• Joined: December 28, 2008

Topic: 81st Academy Awards

These are the nominations for the 81st Academy Awards...

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams (Doubt)
Viola Davis (Doubt)
Penelope Cruz (Vicki Christina Barcelona)
Taraji P. Henson (Slumdog Millionaire)
Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)

Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin (Milk)
Robert Downey, Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Angelina Jolie (The Changeling)
Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Kate Winslet (The Reader)

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

Best Screenplay
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruge
Milk
Wall-E

Best Adapted Screenplay
(The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Film
The Badder-Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir

Best Animated Feature
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Best Picture
(The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Documentary
The Betrayal
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire

Best Art Direction
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Costume Design
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Best Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Best Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

Best Original Song
“Down to Earth” (Wall-E)
“Jaiho” (Slumdog Millionaire)
“O Saya” (Slumdog Millionaire)

Best Sound Mixing
WALL-E
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Wanted
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound Editing
WALL-E
Iron Man
The Dark Knight
Wanted
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Best Documentary Short Subject
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch”
Smile Pinki”
The Witness From the Balcony of Room 306

Best Animated Short Film
La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
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

Thoughts?

Last edited by Cinexcellence (January 22, 2009 (07:26am))

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Not many, since I haven't half those movies, but I really thought WALL-E deserved a Best Film nomination. I'm glad it got a Best Screenplay Nomination; I think we all knew it was going to get a Best Animated Film nomination. I think it could get a Best Cinematography nom as well.

From what I've heard, it sounds like the Academy will jump on anything that has to do with gay stuff, and that's the case with Milk. I'm not sure how true that statement is, but it sounds plausible to me.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Littlebrick wrote:

From what I've heard, it sounds like the Academy will jump on anything that has to do with gay stuff

Especially when they're good films...

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Although I'm very happy for the people at Pixar for getting more Oscar nods than expected; I'm still extremely disappointed that Wall-E did not get nominated for 'Best Picture'. Having a 'Best Animated Feature' award is great and all. But by having it, does this mean that all animated feature films will never get nominated for 'Best Picture'?

Kudos for "Presto" getting the 'Best Animated Short' nod. Truly deserves it.

Edit...I just noticed that "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" didn't receive a single nomination. mini/tongue

Last edited by dewfilms (January 22, 2009 (07:58am))

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Some quick reactions:
Bruce Springsteen's original song for The Wrestler was fantastic. Why it wasn't nominated I have NO idea.
The Reader and The Changeling are taking a solid stance; I'll have to watch them if I get the chance
In Bruges picking up a nod for the screenplay...fantastic
It's also nice to see Roger Deakins NOT having to worry about splitting the votes (3 films this year...wow)
Brad Pitt inching out Clint Eastwood for the best actor nomination; I am so pleased
And what a great year for film scores as well; got some listening to do

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Jeez, was Benjamin Button really that good?  I mean, I knew the Academy would be all over it, but was it THAT good?

-Dave

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Dave wrote:

Jeez, was Benjamin Button really that good?  I mean, I knew the Academy would be all over it, but was it THAT good?

I thought it was really good, but it's up against some competition (Milk, Slumdog Millionaire)

I was wondering if it's inclusion was an act of penance for royally shafting David Fincher's Zodiac last year. I was hoping that it would be at least nominated for best picture, director, adapted screenplay, supporting actor (RDJ), and ESPECIALLY, the visual effects. But it didn't receive ONE nomination.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Dave wrote:

Jeez, was Benjamin Button really that good?  I mean, I knew the Academy would be all over it, but was it THAT good?

-Dave


No. It was a good film but I don't see how they love it so much.




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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Woah... i just hope, The Dark Knight will win as many as possible of those nominations.
Especially Heath Ledger as best Supporting Actor.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

TDK will most likely only win for Ledger's performance...possibly for cinematography, but I'm not banking on that.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

TDK will most likely only win for Ledger's performance...possibly for cinematography, but I'm not banking on that.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

WALL-E should have been nominated for Best Picture.

That said, I'm pleased with the rest of it's nominations.  It better win at least three of them.

