John's Movie Musings

The official Oscar nominations were announced early this morning.

Here we go...

Best Picture:

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

I haven't seen a single one of these. The Dark Knight and Wall-E were my favs of 08. So yeah, we're off to a pretty typical start.


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")

Any guesses?


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)

I guess I should check out some of these movies.


Best Supporting Actor:

• Josh Brolin ("Milk")
• Robert Downey Jr. ("Tropic Thunder")
• Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt")
• Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight")
• 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")

Well I didn't see any of the women, but happy to see both Heath Ledger and Robert Downy Jr. for the men. But if these awards mean anything, it's gotta go to Heath.


Best Animated Film:

• "Bolt"
• "Kung Fu Panda"
• "Wall-E"

Hey, I saw all those. Gotta be Wall-E.


Documentary:

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

Hey look, Man on Wire made it.


Of all the nominations, Benjamin Button got 13, Slumdog Millionaire got 10, The Dark Knight and Milk each had 8, while Wall-E got 6.

So any predictions? They are predicting a huge audience this year because The Dark Knight (a movie people actually watched) is up for so many awards. I guess we'll find out on Feb 22.