ITE: LeHah Lists The Oscar Nominations For 2009
 

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)

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, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
* “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
* “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

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

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

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

Not a bad list all around. Nice to see that The Dark Knight got more or less snubbed once again. Good picks for Best Actor.

I wouldn't call The Dark Knight getting 8 nominations a "snub," but the hilarious post-popularity internet hate-boner towards that movie is welcome to continue.

If anything, the biggest snub of this year's nominations goes to Kate Winslet, who somehow missed out on a nod for her amazing performance in Revolutionary Road.

Overall though, as you said, not a bad list. Slumdog is the critical darling this year and is the only real shoo-in, but I'm hoping for a few surprises. I'd love to see Milk or Frost/Nixon take best picture over Slumdog, just to fuck with the foreign press.

So it's this rumble again, huh. Nothing surprising there.

Thirteen for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? Seriously? And why would anyone be surprised The Dark Knight isn't award material, anyway. Too much Frost/Nixon. Loving the fact that Happy-Go-Lucky got the shaft. That annoying piece of poo deserves nothing.

Agreeing with sprout, DiCaprio and Winslet would've at least deserved a mention for their excellent work in Revolutionary Road, even though the movie itself wasn't anything special.

At least Milk got some love. And a great amount of nods for Wall-E too. =o

You and I and everyone else knows that no one actually gives a fuck about technical oscars. Does Joe America sit in his EZ Boy, beer in hand, wondering whos going to win for Production Design? Of course not.

Its a movie that should be hated.

No, it's a movie that you hate, and therefore should be hated, like everything else that enters your internet crosshairs.

The Dark Knight is not a bad film. Nor is it a perfect film by any stretch, like most of Earth makes it out to be. Beyond anything else, it's just a good, fun action film that's actually character driven. It's not as deep or brilliant as it thinks it is, but it's still a boatload smarter than most action films out there. It's cut from the same cloth as Batman Begins, which is good enough for me. Nolan and his team are some of the most talented filmmakers working today. Does TDK deserve all the praise it gets? Probably not. But the Oscars it got nominated for? Definitely.

Slumdog Millionaire, on the other hand, is genuinely not a very good film, and doesn't deserve to be anywhere near these nominations, but for some reason art critics these days jerk off to anything that takes place in India.

No, its a movie that thinks its intelligent, when its not. See: Halo, Battlestar Galactica, people who teach 1984 as a criticism of government.

Lets not get our hands dirty with this again, shall we? If you want to do the ol fisticuff internet routine, I can start a topic in my journal.

That'd be fine, but I think I'm still banned from the ol' e-fort ;)

That might be the worst line up for Best Picture I've ever seen.

Additional Spam:
hey did you see when The Joker made that pen disappear!? I was like HOLY SHIT

Did 2008 really suck that bad in terms of movies that they could only see a handful of movies deemed 'fit' to be nominated in nearly every single category?

I'm sure Button, Milk, Nixon are all good movies, but I remember the days where there was maybe one movie at the oscars that was nominated for more than five awards and that was it. Scanning down that list it seems this award show could just be called: "Which of these three movies wins the most? Oh and we have some other stuff too, but if Benjamin button had one scene of CG in it, oh you bet your ass we'd have it in Animated Achievement too."

Once again, not saying that the movies that were nominated more than likely don't deserve it, but I could have thought there were at least some other movies out there that didn't suck hardcore. I could be wrong though.

This would suggest that the Oscars are awarded via some sort of merit system rather than being given out on the basis of "Gifts" to the judges and an attempt to make some kind of lame political statement (Ian Mackellen was seriously upset they chose the year he was nominated to make the statement of giving a gong to a black rather than a gay by all accounts) and that anyone outside America pays that much attention to them, beyond seeing what ludicrous dresses everyone turns up in.

I still haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire or Milk out of the Best Picture list but it's a pretty weak list overall. If Milk is everything those who have seen it make it out to be, that would be my nomination because even movies that I actually liked (Like Curious Case of Benjamin Button) probably don't deserve to go up there this year.

Seriously, people? Angelina Jolie for The Changeling? That movie was awful.

