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Nominations for 81st Academy Awards were just announced! Not too many surprises for the Oscar nominees. The Golden Globes nominations pretty much mirror the Oscar noms. The only Dark Knight nomination went to Heath Ledger, and it was shut out of Best Picture which is a joke to me. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads the nominations with 13 nominations. That doesn’t mean it will win every category but its chances of winning a lot are better than other films. I Hope Heath Ledger wins even though he would have hated that in real life. Wall-E is a lock to win and hope the score for it wins as well.

Here’s the complete list of nominations:

Performance by an actor in a leading role
* Richard Jenkins in The Visitor (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon (Universal)
* Sean Penn in Milk (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Josh Brolin in Milk (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in Changeling (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in Doubt (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in The Reader (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Amy Adams in Doubt (Miramax)
* Penlope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in Doubt (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year

* Bolt (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
* Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
* WALL-E (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction

* Changeling (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
* The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
* The Duchess (Paramount Vantage, Path and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
* Revolutionary Road (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography

* Changeling (Universal), Tom Stern
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
* The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
* The Reader (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design

* Australia (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
* The Duchess (Paramount Vantage, Path and BBC Films), Michael O Connor
* