Best motion picture of the year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire
SHOULD WIN: Slumdog Millionaire

Blame it on the economy or whatever excuse you want — the unrepentantly joyous and optimistic Slumdog Millionaire has struck a chord with America. The little film that could is snowballing (it has won 20-something critics and award show awards this season) toward a Best Picture win and more power to it. The Reader takes the proverbial “It’s-An-Honor-Just-To-Get-Nominated” slot that should have been The Dark Knight’s, and Frost/Nixon and Milk haven’t generated nearly enough momentum for a win. Slumdog’s only competition comes from Benjamin Button, which, while highly respected, hasn’t moved enough viewers to take the coveted #1 spot. Plus, Slumdog director Danny Boyle won the Directors Guild Award, and in 52 of the last 58 years, the DGA winner’s film has won the Oscar for Best Picture. Slumdog takes the night — it is written.

Achievement in directing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: David Fincher
Frost/Nixon: Ron Howard
Milk: Gus Van Sant
The Reader: Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire: Danny Boyle

WILL WIN: Danny Boyle
SHOULD WIN: Danny Boyle

Daldry won’t win because his film won’t win, Howard shouldn’t be on the list to begin with, and Van Sant will have to be satisfied with being the deserving dark horse. This is a race between Fincher and Boyle. Admittedly, Fincher had the harder job. But Boyle made it look easier…and a lot more fun. Plus he won the DGA award.

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

WILL WIN: Sean Penn
SHOULD WIN: Mickey Rourke

This one comes down to Rourke and Penn. The others are just (very talented and, for the most part, very deserving) seat holders. Either man could take it. Both deserve it. Will the Academy, composed primarily of actors, give it to Penn for years of sterling performances or Rourke, who, in a single film, managed to wipe away decades of bad will? I could be wrong, but I think Penn will win it by a nose. In a year in which Slumdog’s hopefulness is resonating across the ballot, Milk and, by extension Penn, should benefit over the darker, sadder Wrestler and Rourke.

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

WILL WIN: Kate Winslet
SHOULD WIN: Anne Hathaway

All but Winslet and Streep might as well stay home and watch the telecast in the comfort of their own living rooms. See if you can keep this all straight — Kate Winslet is nominated as Best Actress for The Reader at the Oscars, even though she won the Supporting Actress award for the same role at the SAGs and The Golden Globes! Meryl Streep won SAG’s Best Actress award but was beaten for the same honor at the Globes by none other than Kate Winslet for her role in Revolutionary Road. As if that weren’t confusing enough, Anne Hathaway tied Streep for Best Actress at the Critic’s Choice awards and actually leads both Streep and Winslet for total awards this season! But unless there is a vote split, she won’t be on that stage. Academy voters, who have nominated Streep 15 times (she’s won twice) may find themselves tempted to give someone else a turn, namely Winslet who has been nominated six times but has never won. And thus, Ricky Gervais has the last laugh.

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

WILL WIN: Heath Ledger
SHOULD WIN: Heath Ledger

It’s not because he died, it’s because he gave the best supporting performance of the year. Period. However, there isn’t a sour apple in this bunch. Each of these men did an extraordinary job. I am particularly glad the Academy recognized Shannon and Downey.

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

WILL WIN: Viola Davis
SHOULD WIN: Viola Davis

This was a particularly rich category this year. Yet certain favorites still manage to rise to the top, especially with no Winslet in competition. The names getting the most buzz are Cruz and Davis. While Cruz is probably a safe enough bet, I wouldn’t count Davis out. She may have only been on screen for a few minutes (it worked for Judi Dench) but they were devastating minutes (and played against Meryl Streep for goodness sake!) I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Davis will pull off an upset.

Best foreign language film of the year
The Baader Meinhof Complex: Germany
The Class: France
Departures: Japan
Revanch: Austria
Waltz with Bashir: Israel

WILL WIN: The Class
SHOULD WIN: N/A

Sadly, I was not able to see any of the films nominated in this category. While Baader Meinhof has been getting a lot of buzz, word on the street is, this is The Class and Bashir’s statuette to lose. While hyper-creative, the animated Bashir may turn off more conservative voters who wonder why an animated film is nominated here in the first place, pushing Class to the front of the, well, class.

Best documentary feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

WILL WIN: Man on Wire
SHOULD WIN: Man on Wire

I was only able to see a couple of the fantastic nominees for best documentary feature, though I am confident that Man on Wire will take home the prize. It’s the Slumdog Millionaire of the documentary genre — jaw-droppingly beautiful and buoyed by billowing optimism. If there’s a dark horse, it’s Trouble the Water or Encounters at the End of the World.

Best animated feature film of the year
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

WILL WIN: WALL-E
SHOULD WIN: WALL-E

Hard to beat something that was doubtless considered a possible inclusion for Best Picture. This one is as sure as the results for Best Supporting Actor. That said, the other two nominees were surprisingly good. The Annie Awards, the industry’s highest prize, gave their best pic award to Kung Fu Panda! Might some be getting tired of Pixar’s dominance and perhaps even frustrated at the disappearance of 2-D animation?

Adapted screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Doubt: Written by John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon: Screenplay by Peter Morgan
The Reader: Screenplay by David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire: Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire
SHOULD WIN: Slumdog Millionaire

Oddly enough, films based on erudite plays don’t do as well in this category as one might think. Although Frost/Nixon and especially Doubt could pull it off, I think that this one belongs to Slumdog. Slumdog has won nearly a dozen more critics’ awards for Adapted Screenplay than its closest competitor, Frost/Nixon. The rags to riches story may not be the most literate of the bunch, but the fact that it successfully spans 15+ years, while bouncing back and forth in time, and cannily never once loses its audience speaks to how impeccably it is woven together.

