing against Benjamin Button because Stephen King did it in 1991 with the TV series The Golden Years.  Going with Slumdog Millionaire as the "feel good movie"

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

Best Actor

Richard Jenkins was a surprise for The Visitor.  While the film was a critical success and made lots of top ten lists, it didn't do all that well at the box office.  I'd like to see Mickey Rourke win but I don't want it to be one of those "now he's an Oscar winner so let's give him rolls he shouldn't have".  Not a Brad Pitt fan because of his choice of partner but he does deserve an Oscar finally.

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

Best Actress

Hands down, Kate Winslet finally.

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

Best Supporting Actor

Unfortunately, Heath Ledger has this one sown up both for the actual role and for the sentimentality because of his death.  But I'm still going to say Robert Downey, Jr. for the role in a movie that made me laugh out loud.  I hardly ever do that during a movie.  "I'm the dude that's playing a dude....."  One note - Josh Brolin is doing some very fine work lately.  He's going to be due very, very soon.

Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey, Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (win by default)
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress

I'm going with Marisa Tomei here just so she can get rid of that whole "she was given the Oscar by mistake" for Cousin Vinny.

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

Best Director

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant for Milk

I'm looking forward to the Oscar telecast as the awards seem to be spread all across the board.  Yes, Benjamin Button got the most nominations but not in all major categories.  One thing I do NOT want to hear about is how Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are both nominated for Best Actor/Actress.  Bad enough I have to see one of their faces at the ceremony.

[elmono311]

I never connected Pitt and Jolie being nominated the same year. I have no problems with the two of them. Honestly, if there is someone to have a problem with, it would be the media for hounding them all the time and cramming their lives down out throats.

It's interesting we only disagreed on two of the major categories with one of the disagreements you ruled Ledger would win anyway. I think Heath Ledger did a better job as The Joker than Robert Downey, Jr. did as Lazarus and he would have still deserved the Oscar even if he was still alive today.

[disnut8]

I never connected Pitt and Jolie being nominated the same year. I have no problems with the two of them. Honestly, if there is someone to have a problem with, it would be the media for hounding them all the time and cramming their lives down out throats.

It's interesting we only disagreed on two of the major categories with one of the disagreements you ruled Ledger would win anyway. I think Heath Ledger did a better job as The Joker than Robert Downey, Jr. did as Lazarus and he would have still deserved the Oscar even if he was still alive today.

I've never like Angelina Jolie and I doubt I ever will.

I too think Ledger did a better job than Downey but my list was based on what I wanted to happen.  If anyone would pull the upset in that category, I'm hoping it's Downey.

[elmono311]

Critics are, well, criticizing the Oscars again for failing to nominate The Dark Knight for Best Picture and Best Director. With the Oscars on a downhill slope with viewership, they needed to put a very popular $500 million+ movie on the top spots but failed to do that. They pointed out The Reader, with a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director over The Dark Knight, which had over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. They pretty much said the Academy needs to get with the times and I do agree. There was a time they would actually nominate popular films that were also well made but that hasn't been happening much lately.

[disnut8]

I guess the question would be what the Academy wants to do.  Please everyone with its nominations and look more towards popular films or give awards based on performances without taking into consideration box office.

Getting popular films in there could backfire.  I would shudder to see Will Smith get a nomination for Hancock or Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones.  Or anything from Twilight.  What value would an Oscar nominated performance have if that starts to happen?

[elmono311]

I wasn't saying to go that far. The Dark Knight had Oscar credibility but I think, for the most part, the Academy members are afraid of well made movies that have made a lot of money as well. Almost as if they're afraid that if they nominate it they may have let the film's financial success get in the way of their objective opinion and vote. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was the last time a movie of that caliber was nominated for the major awards outside of acting.

[disnut8]

Part One of a two night trivia tournament was last night.  The five-part halftime question was "name the five best picture Academy Award nominations for 2008".  Can you say "brain freeze"?  From the other four, one knew Slumdog Millionaire and after about three minutes, another one remembered The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  I was left with total brain freeze to get all five.  While they were talking and the freaking music was playing loudly!!!

The only one I missed was Frost/Nixon - I thought Doubt was in there.  Not too bad although I should have had all five without any problems.

BTW - No one at the table knew what Doubt or The Reader were.

[elmono311]

Heck, I don't even know what Doubt and The Reader are