Awards Season - Oscar Nods far from Curious

January 22, 2009

For a year without an obvious front-runner for the Oscar race, there were not a whole lot of surprises when it came to the nominations. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations today and leading the way was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with thirteen while Slumdog Millionaire was second with ten.

The categories and nominations are...

BEST PICTURE

BEST DIRECTOR

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

  • The Conscience of Nhem En
  • The Final Inch
  • Smile Pinki
  • The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

SHORTY FILM - ANIMATED

  • La Maison en Petits Cubes
  • Lavatory - Lovestory
  • Oktapodi
  • Presto
  • This Way Up
SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION

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

MUSIC (SONG)

SOUND EDITING

SOUND MIXING

VISUAL EFFECTS

MAKEUP

FILM EDITING

ART DIRECTION

CINEMATOGRAPHY

COSTUME DESIGN

Notes and Reactions...

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was the biggest winner with thirteen nominations, including five of the most prestigious nominations. (Best Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Supporting Actress, and Adapted Screenplay.)
  • The second place film was Slumdog Millionaire with ten nominations, and with four Golden Globe wins, it could be seen as the favorite to win several of these. On the other hand, with two of the three Best Song nominations, vote splitting could cost it the win there.
  • Milk was a bigger hit that it has in the past earning nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Writing (Original Screenplay). That is in additional to the expected nominations, as well as technical nominations, for a total of eight.
  • On the other hand, Revolutionary Road lost nominations in both cases compared to the Golden Globe nods, as well as a few others compared to previous results.
  • Kate Winslet only received one nomination (for her performance in The Reader). However, that might increase her chance of finally winning because there's no vote splitting for her.
  • Frost/Nixon was not as strong as I expected, as was Doubt, which also earned five nominations.
  • The three nominations for Best Animated Picture (Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, and WALL-E) were arguably the three least surprising nominations on this list.
  • WALL-E earned six nominations, and it could arguably earned more. (Best Picture? Best Director?)
  • Heath Ledger earned yet another nomination for his performance in The Dark Knight, and one would not be amiss to think he is the overwhelming favorite for that award.
  • Richard Jenkins's nomination for The Visitor is one of my favorite nods for the day, but I still think he has nearly zero chance of winning that award.
  • Same goes for Robert Downey, Jr for Tropic Thunder. Comedy is not rewarded enough during Awards Season historically.
  • The Dark Knight earned many nods, almost all for technical awards. Given its reviews, it could have earn nods for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

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Filed under: Awards Season, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, Slumdog Millionaire, Wanted, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Bolt, Tropic Thunder, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Australia, Changeling, The Reader, Doubt, Milk, Defiance, The Wrestler, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Revolutionary Road, Frost/Nixon, The Duchess, Rachel Getting Married, The Visitor, In Bruges, Entre les murs, Happy-Go-Lucky, Man on Wire, Frozen River, Waltz with Bashir, Okuribito, Encounters at the End of the World, Trouble the Water, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex