and the oscar goes to

[macrae1234]

1. Best Picture: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk," "The Reader," "Slumdog Millionaire."

2. Actor: Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; Sean Penn, "Milk"; Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

3. Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"; Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"; Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"; Meryl Streep, "Doubt"; Kate Winslet, "The Reader."

4. Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk"; Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"; Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"; Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road."

5. 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."

6. 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."

7. Foreign Film: "The Baader Meinhof Complex," Germany; "The Class," France; "Departures," Japan; "Revanche," Austria; "Waltz With Bashir," Israel.

[ulysses5019]

1. Best Picture: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk," "The Reader," "Slumdog Millionaire."

2. Actor: Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; Sean Penn, "Milk"; Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

3. Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"; Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"; Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"; Meryl Streep, "Doubt"; Kate Winslet, "The Reader."

4. Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk"; Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"; Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"; Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road."

5. 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."

6. 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."

7. Foreign Film: "The Baader Meinhof Complex," Germany; "The Class," France; "Departures," Japan; "Revanche," Austria; "Waltz With Bashir," Israel.

Hey! Where's melly?

[earendel]

1. Best Picture: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk," "The Reader," "Slumdog Millionaire."

2. Actor: Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; Sean Penn, "Milk"; Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

3. Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"; Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"; Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"; Meryl Streep, "Doubt"; Kate Winslet, "The Reader."

4. Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk"; Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"; Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"; Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road."

5. 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."

6. 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."

7. Foreign Film: "The Baader Meinhof Complex," Germany; "The Class," France; "Departures," Japan; "Revanche," Austria; "Waltz With Bashir," Israel.

You scooped me, macrae - I was just getting ready to post this. "Slumdog Millionaire" got two nominations (out of the 6 categories announced) including Best Picture.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I'm surprsed the Kate Winslet wasn't nominated for "Revolutionary Road."

[MarleysGh0st]

I have seen exactly one film from this entire list of nominees.

So I guess Slumdog gets my vote!

[silverscreenselect]

1. Best Picture: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk," "The Reader," "Slumdog Millionaire."

2. Actor: Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; Sean Penn, "Milk"; Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

3. Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"; Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"; Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"; Meryl Streep, "Doubt"; Kate Winslet, "The Reader."

4. Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk"; Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"; Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"; Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road."

5. 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."

6. 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."

7. Foreign Film: "The Baader Meinhof Complex," Germany; "The Class," France; "Departures," Japan; "Revanche," Austria; "Waltz With Bashir," Israel.

You scooped me, macrae - I was just getting ready to post this. "Slumdog Millionaire" got two nominations (out of the 6 categories announced) including Best Picture.

Slumdog got a total of ten nominations, second only to Benjamin Button, which received 13, including all the technical categories. Surprisingly (at least to me), Slumdog got two nominations out of only three total songs nominated for best song (Down to Earth from WallE being the other), as well as one for best score.

Hopefully, this year will put an end to Oscar's ridiculous rule that an actor can only be nominated for one performance in a category in a year. Multiple nominations in other categories are fairly common (Steven Soderbergh was nominated for Best Director for different films a few years back), but the rules prohibit an actor being nominated for Best Actor in two separate films. Kate Winslet gave two of the best lead performances by an actress and tried to get around the rule by claiming her stronger role (in The Reader) was actually a supporting role. This wouldn't have been fair to actresses like Viola Davis who only had one lengthy scene to compete against Winslet who was onscreen for over an hour in The Reader. Other performers have manipulated the system to get two nominations for essentially lead roles by claiming one was supporting, but this is the first time someone attempted to do so and was rejected by the Academy.
I've got no problem if Winslet gets two or three or five nominations for Best Actress if she has that many worthy performances in a year. It's silly to single out actors and apply this rule only to them.

We saw almost everything that got nominated or could have been nominated except The Wrestler, which we'll be seeing this weekend (Frozen River and Happy-Go-Lucky played briefly at the local art theater and I missed them). I'm fairly pleased overall especially by Richard Jenkins and Michael Shannon. These were two of the best performances of the year which easily could have been overlooked.

I did think that there was far too much praise for Benjamin Button and Brad Pitt. Essentially an okay but not exceptional movie is getting tons of acclaim on the strength of a remarkable makeup job. The makeup (and arguably some other technical categories) deserves an Oscar, but not the film itself or Pitt.

[NellyLunatic1980]

Robert Downey, Jr.?! WTF?!

[silverscreenselect]

I'm surprsed the Kate Winslet wasn't nominated for "Revolutionary Road."

Kate wanted to be nominated for Best Actress in Revolutionary Road, but the Academy went against her. The Reader was a better film and her performance was also better in The Reader.

[danielh41]

Robert Downey, Jr.?! WTF?!

Why not? He was playing a dude who was playing a dude, disguised as another dude.

Actually, it is nice to see someone in a comedic role get nominated. They tend to give much more weight to the dramatic roles.

[Sir_Galahad]

1. Best Picture: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk," "The Reader," "Slumdog Millionaire."

I guess I will have to put some of these on my "to see" list. I am interested in all but "Milk." Not only does the subject matter not interest me but I have decided to implement a personal boycott against Sean Penn movies. I will not support this ingrate's movies any more. While I fully support any citizen's First Amendment rights, I think he should relocate to Venezuela.