I enjoyed Benjamin Button. But I don't think it's anything amazing, nor is it anything we haven't already seen.

I really enjoyed Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him walk away with the award. It'll come down to either him or Sean Penn (and the Academy likes Penn quite a lot).

I'm sure Slumdog is going to take best picture. I personally thought it was a pretty cheesy fluff movie, just set in a different country. I wonder if our romantic fluff is as well regarded overseas? :p

Josh Brolin was great in Milk. Doubt was pretty awful, and I think it's benefiting from being recently released and by having a lot of overrated actors in it (PSH and Meryl). I think Winslet is going to take the best actress for The Reader, especially since she wasn't nominated for Revolutionary Road.

And of course, WALL-E for best animated (shouldn't this be called the Disney award?)

Disney didn't do WALL-E.

Disney and Pixar are the same thing now. So yes they did.

Being a subsidiary is not the same as being an in-house studio.

Unfortunately out of the "big 3", I haven't yet seen Milk or Slumdog, only Benjamin Button---which I thoroughly enjoyed, mind you, despite :forrestgump:. Brad Pitt won't, or at least shouldn't get best actor though; from what I've seen that should go to Penn.

I'm a bit disheartened at the lack of a Cate Blanchett "Best Supporing Actress" nomination for Benjamin Button, though. The woman puts on the guise of a sickly old woman pretty well, and did her own dancing in the film (as a professional ballerina). C'mon.

And WALL-E should definitely bag a couple of awards.

I have not seen Milk or Slumdog either (unfortunately), but I can tell you I did not enjoy Button.

I've seen the story before. It wasn't an interesting story. In fact, I disliked the pacing and the execution. It was a pretty film, and both Pitt and Blanchett did well. But the film is REALLY not one of the best I've seen.

WALL-E was much much better (and more deserving), and this is coming from a person who adamantly loathes animated films. There are very few I like, and WALL-E is among them.

As for the Dark Knight, I laugh at all the nominations it's getting. The only justifiable one would be Heath Ledger as best actor, but he's dead, so there are favorites being played there I think. The DK is not something I would personally consider ground-breaking, thought-provoking, or awesome film-making. Now, I'm not an expert, and I am biased when it comes to Batman movies, but I really think it would say something for the films of 2008 if the Dark Knight got any real awards besides Heath Ledger.

If you ever think about watching Milk watch The Life and Times of Harvey Milk instead.

I think it shows how utterly lame the nomination is. Brad Renfro died last year under similar circumstances, and was a far better actor than Ledger was yet he is completely forgotten. Now people want a tribute video to Ledger during the Oscar ceremonies?

Honestly, people with any sort of self-respect need to distance themselves from this Christopher Nolan crap immedeately. Guilt by association is like a cancer, and theres a lot of idiots in terminal condition.

I agree, everyone is like "oh wow, he so totally deserves the award because he's.... dead". Uh yeah. Best thing is, he will win the award. No doubt about that.

As for the other nominations, I approve most of them. It's nice to see that Hollywood continues to reward sophisticated art instead of poor action flicks for the unemployed.

I don't know where you people get these fantastic quotes from, but I can only imagine its from the GameFAQs of the entertainment industry.

Because he's dead rite lol.

Look, everyone knows that Ledger's performance was pretty much hyped off the face of the Earth thanks to internet people like everyone here. Fact is, I don't think one single moron, genius, or average moviegoer who saw Dark Knight said, "Damn that was a great performance because he's dead." That's fucking retarded and you know it. Sure, there's plenty of tainting in the Academy Awards, but do you honestly think they would have nominated the guy if his performance (or the movie) was reviled by everybody?

Well duh, that's why Brandon Lee won so many Oscars, because Hollywood just loves the hell out of dead guys. C'mon Sprout, use your brain.

Before anyone thinks I am completely agreeing with LeHah, I'd like to state that I believe Ledger got so MANY nods because he's dead.

I don't think it's the only reason he's up there.

