Academy Award Nominations

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

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

BEST ACTOR
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
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
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

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

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Eric Roth & Robin Swicord
Doubt- John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon- Peter Morgan
The Reader- David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire- Simon Beaufoy

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Der Baadder Meinhof Komplex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Betrayal
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 Itch
Smile Pinki
The Witness

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 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 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 FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall
The Dark Knight- Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon- Mike Hill & Dan Hanley
Milk- Eliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire- Chris Dickens

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Alexander Desplat
Defiance- James Newton Howard
Milk- Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire- A.R. Rahman
WALL-E- Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Down to Earth," written by Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman, WALL-E
"Jai Ho," written by A.R. Rahman & Gulzar, Slumdog Millionaire
"O Saya," written by A.R. Rahman & Maya Arulpragasam, Slumdog Millionaire

BEST MAKE-UP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight- John Caglione & Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army- Mike Elizalde & Thom Flutz

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory: A Love Story
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Auf der Strecke
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Toyland

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 VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

...as I try to hold it together and not get too irate at things I cannot control. Obviously some very good things were announced-- the big acceptance of Milk, not just in big categories, but in score, editing and costume design (it is an epic), Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Anne Hathaway, Heath Ledger...all very good (even if expected) things...then there's the troublesome (I take a deep breath and try to tame the inner bitch heathen brewing inside.) The big one is the dastardly omission of The Dark Knight in picture, director and screenplay-- even after being nominated for all those things in the guild precursors. The omission sucks because regardless of the overall quality of the film (which is great, amazing really), I wanted to believe the members of the Academy could somehow get themselves out the middlebrow ghetto they've dug themselves into for so very long. I wanted to see a film (even a big mean genre, superhero film-- never my favorites) get invited to be grown up table. I have precedent-- it happened in the 70s (Jaws, Star Wars come to mind), and in the 80s (at least when Spielberg was attached to it.) Why every year must such a strict doctrine be in place... nice prestige packed films released in November and December. Can't one film be a summer diversion, or even WALL-E (heaven, make it WALL-E, it's the best of 2008.)

Calming down, I promise-- more good things, the support for tiny independent surprises-- Melissa Leo and Richard Jenkins are wonderful character actors, great for them, the cast of Doubt-- three out of four greatly deserved (sorry Amy Adams, I think your in the mix this year because you were unfairly snubbed last year for Enchanted, I still think your swell though.)

But then again, and this brings me back to The Dark Knight and WALL-E, two of the biggest and the best-- pushed to corner besides large Academy support from other categories-- why? They obviously both finished just out of the top five for what-- The Reader, Frost/Nixon-- movies I haven't seen yet (I promise I will), but doubtfully will resonant with me as passionately, or most audiences from what I've heard thus far. And that's the double edges sword-- balancing the big and small, which I think was done badly yet again. Yes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made money, so did WALL-E, is it better? Did anyone think it was? I'm grateful for the support of Frozen River and The Visitor, but what about Rachel Getting Married, a marvelous film, that was super aside from Anne Hathaway's great leading role-- a writing nomination at least, Rosemarie DeWitt's great performance, Bill Irwin as her dad (AMAZING), Jonathon Demme's great return to form (no, I guess not, I mean c'mon Wanted officially has more Oscar nominations than this gem). Or The Wrestler-- a nod for Darren Aronofsky would have made my life, a least a writing nom, it's more worthy than In Bruges, an annoyingly precious hitman comedy, or something... Ewww!

Alright that's just my taste, I'll survive, but the worst tragedy of all is the omission of Bruce Springsteen's wonderful song in The Wrestler, entitled "The Wrestler"-- it's great, but not Academy approved like two songs from Slumdog Millionaire, which I didn't like-- they're fine I guess, not my taste-- The Boss' great movie theme perfectly suits the movie, while sounding kinda cool-- shame on you Academy!

And that's the thing-- I'm annoyed because I'm bound to be disappointed, yet I love the whole crazy shit anyway! I need to lay down now...