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Actor Forest Whitaker, left, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announce the Performance by an Actor in a Supporting role nominations for the 81st Academy Awards on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009 in Beverly Hills, Calif. The 81st Academy Awards will take place Feb. 22, 2009 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Hey, cheer up bankrupt, war-weary America! The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards were announced this very morning in Beverly Hills at 5:30 in the freaking morning—of course, everyone over there is always up at dawn doing yoga and colonics anyway. And it's a big day for local Off Broadway star and Red Hook denizen Michael Shannon, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Revolutionary Road. He'll no doubt lose to Heath "Know How I Got These Oscars?" Ledger, and rightfully so, but it's nice to see a local boy (yes, via Chicago) make good. (We most recently caught Shannon in Lady.)
A big fan boy campaign for The Dark Knight failed to secure that blockbuster a Best Picture nomination; the slot was presumably stolen by poorly-reviewed Kate Winslet weepie The Reader. (And Ricky Gervais's Extras quip about the Academy loving Holocaust flicks seems increasingly prescient.) Slumdog Millionaire, the Golden Globe winner, was showered with ten nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Danny Boyle. And The Curious Case of Benjamin Button scored 13 nominations; we liked it enough, but after seeing this brilliant "Curious Case of Forrest Gump" video mash-up, it's hard to see it deserving the big win. Then again, the field is a bit lackluster this year, no? Nominees are all very solid, but is there anything really breathtaking in the crowd?
Other surprises include Richard Jenkins's nomination for The Visitor, an indie film set here in New York City. He'll lose to either Mickey Rourke or Sean Penn for Milk; both richly deserve it this year, though their elder Frank Langella could be a dark horse for his performance in Frost/Nixon (no way Brad Pitt wins). Winslet's the easy favorite for Best Actress—she's been nominated a billion times but never won—and we'll definitely be watching Angelina Jolie's face when Winslet's name is called; Jolie's Changeling was such an obvious Oscar vehicle that we fully expect a Zoolander "Model of the Year" moment to ensue. But kudos to the Academy's acting branch for recognizing Melissa Leo in Frozen River. Peruse the full list of celebrity back-slapping below.
Best Actress
Anne Hathaway "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie "Changeling"
Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep "Doubt";
Kate Winslet "The Reader"
Best Actor
Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"
Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn for "Milk"
Brad Pitt "Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke for "The Wrestler"
Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin "Milk."
Robert Downey Jr.'s "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman "Doubt."
Heath Ledger "The Dark Knight"
Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road."
Supporting Actress
Marisa Tomei for "The Wrestler."
Amy Adams, "Doubt."
Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."
Viola Davis, "Doubt."
Taraji P. Henson for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
Best Picture
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,"
"Frost/Nixon,"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
Director
David Fincher "Benjamin Button,"
Ron Howard for "Frost/Nixon."
Gus Van Sant for "Milk."
Stephen Daldry "The Reader"
Danny Boyle "Slumdog Millionaire"
Animation
“Bolt” (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
“Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanto
Original Screenplay
“Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
“Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
“In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
“Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
Adapted screenplay
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
“Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
“Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
“The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Original Song
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam
Original Score
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
“Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman
Achievement in cinematography
“Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
“The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle
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Woo for Richard Jenkins and Melissa Leo. That's pretty awesome stuff. Also, for anyone who hasn't seen The Visitor—rent it, it's really good.
Benjamin Button stank on ice. It was total Oscar bait. It worked.
Milk
What's with the additional descriptive for Frank Langella in the Best Actor list? Subliminal preference?
Wait, no Bruce Springsteen?!
Other notable snubs include Charlie Kaufman, who really deserved a best screenplay nom, and Clint. NOTHING for Clint? Gran Torino was solid.
annually predictable
Go Milk.
Anne Hathaway, are you freaking kidding me?
and yeah, Clint got snubbed
Robert Downey Jr for "Tropic Thunder"? Come on.
Anne Hathaway for "Rachel Getting Married"? Only if she was playing a horse.
Kate Winslet was nommed for The Reader, not Revolutionary Road.
Kate Winslet is nominated for The Reader, not Revolutionary Road.
The oscars is another night when hollywood gets to party and get drunk.
I can't afford these movies anyway...
Holocaust film? double check!!
Gay interest film? check
Post humous sympathy nom? check
Feelgood rags to riches flick? check
Time-space-shifty mind fuck? check
Catholic guilt-trip? check
Yup, another formula Hollywood wankfest.
You forgot: Dead president interviewed with British dude flick? Check!
All these movies were good and everything, but Milk was AMAZING! I hopehopehopehope it at least wins for Sean Penn and I would be ecstatic if i got Best Picture. If you haven't seen it because it's "a gay movie," go see it because it's "a great movie."
Yeah, I can't believe they snubbed Clint.
How on earth did "Let the right one in" not get a best foreign language nom from either the globes or the academy?!? This was the best film I saw all year and I saw pretty much all the movies which dominated the nominations. Glad to see Melissa Leo get a nod as well as 'Trouble The Water'. Slumdog was good but easily the most overrated of the year.
Also, snubbing Bruce for "The Wrestler" but giving noms to that trite Peter Gabriel crap?!?
Call me crazy, but I'm surprised The Dark Knight didn't get a nod for best picture. It could easily replace Ben Button or Frost/Nixon.
Okay, you're crazy. Outside of Ledger, there wasn't any notable acting or writing, and the plot and subtext were rather predictable action hero movie formulas.
I don't disagree with you, but what was really notable about Frost/Nixon?
I wouldn't know, I haven't seen Frost/Nixon. I wasn't trying to defend why the academy nominated the films for best picture that it did, I was just defending why they didn't nominate The Dark Knight.
As always, the eminently clueless Neil Rosen was doing his predictions on NY1 this morning... he actually said that he expected Heath Ledger to "take home" the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Jesus, dude. How long did you have to prepare your comments...ohhh, a couple of weeks? What a retard.
Ha! Thanks for posting the link to the "Curious Case of Forrest Gump" above - Love it !!!
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1d76506803/the-curious-case-of-forrest-gump-from-fgump44#player
"And the award for Best Idiot goes to George W Bush, who for 8 years played the role of a mentally challenged man struggling to lead his nation of mentally challenged people" (sound of thunderous applause, followed by loud THWACK as GW slips and falls off stage)
"And the Oscar for Best XXX Facial goes to..."