If you ask me (and as I've stated before), Ledger was the only reason to see that movie. This is from a chick who doesn't like Batman very much, though. I looooved his performance, but you can't say that if he was alive, he'd be getting the same acclaim.

I'm just saying it may have a PART in it. Not THE reason, but part of the reason.

I think he did extremely well in the role, and I would watch his performance over and over and over again if I could skip through the rest of the movie. Ledger made the movie worth it.

Hey, that's true, but I think the fact he's died a couple of weeks after the shooting was finished pretty much affected the discussion.

I mean, look how everyone is like "wow, he's gonna be the second actor to get awarded posthumously. Now is that spectacular or not?

Needless to say, his acting was good. Not perfect, but good. It's just that I think that people should stop making such a fuss about it.

Nobody can say that, because we'll never know if it's true.

Personally, I do think he'd be getting the same amount of nominations. It's a terrific, movie-stealing performance. People were hyping his performance long before he gave up the ghost.

Well, you'll have to pardon if this sounds glib, but for a woman who admits to not caring or knowing much about Batman, you sure do have a strong opinion on what it should involve.

I am not a Batman fanboy, but I appreciated Ledger's acting in the film. This should say something for Ledger.

I am subject to Pang's love of the Joker, however. I know more than I would like to know about Batman just by knowing Pang.

Says a chick who repeatedly claims she doesn't know a lot about film liked Ledger. That's sort of LeHah's point. Ledger's joker is shallow. It's going to appeal to the average watcher, but that doesn't make it great. And Sprout, if you honestly think Ledger would be getting this much attention if he hadn't died, you're out of your goddamned mind. You know as well as anyone how much attention was drawn when he past away, and one of the first causes listed was how he'd gone into a depression after going very dark for the role of the Joker.

But being a gay cowboy made him light as air?

Shallow compared to what, the great Jokers that have come before? What's the standard of comparison here?

I mean you've got, what. Nicholson, whose idea of acting is to grab the nearest bit of set dressing and chew it up?

Cesar Romero, who found the role too frivolous to bother shaving?

Mark Hamill, maybe, but voice alone only goes so far.

A handful of nameless fat rednecks in the old b&w serials?

It's not a perfect portrayal, by any means, but I think we all know we're never going to get anything like The Killing Joke as a theatrical release.

I'm not talking about just Batman movies, or just comic book movies. Joker was shallow in comparison to other characters in film. Ledger was actually my favourite portrayal of the Joker, I just don't think it was on par with Lecter, Hans Beckert, Cody Jarrett, Tajomaru, Goeth...

That's the thing, if you just want to talk comic book movies, Batman is decent. But if you want to talk film, it barely even rates. I don't hate the film with the passion LeHah does, but the Joker just wasn't that intriguing a villain to me. Ledger played it well, but end of the day, it just wasn't written that brilliantly.

P.S.

Yes, the animated series is probably my favourite version of Batman on TV/Film.

P.P.S.

The Cesar Romero Joker is hilarious. I think every villain in face paint needs a huge mustache.

Yeah, but how many of those characters were in 2008 films?

I don't intend to defend Dark Knight as a whole even slightly. The plot is a jumbled mess and the conclusion is a series of facepalm moments so incomprehensible that I have no idea how anyone signed off on them. I really have to believe that there will be, somewhere down the line, a director's cut that makes sense of the total inanity of the film's last 15 minutes. But that doesn't mean we have to reflexively adopt hostility to every single element of the film just because we can, as some people seem to be doing.

Is it a Great Film? Of course not.

Is it a Great Performance? It's pretty good, but it won't be remembered for more than a year or two at best.

Is it fairly decent by 2008 standards? I tend to think so. Better than "Philip Seymour Hoffman plays: himself. Again."

The whole BAAWWWW IT'S ONLY BECAUSE HE'S DEAD thing is just a ridiculous insulting canard. As I pointed out before, it's nothing new for someone to die in a superhero action film, and Brandon Lee couldn't even win a posthumous MTV Movie Award. It's absurd to pretend that there's nothing other than pity underpinning the nomination.

Like I said, I don't share LeHah's loathing of everything attached to the film.

