Whoa, Did Oscar Actually Get Some Things Right?

Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com:

Wow. I was not that excited about the Oscar nominations (full list with my predictions and picks below) this year for some reason, hence why I didn't bother doing predictions since I thought it was going to be very obvious choices popping up this morning, but it wasn't really! (I wasn't even going to do a post, and it's early morning and I only have a few seconds but I'll update this again later with more thoughts after I have time to digest the noms. I'll also eventually get my Best of Movies 2008 list out, obviously already very late, but I'm still catching up)

Seems like a lot of the critics picks actually made it through.

Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road in Best Supporting Actor.

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor in Best Actor.

Melissa Leo for Frozen River in Best Actress.

The Reader for Best Picture.

NICE! I'm actually impressed.

I mean I can get nitpicky and wished that Wall*E replaced The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons or that Sally Hawkins (for Happy-Go-Lucky) got the spot Angelina Jolie took (though really it's because Leo go the slot. Only one no-name per list I guess). I would have loved to see more people from The Visitor get nominations but I knew that was never going to happen so just having Jenkins make it through is pretty cool already.

No The Dark Knight. Wow. Only one popular movie into the Best Picture category this year and I think it's heading towards a Slumdog Millionaire win. If we weren't in a recession, TDK might have had better chances.

Gus Van Sant (for Milk) and Stephen Daldry (for The Reader)!

Interesting to see Kate Winslet get the Best Actress nom for The Reader and not Revolutionary Road (with no nom for Leo) since she won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. UPDATE: Low Resolution makes a great hypothesis that Kate could have gotten nominated THREE times but because you're not allowed to be nominated twice in one category, and in two categories for one role, she may have cancelled herself out.

Original Screenplay noms for Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges and Frozen River!

Here is the full list of nominations. Bold is my prediction. *** is my vote. * is my second choice (Though I haven't seen The Reader yet)

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

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
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

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

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E ***

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River , Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh *
Milk, Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter ***

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
The Reader, David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight *
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road ***

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight *
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire ***

COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button *
The Duchess
Milk ***
Revolutionary Road

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters At The End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness - From The Balcony Of Room 306

FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk *
Slumdog Millionaire ***

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir

MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button *
The Dark Knight ***
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

MUSIC (SCORE)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk, Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman ***
Wall-E, Thomas Newman *

MUSIC (SONG)
"Down to Earth" - WALL-E *
"Jai Ho" - Slumdog Millionaire ***
"O Sava" - Slumdog Millionaire

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
La Maison En Petits Cubes
Lavatory - Lovestory
Okatapodi
Presto
This Way Up

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Auf Der Strecke (On The Line)
Manon On The Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E ***
Wanted *

SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight ***
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted *

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight ***
Iron Man