Oscar Nominations Announced!

If you've recovered from the stunning awesomeness of the Golden Globe awards still itching for some gold, some statues and some more nominations, then do we have some news for you. The 81st Academy Award nominations are here! Check them out below ...

Shockers!

• The Dark Knight gets snubbed for Director, Best Picture, Score
  
• Darren Aronofsky gets snubbed for Best Director
• Leonardo DiCaprio snubbed for Best Actor
• Clint Eastwood fails to get a Best Actor nod
  
• Kate Winslet doesn't get double nomination
• The Wrestler snubbed for Best Picture
• But Richard Jenkins -- yay!
• No Sam Mendes either ... wow
• Australia snubbed for Best Cinematography. The film was flawed, but come on!
• THEY SNUBBED THE BOSS FOR BEST SONG?!

Best Motion Picture of the Year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

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

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams for Doubt
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

Best Achievement in Directing

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

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Courtney Hunt Frozen River
Mike Leigh Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black Milk
Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter Wall E

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Eric Roth, Robin Swicord The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley Doubt
Peter Morgan Frost/Nixon
David Hare The Reader
Simon Beaufoy Slumdog Millionaire

Best Achievement in Cinematography

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

Best Achievement in Editing

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

Best Achievement in Art Direction

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

Best Achievement in Costume Design

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


Best Achievement in Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

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

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Slumdog Millionaire A.R. Rahman, Gulzar ("Jai Ho")
Slumdog Millionaire A.R. Rahman, M.I.A ("O Saya")
WALL·E Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman ("Down to Earth")

Best Achievement in Sound
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL·E
Wanted

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
The Dark Knight
Iron Man Slumdog Millionaire
WALL·E
Wanted

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Bolt Kung
Fu Panda
WALL·E


Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany)
Entre les murs (France)
Revanche (Austria)
Okuribito (Japan)
Vals Im Bashir (Israel)

Best Documentary, Features

The Betrayal - Nerakhoon
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306

Best Short Film, Animated

Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

Marley & Me Still Doing it

Well, there’s not much news to report this weekend at the Box Office. Thank you very much, Hollywood, for not rolling out any new wide releases and giving me (and a lot of movie fans) a free weekend to watch football on TV and stuff.

Here’s what happened at the theaters this weekend. Suffice it to say the winning streak for dogs at the box office seems to keep on rolling on:

1. Marley & Me	$24 million
2. Bedtime Stories	$20 million
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	$18.4 million
4. Valkyrie	$14 million
5. Yes Man	$13.8 million
6. Seven Pounds	$10 million
7. The Tale of Despereaux	$7 million
8. Doubt	$5 million
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still	$4.8 million
10. Slumdog Millionaire	$4.7 million

So that’s what happened at the theaters this weekend. Now I plan to resume my weekend playing pool games here in Mozambique (37ºC). See you later. ;

My Best Movies Of 2008

1. Wall-E: Easily, without question and hands down the best film of 2008. The movie is a brilliant mixture of humor, emotion and message. Never before have I seen a character so engaging, likable and emotionally investable without ever really saying a word (other than Eve a couple of times). It is the #1 critically rated film of the year for good reason.

2. The Dark Knight: Sometimes you just have give it up for the leader. And this one dominated the box office for the best of reasons: outstanding technical elements, a story that thrills and provokes and a crackerjack cast led by the cackling Joker of the late, great Heath Ledger. If only every blockbuster were this good.

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The special effects alone make you stare in wonder, as Brad Pitt seamlessly transforms from senior to newborn. But there's also grand fable and epic inspiration in this life lived backwards, with David Fincher's skilful direction pulling it all together.

4. Kung Fu Panda One of two fantastic animated films in the first half of 2008. The great thing about both animated features this year is that neither one of them relies on silly pop culture references and actually have a fun story to tell. So many animated films today think name dropping pop culture icons and mimicking them is an easy out for a source of comedy, but, as Shrek has proven, it’s an old tactic that many audiences are wise to.

5. Cloverfield I Loved it.... So what? I don't care what many critics said about it — I loved this movie!

6.Ping Pong Playa Easily the funniest movie of the last two years. It eventually hit theaters earlier this year, but barely anyone knew it even existed. It was sad to see it go unnoticed because not only does its lead actor, Jimmy Tsai, and its director, Jessica Yu, deserve plenty of praise for their skills, but it is literally one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

7. Tropic Thunder I certainly was skeptical when I heard that Ben Stiller was directing himself and Jack Black in a war comedy, and then there was that whole business of Robert Downey Jr. in black face, which got a lot of "what the ?!?!" reactions. Amazingly, this works, not really as a spoof of war films as much as a war film gone horribly wrong, and it's already up there as one of my favorite comedies. The opening war sequence is really impressive, but when it gets into the relationship between a group of actors stranded in a South-Asian jungle filled with armed drugdealers and the behind-the-scenes of making such a film, that's where the movie delivers the best laughs of the year. Robert Downey Jr. as Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus playing a black soldier was particularly genius--well worthy of what looks to be another Oscar nomination in the fallen actor's comeback year--but it was the work of the ensemble as a whole that made the movie so funny.

8. HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY One of the best action movie of the year didn't make the most money at the box office or even come inside the top ten. What it did do is bring Guillermo del Toro's artistry of Pan's Labyrinth to a superhero template and went far beyond where most action films dare to tread. He ended a set piece on a sad and contemplative note with the defeat of the Forest Elemental. He took us to a world unlike any we'd seen before with the Troll Market. He contemplated the conflict between the fantastical and the mundane and where a demon, sent to destroy us all and instead working as our protector, finds a new destiny. GdT did all of this and more with "Hellboy II" and while I respect "Hulk" and "Iron Man", Big Red easily bests them both.

9. Iron Man I think the first half of Iron Man is utterly fantastic, this film suffers from major final act problems that are too many to mention here. Simply put, turning what could have been a kick ass war on terrorism into a monster movie wasn’t what the first hour was building toward.

10. Hulk I believe this may be the first time ever that I actually enjoyed watching an all out CGI vs. CGI monster mash battle. The climax in The Incredible Hulk was a fun and extremely loud brawl that gave me plenty of enjoyment.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button International Trailer

A new international trailer has been released for David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which I don’t believe I’ve ever seen before. Check it out below, or click on through to Bad Taste for the High Definition sized version. Is it just me or does every new trailer just get better and better? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button hits theaters on December 25th 2008.

Benjamin Button Gets a New Trailer!

There's a new trailer for David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that's playing in front of Eagle Eye this weekend. FirstShowing.net already featured a TV spot earlier today, but this looks so much better. I don't know what it is this week, but I've seen so many amazing trailers, and this is yet another one for you to feast your eyes upon. This trailer finally has some dialogue in addition to amazing visuals, and I love the phrase: "Life can only be understood backward. It must be lived forward." If this turns out bad, at least it will look absolutely incredible. After watching this, I've got a good feeling that it definitely will be one of Fincher's best. If you watch any trailers this weekend, make sure you at least watch this one!

Watch the new trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:

You can also watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button trailer in High Definition on Apple

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is directed by visionary filmmaker David Fincher, of Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, and Zodiac previously. The screenplay was penned by Oscar winner Eric Roth, of Forrest Gump, The Horse Whisperer, Spielberg's Munich, and The Good Shepherd. The film was adapted from a short story written by legendary writer F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button arrives in theaters everywhere on December 25th, Christmas Day.