Havent seen Revolutionary Road yet – but I would love to see THE WRESTLER winning BEST PICTURE – and of course Mickey Rourke geeting the Oscar.

Kate Winslet will prolly win anyways, and of course Heath Ledger.

I am curious about the “Best Foreign Language Film” – hope it will be “Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex” but I doubt it.

Mickey Rourke, Kate Winslet, and Heath Ledger are shoo-ins for nominations. THE DARK KNIGHT will be up for several technical categories, but not for Best Picture. WALL-E ain’t happenin’, either.

What will probably be nominated for Best Picture:

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
THE READER and/or REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
possibly THE WRESTLER.

Personally, I hate BENJAMIN BUTTON being anywhere in that Best Picture category. If it gets a nom ahead of THE WRESTLER, I’m going to be pissed.

As far as THE DARK KNIGHT, I think it will receive the following noms:

Best Supporting Actor
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Makeup
Best Sound
Sound Effects Editing

and possibly-
Best Editing
Visual Effects

Four things I need to see from the nominations tomorrow:

THE WRESTLER needs to be nominated for Best Picture and Best Direction. Also, GRAN TORINO needs to NOT be nominated for either Best Picture or Best Screenplay, both of which it’s threatening to do. I also hope Clint Eastwood is NOT nominated for Best Actor.

I don’t think Josh Brolin will get an Best Actor nomination for ‘W.’ but rather a supporting one for ‘Milk’

‘The Dark Knight’ simply has to get a Best Picture nomintation…it has to!

@ Luisa – Oh no it doesn’t.

I agree with Brolin for W. as he’s was really good. Im hoping for a best picture nod for The Dark Knight as it deserves it. Rourke for The Wrestler NO doubt.
I don’t think Benjamin Button deserves a nomination for best picture as its length really hurt that film alot!
I say Clint Eastwood best actor for Gran Torino and the film itself for best picture.

chuck

All right, here it goes….

Best Picture

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (It was a better film than most will admit, and it is an “Academy Film” that was tailor made for the Oscars. It was not THE best film of the year, but it falls among the best)

-Milk (Also was a great film, although it is beginning to lose some steam with the Academy. They love their politically relevant films, and given the recent Proposition 8 debate, they will want to pay homage with this film)

- Slumdog Millionaire (Let’s face it, this will be the winner. It was a wonderful film, and it seems to be the perfect mixture of “good” and “relatively obscure” that the Academy loves to honor.)

- The Reader (again, another movie that is picking up steam, and had beautiful cinematography. You almost cannot get into Best Picture without nabbing a Cinematography nomination, which brings up my next nomination…

- The Dark Knight ( I hope I am not wrong with this one. Some people say that it does not deserve the Oscar because it is not necessarily “Oscar Calibre”. It is a superhero film, and I understand that, but the Academy often considers Box Office Smashes like Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders, and Juno for their top prize.)

Honorable mentions- Doubt (This was m y favorite film of 08, but its acting is the only thing that holds it above mediocrity) Revolutionary Road (I had hoped for this one, but the screenplay brings it to it’s knees)Frost/Nixon (Wonderful idea and great performances, but not among the best) The Wrestler ( i would have LOVED to see it for Best Picture, and it truly deserves it, but I don’t see it nominated)

Best Actor

Mickey Rourke- The Wrestler(The Academy does love to acknowledge a “comeback performance” especially one of this magnitude)

Sean Penn-Milk (I have always thought that historical characters were a cop-out, but he was magnificent, so I would not be entirely suprised if he beat out Rourke)

Clint Eastwood-Gran Torino (People on other columns of this website have spouted obscenities at Eastwood’s performance in this, and as an Actor, I advise them to look further into the craft and see that acting is not always about indicating that you are someone else by changing up your mannerisms and doing things differently (See Johnny Depp and Sean Penn). Acting is about “responding honestly to the imaginary circumstance” (See Mickey Rourke in this year’s “The Wrestler) which Eastwood did fantastically in this picture. He deserves the nomination, and even if he didn’t, the academy likes awarding “classics”. It isn’t fair sure, but it is the Academy.)

Frank Langella-Frost/Nixon (He had a great performance pure and simple. He really BECAME Nixon for me, and honestly I was hardpressed to remember what the real Nixon looked like or acted like after watching this film.)

Colin Ferrel-In Bruges (This is probably the most criticized of all of my predictions. Colin Ferrel did an excellent job in In Bruges, moreso than Richard Jenkins in The Visitor, and although I would love to include Jenkins, Ferrel convinced me hat he was an immensely tortured soul, and that is not easy to do.)

Snubs: Leonardo DiCaprio (I know he will probably beat out Colin Ferrel on my list for that last spot, but Ferrel is more deserving) Richard Jenkins (I never really thought he deserved it…he was..allright) Brad Pitt (doesn’t deserve it. His “acting” was done via special effects. i hate to be very straightforward because Button was a great film, but Pitt’s performance was done by his makeup designer and special effects artist. If you look past that, you will see nothing special.)

