Oscar Nomimations Announced

The Nominations for for the 81st Academy Awards were made today and the biggest snubs went to 'The Wrestler' and 'The Dark Knight'. Arnofosky's gritty but brilliant movie was obviously too edgy for the Academy much like his Requiem for a Dream, and he was denied a best director nom and the film a best picture nom.

As I suspected all along, TDK was snubbed due to it's genre, the film has vastly greater review scores than 'The Reader' yet somehow it is overlooked ? in fact it has a better review score than anything else nominated, the truth is by nominating a poorly reviewed arthouse film like 'The Reader' the Academy are saying loudly "We are better than you", it's an act of cowardice and regression in my opinion. This year was a chance for the Acadmey to change the pereception the mainstream has of it being redundent.

However even the Academy could not deny Heath Ledger a best supproting actor nomination, or Mickey Rourke a best actor nomination, so there is some measure of satisifaction, the only question now is if the Academy will actually follow through and award them on the big night.

Kate Winslet must be having mixed emotions right now, she was nominated for best actress for her role in 'The Reader' NOT as suspected for her role in 'Revolutionary Road', general consensus is that the latter was the strong performance, the same thing happened to Leonardo DiCaprio when he was nominated for the 'Blood Diamond' instead of his role in 'The Departed'.

Most of the other nominations were as expected although Clint Eastwood, who is an Academy favourite, failed to slip into the best actor category at the last minute for Gran Torino, as some had predicted.

The Full list is below:

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

Richard Jenkins - THE VISITOR
Frank Langella - FROST/NIXON
Sean Penn - MILK
Brad Pitt - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke - THE WRESTLER

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Josh Brolin - MILK
Robert Downey Jr. - TROPIC THUNDER
Philip Seymour Hoffman - DOUBT
Heath Ledger - THE DARK KNIGHT
Michael Shannon - REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

Anne Hathaway - RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie - CHANGELING
Melissa Leo - FROZEN RIVER
Meryl Streep - DOUBT
Kate Winslet - THE READER

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Amy Adams - DOUBT
Penélope Cruz - VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Viola Davis - DOUBT
Taraji P. Henson - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei - THE WRESTLER

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
WALL-E

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION:

CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE DUCHESS
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY:

CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN:

AUSTRALIA
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DUCHESS
MILK
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON)
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 INCH
SMILE PINKI
THE WITNESS - FROM THE BALCONY OF ROOM 306

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
FROST/NIXON
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR:

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX
THE CLASS
DEPARTURES
REVANCHE
WALTZ WITH BASHIRWALTZ WITH BASHIR

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE):

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DEFIANCE
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-EWALL-E

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG):

WALL-E - "Down to Earth"
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - "Jai Ho"
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - "O Saya"

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:

LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES
LAVATORY - LOVESTORY
OKTAPODI
PRESTO
THIS WAY UP

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:

AUF DER STRECKE (ON THE LINE)
MANON ON THE ASPHALT
NEW BOY
THE PIG
SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND)

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING:

THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DOUBT
FROST/NIXON
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRES

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

FROZEN RIVER
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
MILK
WALL-E

Update on Thu, January 22, 2009 by Peter Georgiou

Some surprises, some of the nominations we all expected, but I am going to have to disagree with Rob on The Dark Knight being snubbed. The Dark Knight received eight Oscar nominations, sure it might not be in what some consider the "bigger categories", but eight nominations is eight nominations.

I personally loved The Dark Knight, it really did blow me away and lived up to the hype, but I don't think it deserves a nomination for "Best Picture". I could see Nolan possibly getting a "Best Director" nod, but the competition was heavy this year with directors like Boyle and Fincher. Also a "Best Adapted Screenplay nod would have made sense, but it is what it is.

I think that Academy did what was right and what was deserved by nominating Heath Ledger, he was The Dark Knight, and he will win the award for "Best Supporting Actor". The fans, crew and executives involved with The Dark Knight should be proud of their 8 nominations. It is certainly a big score for WB, Legendary, and the comic book film industry as a whole.

Update on Thu, January 22, 2009 by Jamie Williams

My guess is many in the nerd community are wearing diapers right now after The Dark Knight snub(s).

But I disagree with Peter about Ledger. I've never been 100% sold that it's automatically his win. I mean, everyone thought TDK getting "Best Picture" and "Best Director" nominations was a "sure thing!" - except for Peter to be fair which he called months ago!

Was it a great film? Absolutely - easily one of the best from last year. But I'm "Meh!" towards what happened there.

The only thing I'm disappointed about was Wall-E (which I personally thought was the best film of 2008) missing out on the "Best Picture" race. But we all knew that was never going to happen anyway. So no harm, no foul.

Even with the God-knows-how-many Critics Awards it's won, I could never see Slumdog Millionaire nabbing the "Best Picture" Oscar, and I still don't to be honest.

There hasn't been a 100% Grade-A "Oscar-friendly" film to win (at least in my opinion) since Chicago back in 2003. And looking at how the Academy chose in terms of their nominations, my money's on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.