81st Annual Academy Award Nominations

Though I’m already late, I would be remiss if I skipped out entirely on making some comments about this year’s Oscar nominations.

These aforementioned comments would likely be along the lines of, “Whoa, I might actually watch the Oscars this year!”

For the last several years, I’ve sat out Hollywood’s annual self-backpatting because so many of the nominated films were (to my taste) simply too snooty, too unlikeable, too political, too boring, too…you get the idea.  However, while there are exceptions, this year many of the nominated films are ones that not only seem interesting (let alone merely watchable) but seem to have earned their hype by actual merit (rather than grabbing an easy accolade by spouting the latest cause du jour or reaching for the low-hanging fruit of left-leaning political cliches).

Some people have been decrying the list as predictable, filled with Oscar-bait movies and less-than-daring choices that overlook more deserving films and performances.  Personally, I feel that while that’s all true, it’s also nothing new.  It’s been a long time since The Academy has gone for films that didn’t seem designed to win awards.  At this point, I wouldn’t expect anything less!  That still doesn’t change the fact that this year’s choices actually seem somewhat decent.

While many of the geek faithful among us lament the exclusion of The Dark Knight and director Christopher Nolan from the Best Picture and Best Director categories, TDK did get several decent nods, as did other laudable films like WALL•E and Slumdog Millionaire.  Surprisingly, Gran Torino was roundly snubbed, though as I haven’t yet seen that film, I can’t comment on potential reasons.

Looking over the list, it should be fairly easy to predict the winners in some of the categories.  An historic posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger is nearly a given, as is a win for the highly-praised WALL•E in the Animated category (especially going up against Bolt and Kung Fu Panda…I guess it was a dry year for animated flicks).  Other categories, though, might present a more interesting fight.  It will be fun to watch what happens with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire as each appears poised for either a massive sweep of the whole night or an evening of terrible letdowns.

Since many of the films on this year’s list deal with profoundly deep or complex issues of life, faith, and spirituality (again prompting my reaction of interest rather than boredom or annoyance), I think it’s worth attempting to support such endeavors.  Audiences today could benefit from a little extra prompting to engage their hearts and their heads more than they usually do, and thus to think and feel and explore and go deeper.  While it may also encourage Hollywood to make cookie-cutter Oscar-bait films, I will be watching on February 22nd at 7:00 pm (Central).  If you think you might watch the show, too, Oscar.com has things like a printable ballot and links to movie trailers to help you get ready.

Okay, so that’s my two cents (or three or four…).  What’s yours?  The nominations are below; what do you think?  Who or what got left off, and who or what shouldn’t be there?  Of these movies, what have you seen, and was it any good?

81st Annual Academy Award Nominations

Best Picture

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

Best Director

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

Best Actor

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

Best Actress

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

Best Supporting Actor

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

Best Supporting Actress

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

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
• Doubt — John Patrick Shanley
• Frost/Nixon — Peter Morgan
• The Reader – David Hare
• Slumdog Millionaire — Simon Beaufoy

Original Screenplay

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

Foreign Language Film

• The Baader Meinhof Complex
• The Class
• Departures
• Revanche
• Waltz with Bashir

Animated Feature Film

• Bolt
• Kung Fu Panda
• WALL•E

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

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 Feature

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

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

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

Original Song

• “Down to Earth” from WALL•E – Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
• “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire — A.R. Rahman, Gulzar
• “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire — A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam

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

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

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

Documentary Short

• The Conscience of Nhem En
• The Final Inch
• Smile Pinki
• The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306

Animated Short Film

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

Live Action Short Film

• Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
• Manon on the Asphalt
• New Boy
• The Pig
• Spielzeugland (Toyland)