[earendel]

I have seen exactly one film from this entire list of nominees.

So I guess Slumdog gets my vote!

I have seen none - but Slumdog would get my vote becauses of its ontopicosity!

One of the nominees ("The Reader") hasn't played in our town yet, nor has "Revolutionary Road", or "Frozen River". As always. I wish there was a rule that a picture had to be in broad circulation before it was eligible for nomination. I don't like the "limited release" ploy designed just to get the pictures in under the wire for Oscar consideration.

[danielh41]

1. Best Picture: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk," "The Reader," "Slumdog Millionaire."

For the past several years, I have seen all the Best Picture nominees before the Oscars telecast, but I don't know if I'll make it this year. I've only seen on of these ("Slumdog Millionaire"), and my "grown up movie time" will be severely limited for awhile. Besides that, "Milk" just doesn't interest me, because of the subject matter, my personal dislike for Sean Penn, and the fact that I have yet to see a Gus Van Sant movie that I like.

On the other hand, I have seen all the Best Animated Feature nominees. "Wall-E" should win that going away...

[NellyLunatic1980]

I am with S-cubed on Brad Pitt's performance in "Benjamin Button". I think Pitt was much better in "Burn After Reading", which I just happened to watch this past weekend. He should've gotten a Best Supporting Actor nod for that.

Replace Downey Jr. with Pitt in Supporting Actor, then replace Pitt with either DiCaprio or Eastwood in Lead Actor, and I'm happy.

But it's not gonna matter. Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger will likely win both of those awards no matter what.

[Sir_Galahad]

But it's not gonna matter. Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger will likely win both of those awards no matter what.

I have always like Mickey Rourke's acting; especially his role in Sin City.

[silverscreenselect]

But it's not gonna matter. Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger will likely win both of those awards no matter what.

Heath Ledger won this Oscar the day he died. I think Josh Brolin would have had a good shot in this category if Ledger were still alive, but there's no chance of that now.

I will see The Wrestler this weekend, but Rourke is the type of comeback success story that the Oscar voters love. I just have a feeling that Frank Langella may get it though. Frost/Nixon is the type of political movie the Oscars like, "safely" liberal, but it's likely to lose out in some of the major categories to Slumdog. Giving Langella the Oscar rewards his career and the movie as well (plus, it's an amazing performance, capturing the essence of Nixon while still projecting a fully rounded character, not a Rich Little caricature).

[NellyLunatic1980]

But it's not gonna matter. Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger will likely win both of those awards no matter what.

Heath Ledger won this Oscar the day he died. I think Josh Brolin would have had a good shot in this category if Ledger were still alive, but there's no chance of that now.

I will see The Wrestler this weekend, but Rourke is the type of comeback success story that the Oscar voters love. I just have a feeling that Frank Langella may get it though. Frost/Nixon is the type of political movie the Oscars like, "safely" liberal, but it's likely to lose out in some of the major categories to Slumdog. Giving Langella the Oscar rewards his career and the movie as well (plus, it's an amazing performance, capturing the essence of Nixon while still projecting a fully rounded character, not a Rich Little caricature).

Langella was good, but to me, he was just not as believeable a Nixon as, say, Anthony Hopkins.

[5LD]

I had the great good fortune to meet and shake the hand of Frank Langella earlier this year and I have to say he is an incredibly funny, real and beautiful person. If he's half as good in Frost/Nixon as he was on B'way in Man For All Seasons, he should win this in a walk. I am so pleased he got nominated! I love it when actors from the stage are successful in movies.....

[KillerTomato]

But the biggest snub was not nominating Springsteen's song from THE WRESTLER.

[silverscreenselect]

But the biggest snub was not nominating Springsteen's song from THE WRESTLER.

If it's eligible, not to nominate it seems very silly considering: (A) the ratings could use an appearance by Springsteen, and (B) they only nominated three songs instead of the allowable five this year.

[KillerTomato]

Cjonsidering that it was written specifically for the movie (and so not previously recorded or released) and the movie itself was eligible, I can't think of a reason it wasn't nominated. Although I did like Peter Gabriel's song for WALL-E. And WALL-E should have been up for Best Picture, as well, IMHO.

[mellytu74]

I am very glad that Melissa Leo is nominated. Although I haven't seen Frozen River, she's has been a favorite of mine since Homicide: Life on the Street.

[NellyLunatic1980]

But the biggest snub was not nominating Springsteen's song from THE WRESTLER.

If it's eligible, not to nominate it seems very silly considering: (A) the ratings could use an appearance by Springsteen, and (B) they only nominated three songs instead of the allowable five this year.

And "Slumdog Millionaire" got two of those three nods.

What, was there not enough good music this year to cause there to be only three nominations instead of five?

[hbomb1947]

I was disappointed to see "Gran Torino" and Clint getting snubbed.

[Ritterskoop]

Cate Blanchett's role in Benjamin Button was harder than Pitt's. She had to use her own body the whole time, and her own voice (which was awesome the way she changed it for her older years, both 50s and 80s).

I am surprised she didn't get a nod, though she's had her share already, I guess.