I don't care about the other films.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Nathan, are you serious? That's the only movie you care about? mini/confused




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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Definitely at least three Oscars for WALL-E (Sound mixing, sound editing, and animated feature) And it's also got a good shot in a few other categories as well.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

I'm surprised and glad about how many nominations The Dark Knight got. It definitely deserves it. But I'm also surprised that it didn't get nominated for Best Screenplay. The script for that movie was so ingenious, I can't believe that they left that out.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

filmyguy wrote:

I'm surprised and glad about how many nominations The Dark Knight got. It definitely deserves it. But I'm also surprised that it didn't get nominated for Best Screenplay. The script for that movie was so ingenious, I can't believe that they left that out.

If it was up to me TDK won all the oscars.
Blast, it isn't.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Littlebrick wrote:

From what I've heard, it sounds like the Academy will jump on anything that has to do with gay stuff, and that's the case with Milk. I'm not sure how true that statement is, but it sounds plausible to me.

Milk was a fantastic film, very deserving of its nominations (though I'm a tad confused why everyone liked Josh Brolin's role. He was good, but his character wasn't that prominent throughout the film and was a bit...mysterious. Personally, I thought Emile Hirsch or James Franco were more deserving of the nod). And in fact, a lot of times the opposite happens with films, which is why there was a lot of brouhaha over Brokeback Mountain not winning Best Picture while having won Best Director in 2005 (granted, Crash was a deserving film).

What a terrible and surprising backlash for The Dark Knight, considering how well it fared with the some of the precursors and the guild awards (PGA, DGA, WGA). I mean, it's cool it scored 8 noms, but nothing in the major categories beyond Supporting Actor. It AT LEAST deserved recognition in Best Director if not anything else (but even then, it was said to be a shoo-in for Best Picture). I'm surprised in the Academy for nominating a film that hasn't broken a 60% critic score for the top-grossing and one of the most well-received films of the year. For shame, Academy.

Other surprises/shockers:
-As much love for The Reader as they gave it
-Sally Hawkins missed the cut for Best Actress for Happy-Go-Lucky
-Kate Winslet going Lead Actress for The Reader over Revolutionary Road
-Michael Shannon made the cut for Best Supporting Actor
-Only 3 nominations for Best Song, and they leave out the current frontrunner for the win (Bruce Springstein for The Wrestler) and replace it with another song for Slumdog Millionaire
-Curious Case scoring 13 total nominations
-Wanted scoring nods in the Sound categories (pleasantly surprised about that)
-Vicky Christina Barcelona fails to get an Original Screenplay nod
-Waltz with Bashir fails to get an nod for Best Animated Feature

Yeah, so overall, a surprising (but not necessarily in a good way) list this year from the Academy. I guess I'm backing Slumdog Millionaire for the win here, but now I feel less inclined to care about it now.

Last edited by MindGame (January 22, 2009 (12:07pm))

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

What a terrible and surprising backlash for The Dark Knight, considering how well it fared with the some of the precursors and the guild awards (PGA, DGA, WGA). I mean, it's cool it scored 8 noms, but nothing in the major categories beyond Supporting Actor. It AT LEAST deserved recognition in Best Director if not anything else (but even then, it was said to be a shoo-in for Best Picture). I'm surprised in the Academy for nominating a film that hasn't broken a 60% critic score for the top-grossing and one of the most well-received films of the year. For shame, Academy.

I guess some uptight, fuddy-duddy Academy people don't take 'cartoons' or 'comic book' movies seriously.
Too geeky for their refined taste.

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

Quoting would take to long; I'm replying to MindGame's post FYI. mini/smile

Agreed on Brolin's nomination; I was really hoping that there would be more development for his character. It felt lacking, which is to be expected in a biopic, but still.

The Reader is showing in Knoxville, so I'm planning on catching that ASAP to see if it's worth all the fuss.

Somewhat glad that Winslet wasn't nominated for Revolutionary Road; the last half was really good, but the first half didn't hold me that much. Perhaps the direction/script got in the way of the actors. I'm withholding judgment until I see it again.

And while Slumdog will probably win out, I'm still hoping (against hope) that it's going to be a David Fincher party this year. He deserves it after being royally shafted by the Academy for Zodiac...just realized that I already ranted about this before. LOL. mini/bigsmile

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Re: 81st Academy Awards

I'm surprised that some of you animation fanatics haven't mentioned the fact that Waltz With Bashir is up for Best Foreign-Language Film, and looks like it has an excellent chance at winning. That would be a triumph for the gen- I mean, medium.

I need to see a whole lot of these films before I can make my judgement. Man on Wire came out here today, Benjamin Button is next week, and there's a special screening of The Wrestler I hope to go to in between.

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