2009 Academy Awards -- My picks

My goal is to watch every nominated film this year prior the Oscars. Hopefully I'll get to enjoy the show a bit more knowing who actually deserves to win. It's a bit of heady task, but I've got a fairly good start. I at least want to watch all the nominated films in the major categories. I'll update the blog as I watch the remaining films, but my list so far (films I've not seen colored red, my pick in blue):

Best Picture
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Frost/Nixon
* Milk
* The Reader
* Slumdog Millionaire
Thoughts: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button shouldn't even be on this list where more deserving films like The Wrestler, The Dark Knight and WALL-E could have been. It's a bit tough to call right now since I still need to see two of the nominated films, but right now, Slumdog Millionaire is the clear winner. Frost/Nixon was a very good film, but not worthy of an Oscar.

Best Director
* Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
* Stephen Daldry – The Reader
* David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
* Gus Van Sant – Milk
Thoughts: I'm still disappointed that Christopher Nolan didn't get nominated, but given the choices of what I've seen, the award has to go to Boyle. Fincher's direction was the worst thing about Benjamin Button, if he wins its for his past work, not this one. While I liked Frost/Nixon, Howard didn't really do anything all that great-- I feel this was just a token nomination.

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
Thoughts: Rourke should win this hands down. While I have yet to see Penn's Milk, it would take a lot to dethrown Rourke, who I felt gave one of the better performances of the decade.

Best Actress
* Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
* Angelina Jolie – Changeling
* Melissa Leo – Frozen River
* Meryl Streep – Doubt
* Kate Winslet – The Reader
Thoughts: Kind of slim picking here. The most talked about performances I haven't seen yet. That leaves Leo and Jolie. I really didn't like Frozen River all that much and thought Leo's performance was a little forced. Jolie did a decent job, not Oscar worthy, but for now I guess I'm forced to pick her. I'm kind of suprised that Sally Hawkins from Happy-Go-Lucky wasn't nominated, as she had a lot of buzz leading up to the nominations. I haven't seen the film, but she had to have been better than Leo or Jolie.

Best Supporting Actor
* Josh Brolin – Milk
* Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder
* Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
* Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
* Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road
Thoughts: While Michael Shannon was the only good thing about Revolionary Road, there is no doubt who this award should go to.

Best Supporting Actress
* Amy Adams – Doubt
* Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
* Viola Davis – Doubt
* Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Thoughts: Of the three performances I've seen they were all good performances, but none really stood out as a clear winner. I'm picking Cruz mostly because I liked film more so than her performance.

Best Original Screenplay
* WALL-E - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter
* Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh
* Frozen River - Courtney Hunt
* In Bruges - Martin McDonagh
* Milk - Dustin Lance Black
Thoughts: While I loved WALL-E, I think In Bruges was a bit over looked and one of my favorite films of the year. I'd be great to see it win here. That said.. How was Woody Allen not nominated this year? He is always nominated in this category and for once it was actually deserving.

Best Adapted Screenplay
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
* Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan
* The Reader - David Hare
* Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy
* Doubt - John Patrick Shanley
Thoughts: Doubt is a strong candidate to over take my choice here.

Best Animated Feature
* Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard
* Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson
* WALL-E – Andrew Stanton
Thoughts: WALL-E should have been nominated for best picture, but it will run away with best animated feature.

Best Foreign Language Film
* Revanche (Austria) in German - Götz Spielmann
* The Class (France) in French - Laurent Cantet
* The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) in German
* Departures (Japan) in Japanese
* Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew - Ari Folman
Thoughts: Still kind of disappointed that "Let the Right one In" wasn't nominated. I have a few of these films lined up to be watched, but until then I can't pick anyhing.

Best Animated Short
* La Maison En Petits Cubes - Kunio Kato
* Lavatory - Lovestory - Konstantin Bronzit
* Oktapodi - Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
* Presto - Doug Sweetland
* This Way Up - Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes
Thoughts: The only one I've seen... I plan on knocking out a lot of these shorts this weekend. Presto was good as all Pixar shorts are. I want to give the rest a fair viewing though.

Best Art Direction
* Changeling – James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
* The Dark Knight – Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
* The Duchess – Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
* Revolutionary Road – Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt
Thoughts: The best part of Benjamin Button was the art and makeup. Therefore, I'm picking it for most of the art awards.

Best Cinematography
* Changeling – Tom Stern
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Claudio Miranda
* The Dark Knight – Wally Pfister
* The Reader – Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
* Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle
Thoughts: Slumdog was beautifully shot, and the look of it stuck in my mind more than the rest of the nominated films.

Best Costume Design
* Australia – Catherine Martin
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Jacqueline West
* The Duchess – Michael O'Connor
* Milk – Danny Glicker
* Revolutionary Road – Albert Wolsky
Thoughts: I hate to pick this film for best costume, since the period films always seem to win this award... but given the subject, its only fitting that this film wins this award.

Best Documentary Feature
* Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)
* Encounters at the End of the World
* The Garden
* Man on Wire
* Trouble the Water
Thoughts: I've only seen one, but given that I thought Man on Wire was one of the best films of the year period I feel secure in picking it as best documentary.

Best Documentary Short
* The Conscience of Nhem En – Steven Okazaki
* The Final Inch
* Smile Pinki
* The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306

Best Film Editing
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
* The Dark Knight – Lee Smith
* Frost/Nixon – Mike Hill, Daniel P. Hanley
* Milk – Elliot Graham
* Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens

Best Live Action Short
* On the Line (Auf der Strecke)
* Manon On the Asphalt
* New Boy
* The Pig (Grisen)
* Toyland (Spielzeugland)

Best Makeup
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Greg Cannom
* The Dark Knight – John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
* Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Best Original Score
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat
* Defiance – James Newton Howard
* Milk – Danny Elfman
* Slumdog Millionaire – A.R. Rahman
* WALL-E – Thomas Newman

Best Original Song
* "Down to Earth" from WALL-E – Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman (music), Peter Gabriel (lyrics)
* "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman (music), Gulzar (lyrics)
* "O Saya" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman and M.I.A.

Best Sound Editing
* The Dark Knight – Richard King
* Iron Man – Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
* Slumdog Millionaire – Tom Sayers
* WALL-E – Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
* Wanted – Wylie Stateman

Best Sound Mixing
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
* The Dark Knight – Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick
* Slumdog Millionaire – Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
* WALL-E – Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
* Wanted – Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

Best Visual Effects
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
* The Dark Knight – Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin
* Iron Man – John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan