Sunday, January 25, 2009

Oscar Nominations, Part Two

Ah yes, Oscar season is here once more.
The nominations were announced early Thursday morning and by lunchtime, the whole world knew that Batman had been defeated. But they also found out that Oscar got it right on a few other notes.
Here are the technical nominations this year.

Best Original Score

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

I bought the entire Slumdog Millionaire album, so am ecstatic to see it here. People who haven't seen the film can't even imagine: it combines traditional Indian music with modern pop rhythms for a very energetic sound throughout. (Those who saw Pineapple Express and were disappointed to not hear "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. will be happy to find it here.) I also have a couple tracks from WALL-E, and it is definitely better than regular cartoon music, as it is brimming with emotion and character. The other three nominees are typical dramatic fare. Defiance's score slightly resembles the score of Schindler's List.

Best Original Song

"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"Jai Ho," Slumdog Millionaire
"O...Saya," Slumdog Millionaire

As I said before, I have all three of these songs in my iTunes and am absolutely thrilled that they are going to be performed live at the ceremony. My prediction is for "Down to Earth," since for some odd reason, whenever a film has multiple nominations in this category, it tends to lose.

Best Film Editing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Oddly, the same five movies as my Best Picture predictions, and a haunting reminder of what could have been. This category usually coincides with the winner for Best Picture, but The Bourne Ultimatum took home this surprising and well-deserved Oscar last year. So, my money is on The Dark Knight, as penance for not giving it the top spot.

Best Cinematography

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

Part of me is surprised Cloverfield isn't nominated here, since that film depended entirely on unique camerawork, but it did come out last January, so it's gone from voters' minds, I guess. I remembered something strange: three years ago, Batman Begins received only one nomination, for Cinematography. So it's only natural that The Dark Knight is nominated here. My guess is that since it didn't get a Best Picture nomination, the Academy is going to give it as many awards as possible in other categories, so I'm going to guess Dark Knight to win here too.

Best Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Hellboy's only nomination, undoubtedly for Ron Perlman's makeup, which is much improved from the first film. The Dark Knight's makeup is mostly Heath Ledger's creepy clown face as the Joker, which made him completely unrecognizable. For Benjamin Button, however, the makeup made Brad Pitt age in reverse, from a child in an old man's body to an old man in a teenager's body. Cate Blanchett also aged several decades for her role. I can see any of these three winning here.

Best Costume Design

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

These are interesting picks: Australia's costumes are from the '40s of the title country, Revolutionary's costumes evoke the '50s, and Milk shows the '70s. The Duchess is Victorian England and Benjamin Button is the South from the '20s to present day. Usually the most glamorous of the costumes win, so my money's on The Duchess.

Best Art Direction

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

I view this category as very similar to Costume Design, since the two have to be consistent to make the setting believable. Three of the nominees are the same. Changeling shows Los Angeles in the '20s, while The Dark Knight brings Gotham to life from Chicago. I'm unsure who will win here; all of them are very artsy looking.

Best Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Iron Man vs. Batman vs. Reverse Aging Man. It's nice to see that Iron Man wasn't completely ignored by the Academy, with two nominations. All of these films have amazing and very believable special effects. But for now, I'm thinking it will go to Benjamin Button because it put Oscar-quality special effects in a non-blockbuster.

Best Sound Mixing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

I honestly don't know why they insist on giving out two Oscars for sound, and I still don't really know the difference between the two. Usually they both go to the same film anyway. It's awesome that The Dark Knight is nominated here, but legendary sound designer Ben Burtt created all of the robotic sounds from WALL-E from scratch. When you watch the final film, he basically made half of the finished product himself. He will win this award easy.

Best Sound Editing

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Ditto, WALL-E. Did I mention Ben Burtt was also the voice of WALL-E, before he put it into a computer and roboticized it?

Best Animated Feature

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Bolt and Kung Fu Panda are really cool films, but neither of them even comes close to WALL-E. Pixar has proven once again that they're at the top of the world, and Oscar will reward them duly once again. My only complaint is that it couldn't be a Best Picture contender.

Best Foreign Language Film

The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz with Bashir

I wish I knew more about these films. I know The Class won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, which is a huge award. Waltz with Bashir is animated, and a sort-of documentary, so it could win simply for being so unique.

Best Documentary Feature

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

Man on Wire seems to be the favorite to win here, despite its simplistic story. Trouble the Water is about the effects of Hurricane Katrina, and it could possibly win because of its relevance.

Best Documentary Short

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

Sorry, I don't know anything about any of these nominees. Where can you even see short documentaries? On TV?

Best Live Action Short Film

Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Nada.

Best Animated Short Film

La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

Presto is the manic Pixar film that was shown in theatres before WALL-E. It's Looney Tunes-esque and incredibly hilarious, and I hope it wins along with its feature-length counterpart. I don't know anything about any of the other nominees.

That's all of them! Later I will post my winners predictions for all the categories, once the buzz starts rolling and I know more about all of the nominees.
Go to www.apple.com/trailers for movie trailers of all the feature films mentioned here.
The ceremony will be live on Sunday, February 22nd at 7:00 pm on ABC.

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