I don't think PSH is really big on diddling boys in life. Well he might be, I don't know. Anyway, point is I'll take PSH in anything over most people. Dude is sick talented.

Didn't say it was only because he's dead, I said acting like his death didn't contribute in any way to the buzz is asinine.

A more apt question may be - was there ANY character in the movie at all? (Answer: If there is, its stolen from a Michael Mann movie)

The entire fucking film relied on Two Face falling on the floor and getting goop on half his face and then having it catch on fire but also he survives and refuses treatment. I mean, if you're going to shoehorn "plot convenience" as "character development", everyone in this thread except me must fucking love Juno.

I sincerely hope no one here lowers themself to that depth. I'd expect it from some half-wit know-nothing like Frank but Jesus Christ, we're not *all* pod people when it comes to movies, are we?

Juno is, perhaps, the best example you could have used as a demonstration of why nobody should give a tin shit about the Oscars since they're clearly distributed by idiots.

Best Writing. For HAMBURGER PHONE LOLOLOLOLOL.

You know what, under these circumstances I retract my objection. Ledger should NOT be given an Oscar, because the dead should be respected.

I was going to say the Academy Awards of 1953 but thats just me.

(The Greatest Show on Earth won Best Picture over High Noon, Ivanhoe, Moulin Rouge and The Quiet Man)

You know, I actually liked Juno. But Best Writing? Not by a long shot. I mean, it's one thing when it has a fan base and is enjoyed on that level and one thing is to elevate it to a status it clearly doesn't deserve.

I LOVE Boondock Saints too but it was a schlock mash-up that was fun to watch. That's it. Imagine what you guys would be saying now if THAT one had gone up for an Academy Award at one point.

Troy Duffy for Best Director. SUCH VISION.

Best Animated Feature is just about the lamest and insulting category ever devised by the Academy, and because of it animation will never have a Beauty and the Beast in terms of prestige ever again.

I think that the only way the Animation category is ever going to regain any of its standing is if it starts nominating GOOD films from ALL OVER THE WORLD as opposed to subpar films FROM THE U.S. ALONE.

I mean, I can't be the ONLY ONE who thinks that Persepolis should be there instead of, oh, KUNG FUCK PANDA.

Persepolis was there last year. ;)

But you're completely right.

I'm actually still thinking of the movies of last year. And I'm slowly coming to the conclusion pretty much all of these "big" pictures were more or less completely pointless show of technical talent. With the exception of Wall-E and Milk. Whch is funny because of Wall-E's main theme (protip: it's not love). Pixar put a nailgun to everyone's head this year.

Fuck you, Paco, Kung Fu Panda is a good movie.

not Persepolis good

It's a pretty good kids movie, yes. Is it BEST ANIMATED FILM OSCAR good?

No, but it's awesome for showing IN THE CHARACTER'S FACE how much fun the guys in Kung Fu movies are probably having.

I think what Acer meant is that it's unfortunate that the category exists as it does, because then the Academy can feel justified never putting an animated film up against any other, non-animated films. The way that Beauty and the Beast was. Which is not to say, necessarily, that there has ever been an animated film that has deserved it since then.

By the rules an animated film can still be nominated for Best Picture but the likelihood of the nomination passing for listing is practically zilch because of the Best Animated Feature category. And that's exactly what happened. Disney did push for a nomination of WALL-E for Best Picture and was rejected. It's a shame because it has already won or has been nominated for equivalent awards at other award outings.

Yeah. I do think, that of all animated films made since Beauty and the Beast, WALL-E had the best chance of getting back in there. Certainly it deserved to be there more than Benjamin Button, in my opinion.

I think Heath Ledger should win for best supporting role, but does anyone know if someone has ever won an oscar after their deaths before?

Peter Finch won a posthumous Oscar for Network in 1977.

But yeah. Totally. Heath Ledger for the win. TOTALLY. LIEK OMG! RIGHT?

The Oscars aren't just about giving awards to the best movies of the year. That's what the Best Picture award is for. For the most part, the Oscars are about how much an individual (or individuals) gave. Obviously, there will always be many disagreements about who deserves to be nominated and/or win. Whatever. If you're upset, there are plenty ways to complain. That's what blogs are for.

