Oscar Noms Announced!

The Oscars are like my Super Bowl. Well, no, wait. The Super Bowl is my Super Bowl (Go Steelers!), and the Oscars are my fancy-dresses-pretty-men-cry-during-your-acceptance-speech-and-I'll-cry-with-you bowl.

So here are the nominees in the biggest categories and my predictions (disclaimer: the only nominated movies that I saw were The Dark Knight and Wall-E. I am a SUCH a mom).

Best Picture

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

Prediction: Slumdog Millionaire seems to be the darling of the whole world.

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

Prediction: Hmm, tough call. Sean Penn seemed to have it in the bag until Mickey Rourke came along. But Oscars do tend to give their long-suffering nominees their due, so I'm going to call this one for Sean.

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

Prediction: Heath Ledger. Duh.

Best Actress

Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie in The Changeling
Melissa Leo in Frozen River
Meryl Streep in Doubt
Kate Winslet in The Reader

Prediction: I think this will be the year that Kate Winslet finally FINALLY gets her Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in Doubt
Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis in Doubt
Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler

Prediction: Hmm, another tough call and no real shoo-ins. I'm going to say Henson for Benjamin Button in an upset.

Best Director

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

Prediction: It seems like too safe of a bet to make, but traditionally the best director and the best picture go hand in hand, so I'm going to say Danny Boyle.

Best Animated Feature

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Prediction: Um. Wall-E.

I would make predictions about screenplays but I really haven't heard enough about any of them. But this a good list to get us started. Who has other predictions? Better yet, who has something resembling a life and has seen more of these movies than your poor, suffering MamaPop betch?

Comments

[jodifur]

I used to live for the Oscars. Made sure I saw every movie before the awards. Then I had a baby. I haven't seen one of the movies before the awards in three years. I'm pitiful.

[rebecca]

i gotta agree on the slumdog millionaire thing...apparently it is BEST MOVIE EVER, though i doubt i will get a chance to see it before the oscars due to Anchorage having 1 (1!) theatre that plays non-mainstream. or Milk, because WE IS CONSERVATIVE. WE NO LIKE THINGS THAT IS DIFFERENT. (Seriously, Brokeback Mountain was in theatres for like, a week, and that was AFTER it won a slew of awards.)

[JellyBean]

Sean Penn already won an Oscar for Dead Man Walking. I am betting on Mickey Rourke for that one. Everyone loves a good comeback story (see John Travolta).

[kdiddy]

Jellybean, you're right, Penn has won (though for Mystic River). I totally forgot about that. I'm changing my bet to Rourke, too, in that case.

[Pamela]

I haven't yet seen Slumdog Millionaire but almost can't imagine not being let down, because I've hard SO many good things about it. It's already in my Netflix queue anyway.

[Angela]

Ouch. I think I've done worse actually. The only ones I've seen are Kung Fu Panda and WallE.

Must start having date nights this year.

[Sarah]

Ugh, I must be a freak of nature...I think Slumdog Millionaire is rediculously overrated. My husband and I saw it last weekend...cute movie? Yeah. Inventive storyline? Yup, I'll give them that. But Best Picture??? I just can't believe it!! My husband feels the same. The love story is 100% cliche...and don't get me started on the woman-as-perpetual-victim theme that runs throughout.
I had such high hopes going in, because I hadn't read one bad review, or even a mediocre one! Everyone's in looooooooove with it. *shrug* It's now my mission to find others out there who feel the same...we CANNOT be the only ones!

[jacki]

I really loved Slumdog Millionaire. Sure the woman-as-victim is cliche, but consider the life they were coming out of. Human trafficking and sex trade is still very much a reality. That didn't detract from the story as much for me as grown-up Salim did. He looked like Vinny Chase from behind, and a toad from the front.