The Electoral College process is a diffucult and complex thing to grasp but it isnt the half of what the Academy Awards have become. With the thousands or so votes tallied the nominations are in and "The Curious Case of Benjermin Button" has scored big with 13 nominations including the Best Picture and i have yet to see it. Dont know why but I havent. A intersting point to note is the last 20 years the Film with the most nominations wins the Best Picture award but history may be changing with only 2 films in the last 5 years to do so. There were some small suprise I thought and a few major snubs.
Now I have only been paying close attention for the past few years to Award season and i have learned a few things, like Comedies get NO Love and Neither do Anamated films no matter how well they did in the box office. On that note the one suprise to me was Robert Downey Jr. receiving a nodd in the Best Supporting Lead Role in the comedy Tropic Thunder another film that i need to get out to see. Rest asured that I have only missed a few films on these list and i will be seeing everyone before Feb 22 show.
In what i thought was the biggest snub of the year was the the great Clint Eastwood didnt receive any nominations for his acting in the great movie Gran Torino nor did it receive any nominations for anything. I thought that it was a shoe in for a Best Picture nod for sure. But i have been known to be wrong in the past. Eastwood's film the Changling which is another excellent film received only one nomination for Best Actress for Angelina Jolie in which i feel she will be the clear winner in that one.
Here is the complet list of all the Awards with an * designating my pick for the winner.
And the nominees are:
BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Frost/Nixon(Universal)
Milk (Focus Features) A
The Reader(The Weinstein Company)
***Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
***Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)
This next catagory is a tough
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLEJosh Brolin in "Milk" (Focus Features)
Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)
**Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)
**Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks)
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" (Sony Pictures Classics)
***Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)
Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Meryl Streep in "Doubt" (Miramax)
Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams in "Doubt" (Miramax)
***Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in "Doubt" (Miramax)
Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)
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 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
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Bolt(Walt Disney)
***Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount)
WALL-E (Walt Disney)
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.) David Fincher
Frost/Nixon (Universal) Ron Howard
Milk(Focus Features) Gus Van Sant
The Reader (The Weinstein Company) Stephen Daldry
***Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Danny Boyle
Go Slumdog Millionaire !!!!!!