Does Heath Ledger deserve to win? Sure. He deserves to win as much as the other nominees do. If he does, good for him. I enjoyed his performance. But if he wins, it's not just because of his acting and the impact it had on its viewers, it's because of the dedication. It's what he gave to the role. It's the same for all the other nominees. Of those nominated, may the best win.

I think his tragic death did have an impact on the viewer. I'm sure everyone in the audience at one time or another said, "Damn, this is it. This is what he gave. This is his last performance." Of course, it wasn't his last performance, but not many people know that. Whether it's the case or not for you, let's not ignore the fact that people do tend to commemorate someone and their work more than expected if that someone is dead. There are so many paintings out there that became famous because its artist passed away. The same can be said about music, literature, films, even performances.

2008 was a great year at the movies. I approve most of the nominees in their chosen categories. Of what I've seen, they did a spectacular job. My only gripe? I wish Jon Stewart was hosting again. I didn't get to see him last time. Oh well, Hugh Jackman is a stud. Go Wolvie!

But he doesn't deserve to win. Cuz, you know, it was a good job, but not an Oscar worthy job. He's only there because he's dead.

I just don't understand why the Oscars are so narrowminded when it comes to handing out nominations. Yes, I realize a lot of movies these days suck, but apparently the only movies that you SHOULD BE WATCHING, according to the Acadamy, are a bunch of high-brow, drama fests that are suppose to evoke emotions that you never even knew you had.

Wall-E would NEVER get a nomination for best picture because there are *gasp* humorous parts in that movie. And it seems the only way you can get an Oscar Nod for best actor/actress is if you're either playing a gay man, an oddity of nature, or you're a wash-up.

What I find EXTREMELY odd about this process is that the only real thing outside of 'drama drama and OMG BIG DRAMA' is RDJ's nomination for his role in Tropic Thunder. I thought it was hilarious, but why was he nominated? It wasn't a serious role.

Only if you don't count The Departed, which has plenty of humorous moments. Or Annie Hall, which is a fucking comedy.

Probably because it was a pretty funny transformational performance. But o no it's not drama lolol.

Why all the hate towards dramas?

Annie Hall = dramedy

edit: Belay that. The term appears to have been appropriated and I am now misusing it. :erm:

All the hate towards dramas means that very human and very true comedies get overlooked. See "Knocked Up".

I really can't tell if you're being sarcastic. Better diss your post just to be safe.

Anyway: I'm pretty happy with the Best Picture nominees this year. The only one I had an issue with was The Reader, but four out of five ain't bad. Already got my tickets to the Best Picture Showcase at the local megaplex. :cool:

I'm sorry, but Knocked Up was just about as human a comedy as, say, Juno was.

Putting Knocked Up in the same league of shit as Hamburger Phone: The Movie is just plain retarded, I'm sorry.

Juno was a pretty good movie I dunno why you guys are all hatin on it.

THUNDERCATS ARE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!~

Juno's dramatic moments were pretty good (especially the stuff with Jason Bateman), but they were unfortunately outweighed by endless faux-clever hipster diatribes at the expense of actually being, you know, genuinely funny. Ugh... To give that script an Academy Award over something brilliant like Michael Clayton is tragic.

You can pretty much replace "Knocked Up" with any other movie and still be correct.

Seriously? What's with the hate for Juno, exactly? That "hipster" stuff is honestly how some people talk and think (not me personally, but some folks I know are quite like the people in the movie.


Seriously, I think all the hate is because she has a damn hamburger phone.


I liked Knocked Up JUST AS MUCH as I liked Juno; which is to say, a lot. I think that the Apatow film was just as worthy (if not moreso) of Oscar nomination as Juno was.



WVLF APPARENTLY HAS NO TASTE. NEITHER DO THE REST OF YOU FUCKS.

Yes, and we hate those people also.

Do we also hate people who act like Lorelai and Lorelai Gilmore?




Cuz I know people like them, too.




I like them, too.

Yes, yes we do.

