Thursday, January 22, 2009

Here They Are....


The 81st Annual Academy Award nominees were announced today. You can read the full list here, but for now, here are the major categories:




BEST PICTURE

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

BEST ACTOR

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams for Doubt
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

BEST DIRECTOR

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

Although I plan to see all the films nominated for Best Picture, as yet I've only seen Slumdog Millionaire, so I can't intelligently comment on the nominations, but I will anyway. : )

I haven't heard from anyone who really thought Benjamin Button was great, but several who thought that Doubt was stellar. Of course, it's not nominated. I've heard very mixed reviews of The Reader.

I don't see how in this or any other universe that Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger can fail to win, but stranger things have happened. Even though I haven't seen it, I hope Meryl Streep wins for Doubt. It's been far too long since she's won, but then again, she gets few roles that are worthy of her.

Okay, let's go see some movies! Let the speculations begin!

1 comment:

Andy Wolverton said...

You may be right. Many voters may think the Golden Globe was "enough" for Ledger and pass him by in favor of someone else.

SLUMDOG was quite good but may seem too "foreign" for a lot of the voters. But again, I've still got four movies to go before I make any kind of educated judgement!