And the nominees are...

The way overrated Benjamin Button leads with 13 nominations

Best Picture
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
* “Frost/Nixon”
* “Milk”
* “The Reader”
* “Slumdog Millionaire”

Best Actor
* Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
* Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
* Sean Penn in “Milk”
* Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
* Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

Best Actress
* Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"
* Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
* Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
* Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
* Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

Best Supporting Actor
* Josh Brolin in “Milk”
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

Best Supporting Actress
* Amy Adams in “Doubt”
* Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
* Viola Davis in “Doubt”
* Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
* Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

Complete list of nominees

Never would've expected 8 nominations for Milk. Unfortunately I think it might win for screenplay and nothing else. It's easily the best of the Best Picture nominees (I'm not counting The Reader, cuz the trailer of that was enough for me, thank you -- Holocaust erotica, lovely).

My votes would go to "Milk," Penn and Anne Hathaway, and the winners will be "Slumdog," Rourke and I guess Winslet.

Hurrah that the pretentious Batman movie was dissed, if only "Frost/Nixon" and the glitzy Mumbai fairytale had been...

I have not seen all the nominated films but "Milk" and "WallE" are my choice for the most satisfying films of the year.

I haven't seen The Reader yet. Of the other 4, only Milk and Slumdog are worthy. I'd rather have seen WALL-E and The Dark Knight nominated.

I still have not seen Benjamin Button, so I can't comment on its 13(!) nominations.

Very happy for Slumdog Millionaire. I was surprised that The Reader snuck in for a best picture nomination. I thought I was the only person that liked that movie (I also thought it looked great... and it nabbed a cinematography nom). Glad that Kate Winslet didn't cancel herself out, and her Revolutionary Road (suprise nom for Michael Shannon as the mentally disturbed man who tells the truth that nobody wants to hear) perf may help her win for The Reader (which I didn't think was outstanding, but she deserves an Oscar for her many wonderful roles). I'm surprised that Sally Hawkins (who won the GG) didn't get a nomination; Springsteen similarly won the GG, but didn't get a nom for his song from The Wrestler. Best Actor is the toughest category, with the best perfs; Best Supporting Actress is a toughie based on the size of the roles (Viola Davis was tremendous, but only in 2 concurrent scenes). Glad that Clint wasn't nominated, nor Gran Torino (nothing against him personally, but just wasn't good enough). All the talk of The Dark Knight or Wall-E getting a best pic nom were for naught. Glad that The Dark Knight was snubbed, as I thought it wasn't all that.

I see that Danny Elfman's nominated for the score for Milk

he's never won an Oscar? I thought he had

I still haven't seen all the major nominated films (haven't seen Benjamin Button, The Visitor, Changeling, Frozen River, Australia, Tropic Thunder, Iron Man, In Bruges, Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, none of the documentaries or shorts; plan to see BB and The Class soon-ish), but I'm going to go ahead and post my picks. These are not who I think will win, but who I would vote for. I'm undecided on some categories either because I need to think about them more, or I haven't seen enough of the nominees.

Actor in a Leading Role: MICKEY ROURKE, THE WRESTLER
Actor in a Supporting Role: HEATH LEDGER, THE DARK KNIGHT
Actress in a Leading Role: KATE WINSLET, THE READER
Actress in a Supporting Role: VIOLA DAVIS, DOUBT
Animated Feature Film: WALL-E
Art Direction: THE DARK KNIGHT
Cinematography: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Costume Design: THE DUCHESS
Directing: DANNY BOYLE, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Documentary Feature: TROUBLE THE WATER
Documentary Short: undecided
Film Editing: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Foreign Language Film: WALTZ WITH BASHIR
Makeup: BENJAMIN BUTTON
Music (Score): A.R.RAHMAN, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Music (Song): JAI HO, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Best Picture: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Short Film (Animated): undecided
Short Film (Live Action): undecided
Sound Editing: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Sound Mixing: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Visual Effects: THE DARK KNIGHT
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Writing (Original Screenplay): MILK

Edit: since this post I have seen Benjamin Button and Trouble the Water, and have updated some categories.

Finally saw The Reader. I think it was better than Benjamin Button and on a par with, if not better than, Frost/Nixon, but still falls short of Slumdog and Milk.

YouTube of Hugh Jackman showing off his guns and getting ready for the Oscars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRjPaTUD3N4

Maybe it's just me but there seems to be zero buzz for this years Oscars. The winners have all seemed to be preordained (Slumdog, Winslet, Ledger and Cruz seem to be mortal locks and Penn or Rourke will win). Usually I or one of my firends have an Oscar party but nobody is doing one this year.

