2009 Academy Award Nominations

Winners to be announced on Sunday, February 22nd.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Ceán Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall
Frost/Nixon (2008): Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner
Milk (2008): Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks
The Reader (2008): Nominees to be determined
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Christian Colson

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Richard Jenkins for The Visitor (2007/I)
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon (2008)
Sean Penn for Milk (2008)
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Angelina Jolie for Changeling (2008)
Melissa Leo for Frozen River (2008)
Meryl Streep for Doubt (2008/I)
Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees:
Josh Brolin for Milk (2008)
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008)
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I)
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees:
Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I)
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I)
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)


Best Achievement in Directing
Nominees:
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Stephen Daldry for The Reader (2008)
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon (2008)
Gus Van Sant for Milk (2008)


Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Nominees:
Frozen River (2008): Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008): Mike Leigh
In Bruges (2008): Martin McDonagh
Milk (2008): Dustin Lance Black
WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon


Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt (2008/I): John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon (2008): Peter Morgan
The Reader (2008): David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Simon Beaufoy


Best Achievement in Cinematography
Nominees:
Changeling (2008): Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight (2008): Wally Pfister
The Reader (2008): Roger Deakins, Chris Menges
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Achievement in Editing
Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
The Dark Knight (2008): Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon (2008): Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
Milk (2008): Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Chris Dickens

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Nominees:
Changeling (2008): James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight (2008): Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess (2008): Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road (2008): Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Nominees:
Australia (2008): Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Jacqueline West
The Duchess (2008): Michael O'Connor
Milk (2008): Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road (2008): Albert Wolsky


Best Achievement in Makeup
Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight (2008): John Caglione Jr., Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008): Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Alexandre Desplat
Defiance (2008): James Newton Howard
Milk (2008): Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman
WALL·E (2008): Thomas Newman

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Nominees:
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Gulzar("Jai Ho")
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam("O Saya")
WALL·E (2008): Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman("Down to Earth")

Best Achievement in Sound
Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight (2008): Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
WALL·E (2008): Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
Wanted (2008): Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Nominees:
The Dark Knight (2008): Richard King
Iron Man (2008): Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Tom Sayers
WALL·E (2008): Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted (2008): Wylie Stateman

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
The Dark Knight (2008): Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin
Iron Man (2008): John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Nominees:
Bolt (2008): Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda (2008): John Stevenson, Mark Osborne
WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Nominees:
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)(Germany)
Entre les murs (2008)(France)
Revanche (2008)(Austria)
Okuribito (2008)(Japan)
Vals Im Bashir (2008)(Israel)

Best Documentary, Features
Nominees:
The Betrayal - Nerakhoon (2008): Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World (2007): Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser
The Garden (2008/I): Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Man on Wire (2008): James Marsh, Simon Chinn
Trouble the Water (2008): Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Nominees:
The Conscience of Nhem En: Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch: Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant
Smile Pinki: Megan Mylan
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306: Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde

Best Short Film, Animated
Nominees:
La Maison en Petits Cubes: Kunio Kato
Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya (2007): Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi (2007): Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
Presto (2008): Doug Sweetland
This Way Up (2008): Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes

Best Short Film, Live Action
Nominees:
Auf der Strecke (2007): Reto Caffi
Manon sur le bitume (2007): Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont
New Boy (2007): Steph Green, Tamara Anghie
Grisen (2008): Tivi Magnusson, Dorthe Warnø Høgh
Spielzeugland (2007): Jochen Alexander Freydank

Milk Review

Milk is Gus Van Sant's biopic about Harvey Milk the first openly gay person to hold public office in the US. Sean Penn is stellar as the eponymous character and gives a riveting performance, but Josh Brolin's as City Supervisor and Harvey Milk nemesis, Dan White, was so brilliant, thinking about him still leaves me uneasy. While Sean Penn is Milk, the ensemble that includes an incandescent James Franco, Emile Hirsch is annoyingly bareable, Joseph Cross is sexily serious, Allison Pill is a badass bitch and Diego Luna is the brilliant gay neurotic best friend I never wanted, hold the film together. I must add that the film is gayer than Brokeback, and I mean it's overtly sexual and based on real events and uses actual news footage from the day, but certainly not sexually graphic. Sean Penn will be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar and quite possibly win, which I hope is only one of the reasons as to why you should check out this great film. My rating: 8.9/10

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

And not just because Jesus is the reason for season, but because THE BEST movies come out! With the annoucement of the Golden Globe nominees Thursday morning it helps me put into perspective what serious award contenders I should see as soon as possible, while I intend to pepper in the more commercial fair, and probably "Twilight" again. So I've compiled a list of what I intend to and would like to see this holiday season as well as what I've already seen and highly recommend.

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Everytime I see this trailer it makes me fall in love with film making all over again

2. Slumdog Millionaire - I've been in awe of Danny Boyle's directorial prowess since I saw Trainspotting well over a decade ago. His ability to bring out the most brilliant performances out of an relatively unknown actors and turn them into stars (Ewan McGregor, Kelly MacDonald, Cillian Murphy) never ceases to amaze and delight me.

3.Milk - Sean Penn breathes the rarified air that only few actors (Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington on a good day) have the ability to experience. And supposedly he breathes so much life in his portrayal of Harvey Milk, his performance is epic. I've been waiting to see this film for months and hope to before Christmas Day

4.The Wrestler - Darren Aronofsky is the kind of film maker who makes me wonder if I could ever imagine as vividly as he is able to depict on screen. Winner of the Golden Lion
(basically the Grand Jury Prize) at this year's Venice Film Festival

5.Revolutionary Road - Introduce me to one person who didn't like Titanic or who has a negative comment to make about the chemistry and talent of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and I'll them an idiot to their face. RR reunites the two, under the direction of Academy Award Winning Director Sam Mendes

6. The Reader- Kate Winslet really do no wrong

7. Gran Torino- Nothing says Holiday awards season like a Clint Eastwood movie and not only does he direct this one he stars in it too.

8. Defiance- Liev Schreiber + Daniel Craig + a true story about brothers fighting the Nazis= a movie I'm super excited for

9. Doubt & Frost/Nixon- Both super serious films with incredible casts that keep growing on me but I'm in no immediate rush to see either

10. Valkyrie- I have no intention of paying to see this movie and the as the release date grows closer the idea, trailers and Tom Cruise's perfect American accent grow funnier and funnier to me. Though I am intrigued by the set pieces, the scale of the production and what Bryan Singer was able to pull off, but like I said I'm not paying to see this one.

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