The 2009 Oscars

The nominees for the 81st annual Academy Awards were announced Thursday morning. I’ll give the list of the nominees for the best/coolest categories as well as little note and a prediction on who takes home the Oscar.

Best Picture: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk," "The Reader," "Slumdog Millionaire."

No real surprises here. Benjamin Button fell one nomination short of the record 14 earned by Titanic. It probably wins here.

Best Actor: Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; Sean Penn, "Milk"; Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

The one glaring snub of the awards: No Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino. But then again, I don’t know who you’d take out. Maybe Frank Lengella or possibly Richard Jenkins. Rourke, Pitt and Penn are the favorites here. I say Pitt takes it in a Benjamin Button sweep, although outside of his voice he didn’t do too much acting, in terms of walking and moving in the film (see below).

Best Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"; Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"; Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"; Meryl Streep, "Doubt"; Kate Winslet, "The Reader."

Weird that Kate Winslet won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Reader, but her is nominated for the real deal. She also won a Globe for best Actress in Revolutionary Road. I say the sixth time is a charm for Kate, who has never one in five previous nominations.

Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk"; Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"; Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"; Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road."

Love every single nominee here, except for Michael Shannon who I don’t even know. Also love Robert Downey Jr. being nominated for a role in a comedy. That’s what you get when you play black. This has to go to posthumously to Ledger though – and you should be outraged if it doesn’t.

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, "Doubt"; Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"; Viola Davis, "Doubt"; Taraji P. Henson, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler."

Again, this is going to Taraji Henson probably. Not to be boring, but this really is shaping up to be a Benjamin Button sweep. On a side note, Marisa Tomei is still very hot. And she’s very naked throughout The Wrestler.

Best Director: David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"; Gus Van Sant, "Milk"; Stephen Daldry, "The Reader"; Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire."

It would seem that if Button wins Best Picture than David Fincher wins Best Director. Still don’t sleep on Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) sneaking in for his work in Milk. It does have that gay angle. Although that turned out to hurt Brokeback Mountain.

Best Makeup: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Dark Knight," "Hellboy II: The Golden Army."

Lil award for the boys. Dark Knight should win this one. C’mon you saw the Joker. But I watched a whole special on what they did to Brad Pitt in Button. They filmed him with a whole new face just making movements with his mouth, then put the face on an old man stand-in’s body and dubbed in his voice. He basically shot the movie from a chair. Don’t know if that’s remarkable or with be detrimental in this category.

Best Visual Effects: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Dark Knight," "Iron Man."

The Dark Knight, hands down. Did any other movie explode off the big screen like this one? The stunts were so huge and real. They really flipped the mack truck, the BatPod was a real bike invention, and they literally blew up everything in Gotham. Unreal.

---Nick