the obligatory Oscars post.

Film So to the obligatory Oscars post. As ever, I haven't seen any of the nominated films (with one exception) so the following predictions are based on stuff I've read online, in magazines and personal bias.

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

I rewatched Sunshine recently and to my mind its as good a science fiction film as any of those which inspired it and it only confirmed my opinion that Danny Boyle's one of our great directors. For that reason alone...

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

Mickey Rourke, for Diner.

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

For her Golden Globe speech. Despite all of the crowing, she experienced the kind of mental lapse I'm increasingly becoming afflicted by. For a whole week I couldn't remember Ross Kemp's name, not that I'm saying that's a bad thing you understand.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Because it's the film I have seen and he was extraordinary and should have received the award himself if he was still with us. He completely subsumed himself in the character and was unrecognisable.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Because she's Penelope Cruz and it's the nomination for a Woody Allen film for the first time in ages, though I think Marisa Tomei will get it in the end -- like As Good As It Gets, it'll be in the acting categories The Wrestler will get the respect. Marisa was very laid back about the whole thing. She was interviewed by Simon and Mark on Radio Five Live this afternoon (podcast here) and had literally just been woken up by a friend to tell her, having slept through the announcements.

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

See above.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
WALL-E

I have a good feeling about this.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Because more plays should be turned into films. Or something. Also, since Michael Sheen was once again snubbed. What does the man have to do? They can't be holding his outrageous overacting in the Underworld series against him can they?

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

PIXAR. Also, no Waltz With Bashir?

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

British and whatnot.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir

There it is.

BEST ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Because it somehow created a Gotham City which was entirely realistic and recognisable yet also very other.

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

It's Brad Pitt. He's old, he's young, he's short, he's dancin'.

EDITING
Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Lee Smith, The Dark Knight
Mike Hill, Dan Hanley, Frost/Nixon
Elliot Graham, Milk
Chris Dickens, Slumdog Millionaire

Entirely arbitrary, though I suspect that real work had to go into the cross cutting between the two different stories, of Nixon and Frost.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Those vistas. IMAX.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Danny Elfman, Milk
James Newton Howard, Defiance
Thomas Newman, WALL-E
A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

I have nothing to say about this other than you should listen to this on Spotify right now (especially the Cantina Band). In case you're wondering what Spotify is, look here. Once complete, it's going to revolutionise music. How else could I also point you to this instrumental track that shares the title of one of the nominated films? More tomorrow.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth,” from WALL-E (music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, lyrics by Peter Gabriel)
“Jai Ho,” from Slumdog Millionaire (music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar)
“O Saya,” from Slumdog Millionaire (music and lyrics by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam)

More Spotify links above, with one to YouTube for Gabriel. I like Jai Ho very much; to my untrained ears it sounds like a rather good fusion between the kind of western pop perpetrated by Timberland with the Bollywood sound.

MAKE-UP
Greg Cannom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Caglione, Jr, Conor O'Sullivan, The Dark Knight
Mike Elizalde, Thom Floutz, Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Because it'll probably go to Benjamin Button. There's a theory apparently, that the academy voters hardly ever vote for something which looks obviously like make up unless it's to make a human younger or older.

COSTUME
Catherine Martin, Australia
Jacqueline West, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Michael O'Connor, The Duchess
Danny Glicker, Milk
Albert Wolsky, Revolutionary Road

Because you can never have enough corsets. And that's all I'm going to say about that.