81st Annual Oscars

[FArting]

Congrats to Slumdog Millionaire for winning Best Picture. I recommend this movie to everyone.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Winners in red.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

* Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
* Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year

* “Bolt” (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
* “Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction

* “Changeling” (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
* “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
* “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography

* “Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design

* “Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
* “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
* “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Ron Howard
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature

* “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
* “Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
* “The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
* “Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
* “Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject

* “The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
* “The Final Inch” A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
* “Smile Pinki” A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
* “The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306” A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Achievement in film editing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year

* “The Baader Meinhof Complex” A Constantin Film Production, Germany
* “The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
* “Departures” (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
* “Revanche” (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
* “Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

Achievement in makeup

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
* “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
* “Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

* “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
* “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
* “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

Best motion picture of the year

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production,Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
* “Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer

Best animated short film

* “La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
* “Lavatory - Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
* “Oktapodi” (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
* “Presto” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
* “This Way Up”, A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best live action short film

* “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
* “Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
* “New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
* “The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
* “Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank

Achievement in sound editing

* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Richard King
* “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
* “Wanted” (Universal),Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
* “Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
* “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
* “Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

* “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
* “Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
* “In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter[/QUOTE]

 

[Mulli]

Huge Yackman, you are now my nemesis.

 

[D-Dogg]

Oh no, Mulli.

I loved Wolverine hosting it. I loved the new format. I enjoyed this Oscars more than most of them. It's usually such a boring, corny show.

Being able to fastforward through lots of the speeches and the best score/song stuff was also a good addition to my experience. Also, since I enjoy musicals (i know, mancard) I liked the musicals medley..a lot.

And finally...finally for Kate Winslet.

 

[Mulli]

Oh no, Mulli.

I loved Wolverine hosting it. I loved the new format. I enjoyed this Oscars more than most of them. It's usually such a boring, corny show.

Being able to fastforward through lots of the speeches and the best score/song stuff was also a good addition to my experience. Also, since I enjoy musicals (i know, mancard) I liked the musicals medley..a lot.

And finally...finally for Kate Winslet.

The guy sold out on the musical numbers, but I don't think he can sing. Praised be Allah for the ability to fastforward.

Found it interesting that the whole show appeared to be geared for a certain demographic who watch a lot of project runway, like musicals...not that there is anything wrong with that

 

[Gaddabout]

I had no horse that in that race. I was merely satisfied that Downey was nominated for Tropical Thunder. I had been guessing I would be the ONLY person on the planet with the balls to suggest he deserved a nomination for that role. I was stunned when the Academy agreed with me ... guess they showed me they're not as politically correct as I thought they were.

I remember there was some resistance when Ben Kingsley was nominated for Ghandi ... another white guy playing a man of color. But Downey's character just embraced that silliness and he knocked that role out of the park. He made that movie something much more than it was.

 

[abomb]

Oh no, Mulli.

I loved Wolverine hosting it. I loved the new format. I enjoyed this Oscars more than most of them. It's usually such a boring, corny show.

Being able to fastforward through lots of the speeches and the best score/song stuff was also a good addition to my experience. Also, since I enjoy musicals (i know, mancard) I liked the musicals medley..a lot.

And finally...finally for Kate Winslet.

I liked him as host too. I wish they would move the lesser Oscars, specifically Sound, Visual Effects, etc to the technical Oscars and really cut the entire broadcast to 2.5 hours. Still so much fat in that sucker and I am not talking about all the fat that Seth Rogan lost (!). I wonder if jenna still loves him.

Loved Sean Penn's acceptance.

 

[Gaddabout]

I liked him as host too. I wish they would move the lesser Oscars, specifically Sound, Visual Effects, etc to the technical Oscars and really cut the entire broadcast to 2.5 hours. Still so much fat in that sucker and I am not talking about all the fat that Seth Rogan lost (!). I wonder if jenna still loves him.

Loved Sean Penn's acceptance.

This whole show reemphasizes the self importance of people in that industry. You'd think they'd just cured cancer. Instead they spent six weeks pretending to be someone else, and got paid as if they had, in fact, cured cancer. Penn's Academy sort of violates my requirements for great acting. He was imitating a real person, someone that had LOTS of video archive. This is not the same, IMO, of extrapolating an entirely fictional character no one's ever seen before and turning something interesting on film.

It's a big reason why I root for movies like Slumdog Millionaire and for true film artists like Aronofsky.

Side story on Aronofsky: Back in the mid-90s 60 minutes did a special report on the rise of indie film and they picked five young directors attempting to make their first feature film. Aronofsky was one of them and he was in the process of completing Pi. He sounded VERY PESSIMISTIC about the whole process.

Then Pi finally came out on video and his career got a minor push. That was one of the best movies of the decade ... a grainy black-and-white film with a challenging narrative and a very complex plot line. It's taken him years to move beyond the pure artistic value of his movies and make things that relate to a broader audience. The Wrestler, I hope, is his is one big step forward.

 

[Mulli]

the "conversational" style of the past winners talking straight to the nominees was too much. How embarassing for the nominees.

 

[abomb]

It's a big reason why I root for movies like Slumdog Millionaire and for true film artists like Aronofsky.

Side story on Aronofsky: Back in the mid-90s 60 minutes did a special report on the rise of indie film and they picked five young directors attempting to make their first feature film. Aronofsky was one of them and he was in the process of completing Pi. He sounded VERY PESSIMISTIC about the whole process.

Then Pi finally came out on video and his career got a minor push. That was one of the best movies of the decade ... a grainy black-and-white film with a challenging narrative and a very complex plot line. It's taken him years to move beyond the pure artistic value of his movies and make things that relate to a broader audience. The Wrestler, I hope, is his is one big step forward. He's following this one with The Watchmen, so I have high hopes his style can have an impact on where the industry is going.

I show the director of Watchmen to be Zack Snyder. How is Aronofsky involved?

He is a fantastic director and I cant wait to see The Wrestler.

How about Dustin Lance Black?!? What a storyline at the Oscars!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_Lance_Black

Such a courageous young man.

 

[D-Dogg]

the "conversational" style of the past winners talking straight to the nominees was too much. How embarassing for the nominees.

LOL...I loved that as well. It was nice to have all the nominees be honored for the acting awards, by members of the club they were hoping to join. It seemed much more important that way, and even though four of them lost each time, all of them were given respect and congratulated on the mastery of their craft.

Since I was really hoping Mickey Rourke would win, I felt it was nice that at least he got some more recognition during the broadcast.

Embarass them...I'm all for it.

It is one of the elements that I really enjoyed a great deal.

We will never tailgate the oscars together, Mulli.

 

[Gaddabout]

I show the director of Watchmen to be Zack Snyder. How is Aronofsky involved?

You are right. Aronofsky was originally attached. I didn't know he got unattached. Changed my post.

His next big film, sadly, is apparently a RoboCop remake.

 

[Renz]

Pretty unremarkable, for the most part. Slumdog winning everything made it pretty boring and anti-climactic, other than the Best Actor/Best Actress awards.

I called it before the show that Penn wouldn't be able to get through his speech w/out mentioning Obama. That was weak, but entirely predictable. Penn mentions Obama, but not Robin Wright? What a tool.

 

[Ryanwb]

As a parent, there is no way I would have been able to hold it together like Heath Ledger's family did.

 

[Mulli]

As a parent, there is no way I would have been able to hold it together like Heath Ledger's family did.

No kidding! Man, it got kinda dusty/smokey in my living room during that.