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Oscar nominations thread

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Gary Whitta

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They come out tomorrow morning 8:30 EST... anyone want to make any wild-card predictions?

I think Best Picture is going to be very predictable, but I'm making a prediction for The Dark Knight (not that much of a long shot really, I guess) and just for fun I'll go waaaaay out on a limb and say... WALL-E.

UPDATED WITH NOMS:

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
(Paramount and Warner Bros.) A Kennedy/Marshall Production; Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
"Frost/Nixon"
(Universal) A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment
and Working Title Production; Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
"Milk"
(Focus Features) A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production; Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
"The Reader"
(The Weinstein Company) A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production; Nominees to be determined
"Slumdog Millionaire"
(Fox Searchlight) A Celador Films Production; Christian Colson, Producer

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)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh 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, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

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" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
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) Chris Williams and Byron Howard
"Kung Fu Panda" (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount) John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Andrew Stanton

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
"Changeling" (Universal) Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
"The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films) Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
"Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage) Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
"Changeling" (Universal) Tom Stern
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Claudio Miranda
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
"The Reader" (The Weinstein Company) Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Anthony Dod Mantle

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
"Australia" (20th Century Fox) Catherine Martin
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Jacqueline West
"The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films) Michael O'Connor
"Milk" (Focus Features) Danny Glicker
"Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage) Albert Wolsky

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

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)" (Cinema Guild) A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
"Encounters at the End of the World" (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment) A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
"The Garden" A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
"Man on Wire" (Magnolia Pictures) A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
"Trouble the Water" (Zeitgeist Films) An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"The Conscience of Nhem En" A Farallon Films Production Steven Okazaki
"The Final Inch" A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
"Smile Pinki" A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
"The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306" A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Lee Smith
"Frost/Nixon" (Universal) Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
"Milk" (Focus Features) Elliot Graham
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Chris Dickens

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
"The Baader Meinhof Complex" A Constantin Film Production; Germany
"The Class" (Sony Pictures Classics) A Haut et Court Production; France
"Departures" (Regent Releasing) A Departures Film Partners Production; Japan
"Revanche" (Janus Films) A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production; Austria
"Waltz with Bashir" (Sony Pictures Classics) A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production; Israel

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
(Paramount and Warner Bros.) Greg Cannom
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Universal) Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Alexandre Desplat
"Defiance" (Paramount Vantage) James Newton Howard
"Milk" (Focus Features) Danny Elfman
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Thomas Newman

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman; Lyrics by Peter Gabriel
"Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman; Lyrics by Gulzar
"O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyrics by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"La Maison en Petits Cubes" A Robot Communications Production; Kunio Kato
"Lavatory - Lovestory" A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production; Konstantin Bronzit
"Oktapodi"(Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L'école de l'image Production; Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
"Presto" (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production; Doug Sweetland
"This Way Up" A Nexus Production; Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"Auf der Strecke (On the Line)" (Hamburg Shortfilmagency); An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production; Reto Caffi
"Manon on the Asphalt" (La Luna Productions) A La Luna Production; Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
"New Boy" (Network Ireland Television) A Zanzibar Films Production; Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
"The Pig"An M & M Production; Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
"Spielzeugland (Toyland)" A Mephisto Film Production; Jochen Alexander Freydank

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Richard King
"Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment) Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Tom Sayers
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
"Wanted" (Universal) Wylie Stateman

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
"Wanted" (Universal) Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
"Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment) John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan
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I predict that if Heath Ledger doesn't get a nomination, gaf will fail so hard it will be a 600 error.
 
and the award for best picture goes to...







bman.png

...this picture of Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale!
 
The fact that Wall-E has no chance of being nominated for Best Picture just pisses me off to much to care about the Oscars this year.
 
I'll predict best picture nods for two highly over-praised movies, a terrible, hugely-budgeted retread, a mediocre comic book movie and one I might be able to muster a hearty "Eh" over.
 
My sources tell me Nolan convinced the Academy to nominate The Dark Knight for Best Foreign Film because part of it was filmed in England.
 
Slumdog will win. The wrestler will be nominated. Wall-e won't be nominated, even though it should. Neither will Dark Knight.
 
Look at any predictions site and you'll see what's going to happen. It's an extremely easy year to call.

That said, I expect at least one or two big surprises. Only one year this decade has there not been a long Best Director nominee. I'll say Aronofsky sneaks his way in over Ron Howard, but I'm not entirely confident in that.

There will probably be a couple interesting acting choices and maybe a surprise in one of the screenplay categories, but barring something crazy, Picture is set: Slumdog, Button, Milk, TDK, Nixon.

Nominees are announced at 8:38:30 AM EST, by the way.
 
