Thursday, February 19, 2009

And the Oscar Goes To? (Revised)

I put the nominees in order that I like best and want to win in *the first eight categories* and an asterisk by the ones I think will win. I'll repost this Sunday night and highlight the winners. I saw most of the movies but not all of them and didn't have an opinion about a few. I can't decide between Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet and keep changing my mind. Supporting actress is close for me, too, but Viola Davis's performance was powerful, and she held her own with Meryl Streep. Of all the movies I saw, I can't forget her character.

There are some great movies this year and some amazing performances. Some of the categories I don't pay attention to and don't really know much about them. I saw only one of the original screen play movies, so I don't know about that. Did any of you see more of them than Milk, the one I watched? I liked Bruce Springsteen's song for The Wrestler and wish it had been nominated. I don't know the title but it had a line about a one-trick pony in it.

There are articles saying that Melissa Leo might win for Best Actress. I haven't seen Frozen River and don't know, but this article lists several reasons it might happen. Politics plays a part in the Oscars just like it does in everything. As we all know, you can never tell how people will vote!

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

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

*BEST ACTOR*
Sean Penn, Milk
*Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

*BEST ACTRESS*
Meryl Streep, Doubt I keep being undecided about this.
*Kate Winslet, The Reader
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling

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

*BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS*
Viola Davis, Doubt
Amy Adams, Doubt
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
*Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

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

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

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
*WALL-E

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory — Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

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

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

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

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

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306

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

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
*The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

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

BEST ORIGINAL 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

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"Jai Ho," Slumdog Millionaire
"O Saya," Slumdog Millionaire

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

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

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

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Love it when you provide these lists. for globes I got a list and kept it on my screen while watching awards. this time, I'll copy a list, maybe this one, and check the winners as they come up so I'll remember.

RookieRuggerLSU said...

I'm sorry - I cannot jump on the Slumdog Millionaire bandwagon. I tried watching it and I couldn't get past the first 15 minutes. I still say Milk should win for Best Picture. Also, as much as I like Kate Winslet, she should not get Best Actress - that should go to Meryl Streep for Doubt. Of course, this is just my humble opinion :)

Wonder Man said...

it should be a good night for TV

#Debi said...

So I have to ask, are you thinking Heath Ledger because he was that good, or because he is poor, dead Heath Ledger?

the dogs' mother said...

We are such bad movie people but we do find movies to watch by seeing what stuff is at the Oscars. When we were in college we went to two movies a weekend and, before kids, we'd always go on the weekends. The girls talked us into Netflix so we might actually be more in touch.

Joy said...

Did you see the movie, Debi? He took that role places it's never been. No, absolutely not because he's dead. My goodness! He was that good and would have gotten these awards if he were alive. I don't do sympathy votes and raved about Heath Ledger back when I first wrote about the movie.

Welcome, Rookie! I appreciate your commenting! We all have our opinions, and I could go either way with Best Actress. They were both excellent.

Slumdog picked up momentum as it went along and came together really well. This was a good movie season, so several of them could win it except for Benjamin Button, I hope. I wasn't that impressed with it. Yes, Milk was wonderful and so was Doubt. Revolutionary Road and The Reader, too. Did you read my reviews?

Bob said...

Joy,
love your picks.
I thought you were going Micky Rourke with your love of the movie, but I agree with your pick of Sean Penn.
And I agree about Kate Winslet (Brit Streep) although anytime my girl Meryl is up, I want her to win.
And Viola Davis was breathtaking. Onscreen for less than ten minutes and you can't forget her!
Heath Ledger is a shoe-in because he was brilliant in that part.
Loved it!
Of course, I can't do anything about the 'Slumdog' business since I haven't seen it, and I'd much prefer 'Milk,' but we'll see.

Dan said...

I think Milk will beat out Slumdog, at least that is my hope.

Joy said...

I would be fine with any of those except Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon win. I'm glad F/N was nominated, but the others were all exceptional.

Joy said...

Bob, Mickey Rourke was wonderful in that, but I hadn't seen Milk then. Sean Penn is one of the best actors around today and was just amazing as Milk.

Kate or Meryl! Both are the best and both gave outstanding performances. It could be a tie but has to be one of them.

Mistress Maddie said...

JOY- Thank you so much for the list of movies for the Ocsar night line up! I'm a big old movie whore and I could watch movies all day. Now , if I could just find a job that paid me to watch movies all day! I didn't see many of the movies this year, but a couple. AMC is running all their movies that won, or were nominated so I've been watching them. Last night they had on My Fair Lady,one of my favorites. I must admit, I am a fan of movies from yester year compared to the newer counter parts. Although their are some stand outs. Ok . I babbled too long. I'll be back soon :)

#Debi said...

Joy, I haven't seen the movie and was wondering if this was to be a sympathy nomination for the Academy as well. It's good to know that he was just that good. He was one of my favorite actors, and it's a bloody shame that he won't be there...

RookieRuggerLSU said...

I have to say I'm not on the Heath Ledger bandwagon either. Do I think he did an amazing job? Yes. However, he is in the WRONG category. Seems to me he was just placed in this category so he would win. I also think most people rooting for him to win are doing so because of "poor Heath" - Let's not forget he OD'ed on drugs, he didn't die from a terminal illness or tragic accident. Personally, Best supporting Actor should go to Josh Brolin or Philip Seymour Hoffman (in that order ha!).

Joy said...

Obviously, many people don't vote for these awards based on the person's private life, or Mickey Rourke, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, and many others wouldn't win anything.