And I hope for your sake you're fucking joking.

No, I'm not. Gilmore Girls makes me happy.

Also, in case you didn't notice:

So do I, but I guess living in fucktown nowhereberg made me especially identify with the movie plus its sweetass soundtrack.

Additional Spam:
This reasoning also applies to Gummo, but that was a far superior film.

Well, of course Gummo is a superior film. But then Gummo's superior to a LOT of stuff.

And Juno is inferior to a lot of stuff.

Like the common cold and forced labor.

Heath Ledger wins. Frank Langella does not. Patrick McGoohan is missing from the In Memoriam montage.

I will dash out the brains of small children onto my obsidian alter to my ancient frog god if I must undo this fucking travesty.

Can anyone explain to me why Slumdog Millionaire isn't a total piece of shit? So far, the answers I have recieved to this question are a) "I liked it" and b) "it takes place in India".

They might as well have given it to Beverley Hills Chihuahua for it's brave portrayal of the plight of the Mexican worker.

Heres the short version: 2009 was like 2000 - there was no obviously great movies, so they had to pick *something*. This is why Slumdog, much like Gladiator, won; not because they should but you had to do it with something.

But Gladiator was still better-than-insultingly-empty. This is like if the 2000 oscar went to Jim Carrey's How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

You do know that this is because Americans are retarded, right?

Luckily Maila Nurmi wasn't! Even though she died before Ledger and they remembered her only until now!

What a joke this was. Kate Winslet won an Oscar for a movie that was made in 1972 and accepted the Oscar on behalf of Jerry Lewis who starred in that movie. Even though he got his own award, FINALLY.

Sean Penn won, so at least some people had brains and didn't give that to Mickey Rourke.

And Wall-EEEEE. YES. <3

What a surprise. Sean Penn winning an academy award for doing the same thing in every movie, being a fag. Seriously, the dude is horrible and how he keeps getting Oscars is beyond me. They should create a category: " Best Ball your fists up and scream angsty Award" he should walk out with that one every year, since that's all he ever fucking does in his movies.

And this coming from you.

Christ, its like opposite day or something.

Whenever I diss a post, I do it because it's usually a joke that backfired. I've rarely dissed a post because something someone says has pissed me off enough to do so. Congratulations to dagget, the first one to say something not only incredibly retarded, but retarded enough to make my blood boil.

The actor category this year was pretty much a three-way split for me. It was a coin flip between Langella, Penn, and Rourke. I was happy seeing either of those three win. Penn's nomination, and his win, were 100% well-deserved, and anyone who denies that is simply too retarded to see why. Like so few actors are able to do, Penn transformed into the role of Harvey Milk, and didn't just become a gay guy who got shot, he became a truly memorable portrait of the man.

Christ dagget, the lack of knowledge you're displaying in that post is baffling.

There is a disturbing lack of outrage that Slumdog Millionaire (or Convenient Coincidences) won Best Picture. I mean, it's not a horrible movie, per se, but it's seriously overrated. Danny Boyle has made far better movies in the past.

Then again, these are the same people who also gave a Best Picture award to Titanic instead of L.A. Confidential so... I rest my case.

Additional Spam:
Dude. You still watch WRESTLING.

I am astonished that the internet has overlooked the most important detail.

We failed to give Skeletor an Oscar. :(

Slumdog was a great flick but I don't think it was Best Picture material. I wouldn't have even nominated it. I would have replaced Slumdog and The Reader with Doubt and Revolutionary Road. The only real shoo-ins that Slumdog had were Picture and Director. I don't think it deserved anything else, notably the fact that they nominated two songs from the damn movie and didn't even give The Boss his due for his great song in The Wrestler.

Overall I'd say the show itself was surprisingly great. Very classy, not a whole lot of bullshit. The "In Memoriam" section was completely ruined by the piss-awful camerawork. Who the fuck's idea was it to do that? Just give us a direct feed of the images, Christ.

Not a whole lot of surprises in terms of the awards. The only nail-biter was best actor.

I liked how they took 5 previous actors/actresses to fete the nominees in each category. Dunno if I was a fan of the music being played while giving the intro to each category.

"In memoriam" is the one thing I like to catch each year, and I agree that they should've just put the feed into the screen. I didn't see them honor Heath Ledger, but they gave him quite a bit of time when he won.

He was on the screen last year. As the finale of the in memoriam -bit. Instead of Ingmar Bergman. Yeah.

Don't see how that has anything to do with this, unless you think I somehow disappointed in the fact Rourke didn't end up with the Oscar or a slam on me for whatever reason which I will say this: Anyone should have got it than Penn. I have NOT seen a movie of his that "moves" me or makes me think he is a talented actor.

Maybe fag was the wrong word to be used in my post, sprout. So I apologize if that was part of the reason you got pissed at my "ignorance".

You're pushing 30.

You watch Wrestling.

I think that puts you below the fat guy whos in the comic book store every weekend, complaining about the newest World Of Warcraft updates and how all the Bond girls have sucked after Barbara Bach.

It doesn't have a lot to do with the topic at hand, really. But when you can sit and tell me that Mystic River, Dead Man Walking or Milk weren't good acting pieces for Sean Penn and couple that with the fact that you still watch badly-acted, testosterone-laden soap operas aimed at 12 year olds with autism, your posts really make sense.

Awesome, I'm the comic book guy from the Simpsons. Best. Putdown. Ever.

I just didn't care for Dead Man Walking. Mystic River, meh. I Am Sam was painful and it sorta pissed me off during the movie. Maybe you're right, I don't give Penn a "fair shake" as far as acting goes. I just don't like his movies cause it seems to be the same stuff to me. I'm not jumping in with this just to be "that asshole", I just think that some years there are more deserving people than him for Oscars and he ends up with them. It shouldn't have any effect on me whatsoever and I really don't know why I let it get to me as I do.

Also both of you DO realize that I'm not a complete shitbag and actually know the shit is scripted and fake while also tearing myself away from the stale product is has become.

No, I said you were BELOW him. At best, you're an episode of American Dad.

Oh now that actually hurt. :(

Knowing that professional wrestling is staged is almost worse than not knowing. Well, watching it in general is pretty awful, but I digress, lets get to the root of this baffling commentary: What would you consider a more deserving performance?

Well, I could mention past performances from Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Roddy Piper in roles like Suburban Commando, Doom and They Live, since that appears to be the train of thought people think I have about "good" movies and performances.

Sheepishly I will admit I haven't seen Milk, so judging that performace is really unfair of me and I'm going on past performaces I've seen of his.

I'd guess that of recent movies, Josh Brolin's portrayal of Bush in W. was deserving. Hey, I'm an avid Bush hater and the previews made the movie out to make him look stupid, so I went in saying "oh I bet that's fun." But watching the movie and how he played the part made me feel for him at times. Him wanting to do his own thing but pushed into what his dad wanted. He couldn't do anything right in the eys of others, while being taken advantage of. Say what you want but even though anyone can do Bush impressions, it takes real talent to actually get it dead on without it seeming "overdone" or "comedic".

But I guess that doesn't really answer your question at all does it. Oh well, I'll bite the bullet and say "Oh hay you guyz were right. I know nothing and will just be owned". Not like it matters really what I'd say anyway since my opinion of movies have been forever tarnished straight from my likes or dislikes. But I guess in a weird twist of sorts, I did the same thing.

Your reputation is more tarnished by your admission of having judged Sean Penn's role in Milk without having so much as seen it than anything else. That's just low.

True, but I didn't have much of a reputation anyway.

At least your positive spirit outshines those shortcomings.

After this thread? Think again.

Dagget, why don't you admit that you judge the acting you see on the screen and compare it only to the acting you see in the ring?

Penn has done a fantastic job in acting in a lot of the films he's done. Painful, honest, and excellent. I Am Sam, Dead Man Walking, Mystic River... they're all really great roles he filled more than well.

You can't tell he's faking it, unlike the wrestlers you're accustomed to. =/

Everyone is absolutely right. I was being biased and a complete fucktard. I apologize and my mouth (or hands) won't touch that certain subject again.