Might be more that the economic turmoil is weighing heavy on peoples' minds. Hence, less buzz & parties. Just a thought...

Yes, I can imagine there will be less jewels on display given the economic crisis. Rather than being so concered about "Who are you wearing?" there will be other interesting stories. The child actors from Slumdog Millionaire are on their way to Hollywood. Given their story (some of them still live in the slums and have never been on an airplane or out of their country), the Mumbai terroist attacks, and the economy which will dial down the glamour, it will be good to have some wide-eyed kids walking the red carpet (just watch out for Angelina, kids--she might adopt you on the spot!). And given that 2 of the nominated songs are from Slumdog (and sung in Hindi--unless new mother M.I.A. plans to show up), Indian food should be on the bill of fare at Oscar parties. Pass the naan!

I'll have to ask my ex. He actually works for Wolfgang Puck & he's been CRAZY busy for months organizing/preping all of the gastronomic consumption(s).

Toronto Star: 100 Reasons to Watch the Oscars

1. You can't wait to hear Jerry Lewis offend six to eight different races, religions and sexual orientations when accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

30. The tiny, tiny, yet real chance that Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie will meet on the red carpet.

49. It's always exciting to see who just made it in under the wire for the "In Memoriam" segment.

67. Maybe Josh Brolin will call Russell Crowe an ass**** again.

100. It's Sunday night in the middle of the winter during a horrible economic downturn. What the bleep else do you have to do?

Lol! Gotta love these too:

I finally got around to seeing two of the five films nonimated, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire. Since I have not seen the other three films I reserve judgement on those. But of the two I did see, my choice would be for Slumdog. I thought the film was revealing of India's continued class system in the 21st century. The juxtaposition of squalor and exploitation, with the enduring quality of humanity trying to overcome it was given another venue from which to observe.

I saw the film this evening and was surprised that the theater was pretty full considering it has been out for a while. It was interesting to see at the end how everyone stayed for the credits which reminded me a bit of the Thriller music video.

Check out the interview of Boyle that I posted earlier. I think you'll enjoy it.

Has Slumdog lost in any category it was nominated in yet?

Only in Sound Editing to "The Dark Knight"

I love how the acting categories are being presented this year- very classy- and you can tell how unbelievably touched all of the actors (male and female) are.....

Love the lighting and effects-

Hugh is just a classy guy.... a little too many show numbers, but overally- he is just a classy, understated guy.

I like the idea of how they are presenting the acting nominess but the fawning speeches were just too much. I mean, they're actors...they didn't cure AIDS or cancer or solve the Middle East crisis.

So glad Sean Penn won and I thought his speech was great.

Too many awards for Slumdog Millionaire which is way overrated IMO.

Was glad to hear Milk's screenwriters(?) acceptance speech and that it was on early enough to reach its intended target, young gays who may be doubting themselves. It was a moving speech.

I agree with the Sean Penn choice. His speech was right on target. Let's hope it helps opens the minds of the straight and narrow.

I liked the way acting awards were presented, too, and also thought the gushing was over the top. If they just had the past winners announce them, I'd be OK with it, but the overdone praise is just that...overdone.

And while Ben Stiller poking fun at Joaquin Phoenix was a great schtick, I felt it was extremely disrespectful to the category (cinematography) and the nominees that it was supposed to be celebrating. It was supposed to be about their craft, and them, not be an aside that was trivialized by Ben Stiller's routine at that point. I even felt the winner for Slumdog Millionaire gave as polite a "f*çk you" to him in his acceptance speech as he could by putting his head down and saying "I find that very inspiring, Natalie and Ben" as politely and sarcastically as possible. Why not have a sketch routine like that for best picture, or best director? Way to treat an important part of film-making like $hit...hope he's proud of the laughs he got.

I doubt Sean Penn will change many minds. To the hard-core haters he's just, to use his words, a Commie homo-loving son of a gun.

The presentation of the acting awards was beyond pretentious. So long and drawn out it was ridiculous. The opening number started slow but finished well. The montages were mostly a waste, as was the "musicals are back" number. I liked the James Franco-Seth Rogen film a lot.

Well, acting is always a bit pretentious. LOL What I liked about it was that in most of the cases, the actors were genuinely touched. It was different... it dragged a bit, but it added a nice touch- truly an honor to be nominated.

I loved Anne Hathaway all night. She was terrific in the opening number- a surprising voice- and was terrific with Timy Gunn and throughout the show. I hope she is in Hollywood a long time. Although I wish Shirley would have mentioned Brokeback Mountain as part of her excellence.

