Frost/Nixon is the best movie of the year and is not conventional Oscar bait stuff, especially in a category with Milk, Benjamin Button, and Slumdog Millionaire. You're using the wrong word. Frost/Nixon is based on a play, is centered around the making of a political interview, and is impressive for leaving Nixon's legacy up to the audience (he is neither a hero nor a villain).

I would argue that Benjamin Button stole TDK's nomination, not The Reader. WB had the challenge of campaigning two uber blockbusters...and it chose Button over TDK.

Finally, if $500m won't do it, nothing will. So let's stop using box-office numbers as a rational. OK, Lecter?

2nd most nominations ever, tied with Gone With The Wind, From Here To Eternity, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, and wait for it, FORREST GUMP.

I do think people kind of need to get over themselves a little bit with the threats of "Boycott!" and "Suicide!" and "OHhhhmyygahhhhhhhh my life is over."

I mean, the movie was FABULOUSLY successful and will be remembered for years to come. The Academy is not the be all-end all of everything.

for Benjamin Button definitely not deserved. But I think the nominations is what they are awarding it because it's going to come out almost empty handed come Oscar night.

Actually Sam, Benjamin Button will probably win the most awards of the night, even if that tally comes from misc. categories. We'll see.

I think we'll see slumdog win 5 or 6 though, no?

Picture
Director
Screenplay
Song
Editing
Maybe a sound award, probably not.

Studios wage hundreds of thousands into Oscar campaigns. You really think Paramount's Oscar marketing was independent of WB when they knew way back in October that both films could be competing for the same spot? Uhuh.

But Button could easily walk away with...

Costumes
Cinematography
Score
Art Direction
Visual Effects
Make-up

and maybe Editing, with Slumdog taking the rest, but that's a stretch. In fact, I'd go as far to say that Button will probably win all of those except Score (which could go Wall-E or Slumdog too... I dunno).

If Hensen wins Best Supporting Actress early, we'll know Button is sweeping.

which ones other than makeup?

I feel like Slumdog's editing is too flashy to lose. Fuckin' Bourne won last year.

the phone sequence was pretty silly, which means it'll win the Oscar.

The big winners I see are:

Slumdog Millionaire: Picture, Director, Screenplay, Song, Editing (5)

Benjamin Button: Costumes, Art Direction, Make-Up, Cinematography, Visual effects (5)

I tend to think that it's Milk's award in Original Screenplay to lose.

Score could go to SM, BB or Wall-E

Sound categories could go to Wall-E. At most, I think Wall-E will win 3.

So Score is the category that swings to Slumdog or Button getting the most wins.

In a better world, Nixon would win Adapted Screenplay (it's the best of the crop), Slumdog would win Score and all of the Bp nominees would walk away with...

Slumdog: 5
Button: 5
Frost/Nixon: 1 (Screenplay)
Reader: 1 (Actress)
Milk: 1 (Original Screenplay)

Also, I haven't seen The Visitor yet but it's really nice to see such an underappreciated character actor like Richard Jenkins getting his moment for once.

He should've gotten a nomination for North Country three years ago.

regardless of the inner workings of the plot, the movie is essentially about a guy who dresses up as a bat and gets taken seriously. That alone makes it way less conventional than something like Slumdog.

No. Fuck the Academy.

Who's doin' all of this?

You know who won't be happy with the noms?

The people who are financing Oscar night.

VERY HAPPY! My five favorite films of last year -- Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Defiance, In Bruges, and The Reader -- were all nominated for at least one Academy Award. Three are up for Best Picture.

I do wish Leo had been nominated, though. I hope he still shows up to the ceremony, if only to root for Kate.

Only thing I'm pissed about is Button getting 13. That's a dark stain on nomination tally history.

It's a bad year for Best Picture nominees. As bad as when Crash won? Considering what didn't make it in, it may be even worse.

I agree.

The top two best reviewed films of the year were Wall E and The Dark Knight, but because they're animated and "comic book" movies, they can't be considered as Best Picture. The snobbery of the Academy always wins (which is how snoozefests like "Chariots of Fire" win against "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Meh. The Reader really kinda fucked everything up. I would have loved to see The Wrestler, RevRoad, Gran Torino and maybe even *big gasp* Wall-E get in before The Reader. And I even liked it.

It's so out of the blue that I don't think it has even fully registered in my brain that it's a BP nominee. Seriously. Like when I think of The Reader and I think of Best Picture together, my brain gets kinda confused. It's like it doesn't want to sort it into that category. Again, I'm not dishing on the movie... it's that it was so unexpected.

I can't believe The Dark Knight didn't get nominated. I think to me it was almost as big a surprise as The Reader getting nominated.

Most of the acting noms were fine. I would really have preferred Eastwood or DiCaprio over Pitt but whatever. Kate should have been nominated for Revolutionary Road which makes Michael Shannon's nomination even more bizarre.

I think I have been pretty unfairly negatively vocal about Sally Hawkins and truth be told, I would trade in the Happy Go Lucky screenplay nod to give her one instead. She was good in the movie. My main issues were with the movie itself. I don't think it deserved that screenplay nomination AT ALL... especially over The Wrestler.

Anyone have a nomination tally for all the films?