MOVIE NEWS: The Oscar Nominations Are In! What a Boring, Safe, Crop…

The Oscars have been announced and I can without a doubt tell you, I don’t care. Sure, I’m doing the obligatory blog post about it. I may try and do a commentary on this, but this year’s Oscar campaign was so lackluster and nothing on this list is either outrageously good or bad, just middle of the road safe choices.  I will say are they kidding me? Frost/Nixon as Best Picture? That movie was barely watchable, I turned the screener off 40 minutes into it and would have walked out of the theater if I saw it there. The problem is, yes, I know Frank Langella wasn’t trying to “impersonate” Nixon, but come-on, couldn’t they have at least tried to hire someone who resembled him, just a LITTLE bit? The casting was HORRIBLE, and I don’t get why people are praising his performance.

The same goes for Anne Hathaway, I love her, but she’s annoying as hell in Rachel Getting Married – and again, I realize that’s the point of her character and the movie. It felt like being trapped at your best friend’s house and being forced to sit through their crappy, grainy, poorly shot wedding video. Ok, I was wrong, I can work up some snark about this year’s nominations. So I’ll post that this weekend.  For now here’s the list, comment if you wan.

BEST PICTURE

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

BEST DIRECTOR

• Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
• David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
• Stephen Daldry, The Reader
• 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
• Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
• Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
• 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
• Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh
• In Bruges, Martin McDonagh
• Milk, Dustin Lance Black
• WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
• Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
• Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
• The Reader, David Hare
• Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Bolt
• Kung Fu Panda
• WALL-E

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

• La Maison en Petits Cubes
• Lavatory — Lovestory
• Oktapodi
• Presto
• This Way Up

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 COSTUME DESIGN

• Australia
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Duchess
• Milk
• Revolutionary Road

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
• Encounters at the End of the World
• The Garden
• Man on Wire
• Trouble the Water

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

• The Conscience of Nhem En
• The Final Inch
• Smile Pinki
• The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306

BEST EDITING

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• Slumdog Millionaire

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
• The Class (France)
• Departures (Japan)
• Revanche (Austria)
• Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

• Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
• Manon on the Asphalt
• New Boy
• The Pig
• Spielzeugland (Toyland)

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, Alexandre Desplat
• Defiance, James Newton Howard
• Milk, Danny Elfman
• Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman
• WALL-E, Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• ”Down to Earth,” WALL-E
• ”Jai Ho,” Slumdog Millionaire
• ”O Saya,” Slumdog Millionaire

BEST SOUND EDITING

• The Dark Knight
• Iron Man
• Slumdog Millionaire
• WALL-E
• Wanted

BEST SOUND MIXING

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Slumdog Millionaire
• WALL-E
• Wanted

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Iron Man