Original screenplay
Frozen River: Written by Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky: Written by Mike Leigh
In Bruges: Written by Martin McDonagh
Milk: Written by Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E: Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

WILL WIN: Milk
SHOULD WIN: In Bruges

As much as I loved WALL-E, I don’t feel it deserves to be nominated — it’s hard to argue for best original screenplay when more than half the film consists of beeps and chirps — even if it did have a great narrative message. Mike Leigh is so good he basically always gets a nod whenever he puts pen to paper. Milk will take this one, and while it was a terrific screenplay, its traditionalism lacked the dark volcanism and brutal hilarity that powered the phenomenal In Bruges.

Achievement in cinematography
Changeling: Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight: Wally Pfister
The Reader: Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
Slumdog Millionaire: Anthony Dod Mantle

WILL WIN: The Dark Knight
SHOULD WIN: The Dark Knight

Changeling is too traditional and The Reader, while sumptuous, lacks that extra special something. Richly realized Ben Button is in excellent shape as is the color kaleidoscope that is Slumdog Millionaire. And while it may yet go to Millionaire, the best-lensed film this year was The Dark Knight, which should deservedly eek out a win. Sorry Roger — you know I love you.

Achievement in film editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
The Dark Knight: Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon: Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
Milk: Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire: Chris Dickens

WILL WIN: Lee Smith for The Dark Knight
SHOULD WIN: Lee Smith for The Dark Knight

Will the kinetic energy of Slumdog prevail or will the violent clashes of The Dark Knight pull away? While Slumdog certainly owes a lot to Dicken’s timing — enough to warrant a win — Knight’s Lee Smith’s is just that much better. Unless the often confusing fight scenes hamstring it just enough…

Achievement in art direction
Changeling: Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight: Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
The Duchess: Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road: Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

WILL WIN: Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo for Benjamin Button
SHOULD WIN: Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo for Benjamin Button

Capturing turn of the 20th century Southern Gothic, frostbitten Russia and everywhere in between pretty much guarantees a win for Ben Button. While Changeling, Revolutionary Road and The Duchess recreated their time periods with exacting detail, Button managed to be both a snapshot of a time and place as well as imagine its world as one touched by a magic that sets it aglow in a way the others simply can’t touch.

Achievement in 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

WILL WIN: Michael O’Connor for The Duchess
SHOULD WIN: Michael O’Connor for The Duchess

West may win for making Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchett look extraordinary no matter what time and place they occupied in Benjamin Button, but The Duchess’ O’Conner may pull an upset here based on his scrumptious hats alone.

Achievement in 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

WILL WIN: Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
SHOULD WIN: Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz for Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Certainly Benjamin Button’s Greg Cannon deserves a ton of credit for aging the films leads forwards and backwards. But, as extraordinary as that was, most of his job was done at a computer workstation and not in front of a dressing room mirror. For sheer magnitude, creativity and opulence, you just can’t beat del Toro’s Hellboy sequel.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (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

WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman
SHOULD WIN: Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman

This is always one of my favorite categories. I’ve been collecting scores for years. This year, the winner will not be the sweeping orchestral or the powerfully dramatic, it will be given to the film with the score/soundtrack you just can’t get out of your head — the addictively effervescent Slumdog Millionaire. All of that might have changed, however, if the Academy hadn’t left off one of the most incredible scores in recent memory, The Dark Knight.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from WALL-E: Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire: Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire: Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

WILL WIN: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire
SHOULD WIN: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire

With two of three nominations, Slumdog Millionaire is the clear favorite. But don’t count out Gabriel and the infectious “Down to Earth.” Still, with songs as upbeat as the film in which they appear, Slumdog’s music should take it by a nose, particularly “Jai Ho,” if the Academy doesn’t mind awarding a song without a word of English.

Achievement in 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

WILL WIN: Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood for WALL-E
SHOULD WIN: Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood for WALL-E

There are some worthy nominees here, but Ben Burtt should have this one locked up. For nearly an hour, we sat entranced while two robots communicated, not with words but with chirps and beeps. The undisputed master of his field, Burtt outdid himself here.

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

WILL WIN: The Dark Knight
SHOULD WIN: The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight deserves this victory. Or is it for Sound Editing? I always get those two confused. Fess up, you have a hard time keeping these two straight too!

Achievement in visual effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
The Dark Knight: Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
Iron Man: John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

WILL WIN: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
SHOULD WIN: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Normally, something like Iron Man would walk away with an award like this, but while Benjamin Button may not employ superheroes, dinosaurs, tidal waves or explosions, it does make us gasp with awe at the late 40-something Brad Pitt who, at one point in the film, looks to be no older than when he stared in Thelma and Louise nearly two decades ago. And that doesn’t count the massive amounts of CGI you don’t even “see” in any given Fincher film. Anyone who can pull that off deserves some gold.

Best live action short film
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

WILL WIN: Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
SHOULD WIN: Auf der Strecke (On the Line)

Best documentary short subject
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306

WILL WIN: The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306
SHOULD WIN: The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306

Best animated short film
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory – Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

WILL WIN: La Maison en Petits Cubes
SHOULD WIN: La Maison en Petits Cubes

© Copyright 2009 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.