The Director's Guild nomination pretty much guarantee's Nolan will be nominated. Not so sure on Best Picture for Dark Knight.

Slumdog gets the most nominations.
 
Has anyone here seen Frost/Nixon? Was it any good? It seems like the movie has barely made a blip, but it's already being considered a major contender.
 
legend166 said:
The fact that Wall-E has no chance of being nominated for Best Picture just pisses me off to much to care about the Oscars this year.
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I agree, not that I care most years these days, some of the movies nominated are just so droll compared to years past.
 
GhaleonEB said:
The Director's Guild nomination pretty much guarantee's Nolan will be nominated. Not so sure on Best Picture for Dark Knight.

Slumdog gets the most nominations.
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Nah, Benjamin Button or The Dark Knight will. Expect 10+ for one or the both of them, because of the Effects and Tech categories. Slumdog will show up in a few of them (Cinematography, Art Direction, Score), but not enough to garner the most nominations. Especially because it's chances are very low for any acting nominations - Patel could slip in, but it's not likely.

Slumdog will end up sweeping all of the major awards at the ceremony, though.
 
Based on all the movies that have been up for consideration for all these awards shows, I'll be VERY disappointed if Wall-E DOESN'T get a nod for Best Picture--it's better than EVERY movie up for Best Picture wins at other shows. The Wrestler? Fuck that. Wall-E should win.
 
Slumdog for best picture, The Wrestler for best actor, TDK for best supporting actor, Slumdog for best score, The Wrestler for best screenplay, TDK/Slumdog for best director (could go either way), Doubt for best actress.
 
All joking aside, I would be beyond thrilled to see Melissa Leo get a best actress nomination. If she does, I'll actually watch the broadcast this year; otherwise, forget it.
 
I will say that out of everything I've seen so far this year (not seen Milk, Frost/Nixon, Doubt, or The Wrestler), I think that The Dark Knight would be my personal Best Picture. I know that it has an almost zero chance of grabbing the prize, but I sure wish that it would.

Armitage said:
I saw TDK again last night and it really does not deserve a Best Picture nom. It really doesn't guys.
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I'm not a Batman fanboy at all; I legitimately believe that it was the best film that I saw last year, for a number of reasons that I could defend if prompted.
 
Armitage said:
I saw TDK again last night and it really does not deserve a Best Picture nom. It really doesn't guys.
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I think that people who are rooting for TDK as best picture haven't seen very many movies this year.

I'm hoping either Doubt or The Wrestler wins best picture.
 
Gary Whitta said:
They come out tomorrow morning... anyone want to make any wild-card predictions?

I think Best Picture is going to be very predictable, but I'm making a prediction for The Dark Knight (not that much of a long shot really, I guess) and just for fun I'll go waaaaay out on a limb and say... WALL-E.
Click to expand...


^ Wall-E is that kind of thing we can only dream of. They'll give the longshot best picture nom to dark knight, much as it saddens me.
 
Armitage said:
I saw TDK again last night and it really does not deserve a Best Picture nom. It really doesn't guys.
Click to expand...

I've seen Slumdog, WALL-E, Gran Torino. Heard Ben Button wasn't good. Still need to see The Wrestler, The Reader, Rev. Road, Frost/Nixon, and Milk.

TDK was better than all of the ones I've seen. TDK is the movie I'm going to remember for years to come. Brought up more questions, had great action, etc. That's my movie of 2008.

I mean, movies like Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark...these are popular movies that were nominated for Best Picture. Frankly, the Academy needs a movie like that for people to really care. At least that's my take on things.

(Fuck forgot all about Titanic actually winning it all...that was ridiculous...)
 
ninj4junpei said:
I think it deserves a nomination, but not a win.
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Does it, though? The only thing that really stands out about it for me is Heath Ledger's performance. I guess it fits into my top five, though, given that of movies I've seen I'd probably rank them Wall-E, Slumdog, Milk, (big gap) Dark Knight, (small gap) Frost/Nixon. But I haven't seen a bunch of the movies that came out this year, including Benjamin Button, The Wrestler, and other Oscar nominees, so... *shrugs.*
 
Unfortunately I think Slumdog will pick up a handful of undeserving nominations while I think films like Button, Wrestler and Frost will be battling it out for bulk of the other major categories.

If I had my way In Bruges would be making waves...
 
Armitage said:
I saw TDK again last night and it really does not deserve a Best Picture nom. It really doesn't guys.
Click to expand...

While I agree that it's not one of the five best films of the year (it's really not guys), AMPAS isn't actually in the business of nominating the five best movies. It's more of a combination of artistic merit and mainstream appeal. To that end, The Dark Knight is very much a Best Picture nominee.

