The Oscar nominations were announced this morning.

Best motion picture of the year

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production,Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
* “Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer


Performance by an actor in a leading role

* Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
* Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year

* “Bolt” (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
* “Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction

* “Changeling” (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
* “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
* “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography

* “Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design

* “Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
* “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
* “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Ron Howard
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature

* “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
* “Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
* “The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
* “Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
* “Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject

* “The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
* “The Final Inch” A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
* “Smile Pinki” A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
* “The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306” A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Achievement in film editing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year

* “The Baader Meinhof Complex” A Constantin Film Production, Germany
* “The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
* “Departures” (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
* “Revanche” (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
* “Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

Achievement in makeup

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
* “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
* “Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

* “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
* “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
* “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

Best animated short film

* “La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
* “Lavatory - Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
* “Oktapodi” (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
* “Presto” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
* “This Way Up”, A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best live action short film

* “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
* “Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
* “New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
* “The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
* “Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank

Achievement in sound editing

* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Richard King
* “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
* “Wanted” (Universal),Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
* “Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
* “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
* “Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

* “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
* “Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
* “In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

EW Magazine was off one on their wish list a few issues ago:

Frost/Nixon
Milk
Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionaire
The Dark Knight

replace The Dark Knight with The Reader (boo!!!!!). Guess they had to have a Holocaust movie in there somewhere. Very disappointing that the biggest movie of the year and one so positively reviewed misses the list because of comic book bias.

Now its a race between Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button. Both Jimbo and I agree that Button (with 13 noms) will end up winning this year. Though I have to say Button has made a very quiet $100M with virtually no buzz compared to a similar film from years ago called Forrest Gump. Gump of course had the very popular Tom Hanks in it while Button has Brad Pitt who the public has never really embraced with the same warmth.

Anyone think this will be Kate Winslet's year finally especially with The Reader getting a very big nom.

I've seen 4 of the 5 Best Pic noms--I plan to see The Reader this weekend. As John says, I predict it'll be Benjamin Button but won't be surprised if Slumdog takes the prize.

I missed Frozen River but saw (or will see) all the other acting noms. Once again, the criteria for "Lead" and "Supporting" mystifies me--Hoffman is on-screen as much as Streep is in Doubt. And it was another scarily good performance by Streep, but I think it's Winslet's year.

Surprised that Waltz With Bashir was left out of the animated category, leaving the door wide open for WALL-E.

They could only find 3 songs worthy of nomination?

The two early storylines from the nominations are the absence of highly touted Revolutionary Road from most of the major categories and The Dark Knight also falling short of the brass ring, with only Ledger's widely expected nomination in the supporting actor category.

I also agree with Jimbo that it's time to expand the list of nominations for music - enough films are now featuring original songs that there are certainly 5 worthy nominees in any given year (and many will bemoan Springsteen not making the cut this year).

My early predictions:

Best motion picture of the year - Slumdog Millionaire
Performance by an actor in a leading role - Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Performance by an actor in a supporting role - Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Performance by an actress in a leading role - Kate Winslet, The Reader
Performance by an actress in a supporting role - Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Achievement in directing - Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire or possibly David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best animated feature film of the year - WALL-E

The actor noms are particularly strong this year even if the films aren't:

* Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
* Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

All are worthy. Just saw The Visitor recently and Richard Jenkins is a fav of mine but how can we deny Sean Penn or Frank Langella? I don't think it would be wise to give Mickey Rourke an Oscar just because he finally sobered up enough to carry a film. I'd rather see the Oscar go to an actor who's worked hard on his craft for many years.

btw....they could have included the great Clint Eastwood in the acting noms considering this may be his last performance ever and the public loves the movie.

