THE OSCAR NOMINATIONS ARE IN!!!

And here... we... go...

BEST PICTURE

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”


“Frost/Nixon”


“Milk”



“The Reader”



“Slumdog Millionaire”



BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

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”



BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”

Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”


Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”


Meryl Streep in “Doubt”


Kate Winslet in “The Reader”


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

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”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams in “Doubt”

Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Viola Davis in “Doubt”

Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”


Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

BEST DIRECTOR

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” David Fincher

“Frost/Nixon”, Ron Howard

“Milk”, Gus Van Sant

“The Reader”, Stephen Daldry

“Slumdog Millionaire”, Danny Boyle

The rest of the nominees can be found here

And what are my thoughts on the nominations this year?

@@#$@$%@#%!%$@#$%!!!!!!

and then some.

Well actually I've calmed down a bit now from the shocking news that not only did the Oscars snub THE DARK KNIGHT for best picture, but also for both best director and best adapted screenplay.
To be honest, when I first viewed the film earlier last year, I did not believe that in a million years would it be nominated for Best Picture. A Best Supporting Actor would have sufficed (which it did eventually get). But the fact is, over the last few months, the movie has grown tremendous momentum, nabbing nominations in all three guilds (DGA, PGA and SGA) as well as getting nominated for a number of Critics Awards. What surprises the most isn't that it was snubbed, it was that they replaced it with a little known film The Reader which is barely scoring a 60% in Rotten Tomatoes. It's a mediocre film that revolves around an Oscar-favorite theme- the holocaust.

What frustrates me the most is that ten years from now no one will ever remember what the heck The Reader was but The Dark Knight is already a genre-transcending sensation. To be honest, Dark Knight will go on into legendary status without a nomination, plenty of films have done the same. But a nomination would have really made this such an exciting race, and the Oscars would finally have been able to embrace a genre that it has shun from the very start. Now that they've kicked it out of the race, they probably signed their own death certificates. Last year's awards garnered the lowest audience in its entire history because all its nominees were little-known films. Now that they've taken the 500+ million dollar grossing Dark Knight out, they've left themselves the same problem and failed to answer the growing questions on whether they are still relevant to the views of the rest of the world.

Thing is the Oscars are not accurate, they haven't been for some time, and they always seem to ignore some of the best achievements in filmmaking, The Dark Knight simply is the latest and probably the bigges travesty in recent memory. It's alright though, The Oscars needs the Dark Knight more than the Dark Knight needs the Oscars.

Make no mistake, I don't want The Dark Knight to win, despite how it would please my inner fanboy. In fact, even if nominated I'd still place my bets on Slumdog Millionaire. But a dark entry would have shaken up the race considerably (3/4 of people in a poll revealed that they'd watch the Oscars if Dark Knight was nominated) and proven that the Oscars are still relevant.

And now that they've shunned what would probably be the best bet in embracing the superhero genre, they've dammed themselves into chaos. At least the Joker would have been pleased.




My predictions on the Oscars to come next week! Wait for it then! For now, I've seen only 2 of the Best Picture nominees: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (a thoughtful and deep look into the human psyche) and Slumdog Millionaire (probably the most heartwarming and orginal tale to come in recent time). They're both amazing, Slumdog Millionaire in fact is so good it's making me rethink my number one pick for BEst Film (THe Dark Knight). No mean feat I can assure you. Well until next time!!!


-Kevin Ang