Best Actress

Meryl Streep- Doubt (Of course she is nominated. It is Meryl Streep, she always offers up Oscar Worthy work…next…)

Kate Winslet- Revolutionary Road (Her performance in Road was dizzying, and that “scrambled egg” scene at the end earned her this nomination, and the Globe.)

Angelina Jolie- Changeling (She was great in this film, and will get nominated, but does she deserve it? Probably not. It is the lack of great female performances this year that makes the fault of this category. Her explosions and powerful situations have given her an in in this category.)

Anne Hathaway- Rachel Getting Married (Another example of “responding honestly to the given circumstance”. She was magnificent in this film, and is running with Kate and Meryl for best Actress. It’s really a three legged tie)

Sally Hawkins- Happy Go Lucky (I haven’t seen this film yet, but have heard rave reviews, and given the lack of decent performances from the girls this time around, I must concede and go by word of mouth.)

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky-The Wrestler (Unfortunately, there are not many people who necessarily know what the directors job is. If they understood how much of a hand Darren must have played in Rourke’s success, or how hard he must have worked to make the film as heart wrenching and believable as it was, then Darren would be on the shortlist for the win.)

David Fincher- the Curious Case of Benjamin Button ( simply because he had to figure out how to make everything in that film WORK, which must have been a tiring journey.)

Danny Boyle- Slumdog Millionaire (Wonderfully combined great storytelling with magnificent acting. It must have been hard to work such great peformances out of those kids)

Christopher Nolan- the Dark Knight (Again, I hate to go with the “I hope it wins because I am a fanboy” outfit here, but Nolan did do extraordinary work here. Recreating a dying series isn’t easily folks. Dark knight had many directoral flaws, but so does any great picture, and pointing out its flaws does not make those other films any better)

Gus Van Sant- Milk ( Wonderfully directed. There were so many roads the screenplay offered the picture to go through, but Van Sant saw that only one of them would work, and that was to make us cheer for Harvey Milk, and realize his flaws, and realize exactly what we were going to see, and predict it as it unfolded before our eyes.)

Best Supporting Actor

Heath Ledger- Dark Knight (The only tragedy is that people generations from now will say that it was only because he died. That is not the case, and I am certain that if he were alive he would accept the award himself)

Phillip Seymour Hoffman- Doubt- ( The Best part about his character is that Hoffman makes it go either way. Did he do it? Hoffman is just that great.)

Michael Shannon- Revolutionary Road (His overlooked performance in Road is a travesty, as he offers the most interesting role in the entirety of the film. He was absolutely magnificent, and it is sad to think that he may be snubbed)

Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder (so much buzz around this turn is begging for a nomination, and it will most likely get one)

Dev Patel- Slumdog Millionaire (The academy has always awarded at least ONE nomination to an actor in a Best Picture nominated film. He also did fairly well, and all the hype around the film will catapault him into this spot.)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis- Doubt (Again with the acting in Doubt! She gave a heartwrenching performance that will stay in people’s minds for quite a long time. This will throw her onto an A list, and into a nomination)

Penelope Cruz- Vicky Christina Barcelona- (Again, it is a film I have not yet seen, and therefore must offer heresy from other critics)

Kate Winslet- The Reader ( Another wonderfully silent role from Winslet. Her Globe win may have given this to her)

Taraji P Henson- Benjamin Button (It was very easy to love her, and indeed her role was the only one to make me cry throught the whole film. I give her these accolades.)

Marissa Tomei- The Wrestler (She gave such an HONEST turn in this film, and although she didn’t cry, she made us cry for her, and that is what matters.)

Wow…that took a while. Thank you for your listening eyes!

@ James- Some interesting choices. It looks like we don’t disagree that much when it comes to movies LOL.

I will be quite upset if Clint manages to get the nomination you’re predicting. Squinting, growling, and looking pissed off does not necessarily equal a great performance. Name something about this character that we’ve never seen from Clint a thousand times before. Name one quality besides “irritable” that defines this cardboard character. Seriously, this is a terrible way for Clint to finish his acting career.

You’re probably right about THE WRESTLER, unfortunately. It’ll probably be unfairly overlooked by the Academy for Best Picture. It’s just disgusting that sentimental and manipulative garbage like BENJAMIN BUTTON might make it in before THE WRESTLER.

I have one more comment on The Wrestler- While I really liked the film I thought it needed at least another 15 minutes of screen time between Rourke and Tomei for there scene were she shows up at his match at the end to be truly believable.

Chuck

@ Ray…hope is the word here! Hope :) In my opinion it deserves the recognition!

Yeah…it is very sad….it’s just a shame that The Wrestler couldn’t have a better cinematographer to take it to the Final Race!

@ James- I didn’t mind the realistic/video cinematography in THE WRESTLER. I thought it fit the broken-downhard-scrabble storyline. We already know that Aronofsky can make beautiful pictures, which makes his choice here so startling and unflinching.

Can you tell that I dearly love this movie???

I know…but therein lies the rub. The academy looks down their nose at that sortof thing. It was wonderful and fit the movie perfectly, but I am trying to remember the last time a movie filmed like that made it into the races. If yo u can think of one alert me, because I’m actually thinking about it and can’t think of one.