Most of this was a predictable joke, but seeing Robert Downey Jr. get nominated was awesome-I said at the time he should get nominated and am stunned that he did! Not ONE nomination for "Gran Torino"??? Awful. That was such a good film. "The Reader" looks so damn depressing and unenjoyable, no wonder it was nominated so much. Same goes with "Frozen River"-a typical "critic's film". "Milk" and "Frost/Nixon" were nominees before they even came out, good or not. And I still could give 2 craps about "Benjamin Button", not that he cares much! Everybody involved with "Doubt" deserves their nominations, as do those involved with "Wall-E" and "Slumdog Millionaire".
Good to see "In Bruges" get a nod and "Kung Fu Panda". "Dark Knight' was ripped off-no surprise there. "Man On Wire" was a great doc.
As usual I will watch not one second of the Oscars keeping a tradition alive!

The only film I've seen on the entire list is "Wall-E".

I have to agree. No reason to really care about the Oscar this year. No matter who wins it will be ho-hum. Now if The Dark Knight was in the running I might be a little more excited but I can't get crazy over a Slumdog win or a Button win.

Its gonna be a boring show for sure.

I'm surprised they didn't consider the Springsteen wrestling song (I believe it was done for the movie).

True, it's no Rosalita, but having Bruce perform on the Oscars would increase TV ratings.

My only interest is seeing if Penelope Cruz wins Supporting Actress because I'm a big Woody Allen fan (and she was great). I liked Slumdog and Milk too.

Bruce won at the Golden Globes so it is odd that Oscar leaves him out. And why 2 songs from Slumdog?

btw.....the movie Wanted is up for an Oscar!! Best Sound Editing, and it did have good sound.

Anyone gonna bother watching the Oscar's tonight?

Kind of ho-hum as far as the movie categories go....no real fan favorite once again this year.

I still feel Slumdog is more deserving of a "Best Foreign Film" nomination that outright Best Picture but some feel it is the favorite to win. Button just doesn't get any love. The quietest $100M+ movie ever.

The only real exciting category is Best Actor. Is it crazy Rourke or quirky Penn?

The only Oscar telecast I've missed in over 30 years was when John & I saw Deep Purple at the Beacon a few years ago on Oscar night.

I go to see so many movies every year, they should make me a voting member of the Academy. Of course I'll be watching!

The Oscar's this year? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I watched the Oscars every single year from about 1971 to 2003. Then I just suddenly got sick of the glut of awards shows and seeing people congratulate themselves perpetually for nothing much at all.

That, and using their shining moment to preach to us all.

Yawn.

I didn't think it was such a bad show, as these things go. Too long, as usual--why they insist on presenting all the technical awards on camera is beyond me.

Cool bit: the Japanese guy who won for best animated short (and didn't speak much English) wrapping up his list of thank you's with "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto."

Overall not a bad show, but I hope next year they'll do away with the "tributes" for the actor/actress nominations and go back to showing excerpts from the performances.

And do we really need the red carpet stuff in prime time? Run that for an hour before the show and start the awards ceremony at 8pm/5pm...

I missed it entirely. What did they end up doing with Peter Gabriel's song?

It was part of a collage combined with songs from Slumdog. John Legend ended up singing the WALL-E tunes. Did a good job. Weird to see Peter watching from the audience.

I thought the Oscars started fine. Hugh Jackman brought good energy and tried his best.

Things went sour once the glut of production/ technical awards began and then the small foreign films. It seemed to go on and on. In fact Hugh went missing for what seemed an hour (even Will Smith commented on that). I know they'll never get rid of the tech awards but damn do they slow down the show. Only the people involved in that side of the business give a rats ass.

The Oscars always end with a flourish thank goodness and this one was no different.

The big mystery was the Penn/ Rourke award and of course Penn wins. Sean Penn was born on the same exact date as me back in 1960 so I kinda root for the guy (though he's a homo-lovin commie).

Slumdog seemed to be the favorite from way back and it was the only film I saw of the 5 this past year. It is quite a movie. Not sure how repeatable it is but its worth at least one viewing.

I liked the former winners doing the nominees but I don't think you can do this every year. Nice to see them do something out of the ordinary but it would become a gimmick.

One thing that was new was during the show's credits, they showed clips from upcoming films to be released later this year like The Taking Of Pelham 123.