I thought Queen Latifah looked beautiful from a distance, but the closeup of the dress wasn't as pretty- and why was Reese Witherspoon wearing the miniature version of the same dress?

The show was OK overall, with some interesting new wrinkles.

I liked when they had 5 past winners present the acting nominees, although I agree that the speeches were too fawning and wish they speeded them up a bit (and added a clip--the Oscars are one big commercial for the movie industry and they really need to promote the films, as the latest Madea movie made more in a weekend than the entire runs so far of each of: Milk, Doubt, The Reader, The Wrestler, Rachel Getting Married, Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road, etc.)

The salute to movie musicals number was horrible.

I was very happy for Kate Winslet and Sean Penn ("You Commie, homo-loving sons-of-a-gun... I know how hard I make it to appreciate me ... often"), and Dustin Lance Black (screenwriter for Milk) gave a very good speech.

Most of the winners were expected, although I was surprised Departures won for foreign-language film. I was pulling for Waltz with Bashir.

I thought Slumdog Millionaire was very deserving.

Can we put Heath Ledger to rest now? He should have won for Brokeback Mountain when he was alive. All this fawning now that he is dead is a bit much, no? Was his death more sad than Paul Newman, say, who's food products raised so much money for charity and was so much a part of the Hollywood community?

And thank you Jerry Lewis, for such a short speech for your humanitarian award. But why was Eddie Murphy the presenter?

Tim Gunn's questions on the red carpet were insane. To Kate Winslet: "Are you more nervous about winning or tripping on your dress?"

I wonder (but doubt) if Heath would have even been nominated had he not died. The Academy usually steers clear of these action/superhero movies.

I'm guessing they had Eddie Murphy present because he starred in the remake of the Nutty Professor. And I don't think I'll ever get used to the phrase "Academy Award Nominee Eddie Murphy".

Tina Fey and Steve Martin were a riot (they should host next year!) and Seth Rogen and James Franco were almost as good. The Ben Stiller as Joachin Phoenix bit was pretty good though a bit disrespectful to the nominees in the category that he presented.

And the musical numbers were a trainwreck. Note to Hugh Jackman...the musical might have been back but I think you and Baz Luhrmann may have just killed them again.

There's really nothing like 8 Oscars to prove what a colonialist, pandering piece of crap Slumdog is.

The funny spoofy opening number was GREAT -- Jackman and Hathaway's "Frost/Nixon" was MUCH better than that film -- but the entertainment totally died after that.



This was AWFUL. It's an Oscar, not sainthood.

#1 idiot camera move of the night: cutting away from Jerry Lewis at the end of his speech AS SOON AS HE STARTS PULLING FUNNY FACES! AAAARRRGGGH!!!

The honest, moving acceptance speeches from "Milk" screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and actor Sean Penn.

I love reading all the bitter comments about the ceremony, here and elsewhere. News flash: it's the same predictable, sloppy, overwrought mess every time. If you didn't like it last year, you won't like it this year. Nobody's making you watch.

Exactly!!! Its the Oscars. Its Hollywood's night to fawn over itself, and its the culmination of the awards season.

It is a trade show with Botox.

Meh. But at least it's more exciting than a regular season baseball game.

Then why do they televise it? They can fawn over themselves without being on TV.

And why does no one else put on something other than reruns up against it? I'd have watched Family Guy and Desperate Housewives instead of the Oscars, but neither show was on. DH, of course, wouldn't have been on anyway seeing as it's an ABC show; none of the Fox shows were on because they had a NASCAR race, I think.

If they're going to televise the Oscars, it's incumbent upon them to make it as entertaining a show as possible. Otherwise, they deserve to get ripped for a lousy show.

And half the fun is ripping on it. Also to whoever said it's the same thing every year...no it isn't. Sure every year people complain about so-and-so winning or not winning but in terms of the quaility of the show, you didn't hear it as much when Billy Crystal hosted. Or way back when Johnny Carson hosted. Plus the show used to be looser. Now the actors and presenters seem to get more self-important every year and the endless salad-tossing by previous winners of this years nominees was douchechill enducing.

I quite liked this years ceremony. I thought Hugh did a very good job with the hosting gig and liked the way the acting awards were presented. Was the show long and occassionally over the top, sure it was, it is every year. Unless you have never seen an Oscar show before you knew what you were going to get when you tuned in and yet you still watched.