Years in which the best film of the year actually wins are extremely, extremely rare.
 
Gary Whitta said:
They come out tomorrow morning... anyone want to make any wild-card predictions?

I think Best Picture is going to be very predictable, but I'm making a prediction for The Dark Knight (not that much of a long shot really, I guess) and just for fun I'll go waaaaay out on a limb and say... WALL-E.
Click to expand...


:lol :lol :lol
 
Armitage said:
I saw TDK again last night and it really does not deserve a Best Picture nom. It really doesn't guys.
Click to expand...

It's better than all the other oscarbaits that are primed for nomination.

To me, anyway.
 
master15 said:
Unfortunately I think Slumdog will pick up a handful of undeserving nominations while I think films like Button, Wrestler and Frost will be battling it out for bulk of the other major categories.

If I had my way In Bruges would be making waves...
Click to expand...

Loved this movie
 
Armitage said:
I saw TDK again last night and it really does not deserve a Best Picture nom. It really doesn't guys.
Click to expand...

and what? Crash does? Shakespeare in Love? Jerry Maguire? Lord of the Ring movies? You guys act like its such a high fucking standard.
 
I still can't believe Frost/Nixon has been getting nominated for Best Picture let alone Best Director. I mean the film was good, but best picture material? Come on! Ron Howard getting a director nom over Nolan for TDK is downright retarded.
 
I must be the only one here that thought WALL-E was just "OK". :lol #10 on my 2008 Top 10 list so far (and still have a lot more to see)
 
Ninja Scooter said:
and what? Crash does? Shakespeare in Love? Jerry Maguire? Lord of the Ring movies? You guys act like its such a high fucking standard.
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Exactly.

Scullibundo said:
I still can't believe Frost/Nixon has been getting nominated for Best Picture let alone Best Director. I mean the film was good, but best picture material? Come on! Ron Howard getting a director nom over Nolan for TDK is downright retarded.
Click to expand...

But that's not going to happen, so I'm not sure what the fuss is.
 
BrandNew said:
Lord of the Rings deserved Oscar noms, but Crash certainly did not.
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I'm not sure about that. They took a series of books that was largely about relationships and going places and turned it into a balls to the wall action movie with elves and shit. I thought they were serviceable movies that work well if you know the source material but miss the point completely if you had not read the books. Not bad, but certainly not great.

Crash was a steaming pile of shit though, we agree there.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
and what? Crash does? Shakespeare in Love? Jerry Maguire? Lord of the Ring movies? You guys act like its such a high fucking standard.
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Hey

Hey

Hey

LOTR deserved it. Don't lump it in with Crash, which only won because the Academy pussied out instead of giving it to Brokeback Mountain. Man that made me so angry.

(Good Night and Good Luck was my favorite movie from that year's nominees)
 
StoOgE said:
I'm not sure about that. They took a series of books that was largely about relationships and going places and turned it into a balls to the wall action movie with elves and shit. I thought they were serviceable movies that work well if you know the source material but miss the point completely if you had not read the books. Not bad, but certainly not great.

Crash was a steaming pile of shit though, we agree there.
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The books would never have worked as movies.

People don't go see hundred million dollar fantasy epics to get an opera in middle earth.
 
MIMIC said:
I must be the only one here that thought WALL-E was just "OK". :lol #10 on my 2008 Top 10 list so far (and still have a lot more to see)
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Nah, there's a surprising amount of Wall-E hate on GAF. Utterly incomprehensible to me, but it's there.

I would be stunned if it actually ends up in the Best Picture category, more stunned than if it didn't win Best Animated Feature. Yes. That stunned.

StoOgE said:
I'm not sure about that. They took a series of books that was largely about relationships and going places and turned it into a balls to the wall action movie with elves and shit. I thought they were serviceable movies that work well if you know the source material but miss the point completely if you had not read the books. Not bad, but certainly not great.
Click to expand...

I completely disagree with this. The LOTR trilogy are among the very few fantasy films that stayed true to the spirit of the original novels.
 
hey i liked the LotR movies (not as much as some, but still) all im saying is there really that much of a chasm between LotR, or stuff like Erin Brokovich (also got a best picture nod) and Dark Knight? Really?
 
BrandNew said:
Really? That's just ridiculous. Have you seen Milk? Wall-E?
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Wall-E is not oscarbait.


I've seen:

Button
Wrestler
Nixon
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog


Yeah dude I liked TDK better than all of those.

Milk...well I fuckin DESPITE Sean Penn so you couldn't pay me to watch that shit.
 
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