Sorry, my comment was a little harsh. I enjoy the Oscars for what it is. I just don't understand people who whine about the ceremony every year--and not only that, but whine about the same PARTS of the ceremony every year. The winners are predictable and drab, the show is too long, it's just a big advertisement for the movie industry (duh!), the actors are arrogant and self-important, too much politics, etc. This describes pretty much every Academy Awards show! None of the above is going to change any time soon. There may be some non-tragic Oscar history back in Johnny Carson days (and I'm skeptical), but it's obviously not the case now. Again, nobody is making you watch.

I agree 100% boomer!

I think what's irksome is the people who don't watch the show and still complain about it. I was reading on Twitter and other places, all these people flaunting their lack of interest in the Oscars and how they're snubbing it. Whatever.

The people who actually sit through all 3 1/2 hours (not to mention the pre-show and red carpet arrivals) are likely people who like movies and/or celebrities and like the show. But just as one may critique a movie (even one that you like), one may critique an awards show. That's part of the fun. Like criticizing your favorite sports team when they play a less-than-stellar game.

Bill Condon, producer of the Oscars said that the show is a strange hybrid, "A theater production celebrating movies that's broadcast on TV." And it's interesting that in the last 15 years there have been 8 different hosts: Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, David Letterman, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Ellen Degeneres, Jon Stewart, Hugh Jackman. After 81 shows, the Oscars are still trying to find itself.

Excellent post canmark!

I liked the show. Jackman was a refreshing host, very nice to look at and clearly a showman with many talents. I liked the more intimate theatre in the (semi)round stage -- no predictable shots of Jack Nicholson in the front row. It was one of the first times I can't recall seeing a number of fashion disasters (though Sofia Loren needs to setp away from the tanning bed). I thought some of the film montages were eh and the musical number was a bit annoying. But, hey, it's an awards show.

This to me was worth the while watchin the Academy Awards. More than anything, @ the VERY LEAST, there are natl/intl voices that speak to our cause(s)--regardless if you disagree w/ a particular actor's opinion/activism or any other opinion you may have 'bout Hollywood's representatives. Honestly, it's great to see SOMEONE important having the f**king BALLS to "say it as it is." It's simply refreshing! Don't hate the message simply cuz of your preconceived notions/prejudices about the messenger!

No...your comment wasn't harsh at all. I totally agree.

The weakness of the Oscars is that they still give out technical awards that most people don't care about. If you cut these out the show would be a least one hour shorter. This year it was as usual a mix of the good and the bad. I'm glad a scene of James Franco and Sean Penn kissing were included in the romantic movie segment.

Penn played Milk like a mentally challenged person. This was such an undeserving nomination and win. I like Penn, but this was definitely not a movie to honor him. Rourke was totally ripped off. As for the Ledger win...if he were alive, he would not have been nominated at all. Seriously, a Batman movie, they all suck. Kate Winslet is a true actor and more than deserving of the award. Penelope Cruz, she is hot and highly underated as an actor. I would recommend seeing her in Abre los Ojos, the inspiration for Vanilla Sky. I am so glad she got away from Crazy Cruise!

"Technical awards" are for people who are vital to filmmaking. "Benjamin Button" wouldn't exist without state of the art effects, production design, makeup. If all you want to see are celebrity actors, stick with SAG and the People's Choice Awards.

"Most people" don't care -- who cares?

Plus, the Academy Awards are the one night of the year that the people in that end of the film-making business get recognition and a glamorous night out. The actors get red-carpet treatment and television appearances all year round. I'd be willing to bet the Academy Awards are a lot more important to costume designers than they are to Angelina Jolie.

It's an award presentation where people are recognized by their peers for quality work. Fundamentally award presentations are about people getting up, expressing how flattered they are and thanking the people who helped them. All the rest is an attempt to make a television event out of something that's fundamentally kind of boring for anybody who doesn't have a personal connection to the people involved. If you're bored by them, don't watch them. If there's nothing else on TV to watch, then don't watch television.

OMG I can't believe I didn't even notice it but apparently a lot of Earth Kitt's fans are livid that she was not featured in the "In Memoriam" part of the Oscars presentation that was sung by Queen Latifah. Half the people who died I didn't know but I'm sure the people in the audience did. and at the end of the day...the show is for them. It just happens to be televised to the world.

Oh and I TOTALLY agree that the publicists and sound editors and all the behind the scenes people who are influential in pulling off a movie need to be recognized as well. Its not just about actors, actresses, directors and producers. There is a real art in editing and makeup and costuming and photography etc etc etc.

<------Harvey Korman fans are upset too.

To be fair, the wondrous Ms. Kitt did not have a big film career, and Mr. Korman is best remembered for his TV work, "Blazing Saddles" aside.

I was delighted the critic Manny Farber and the great director Kon Ichikawa were included.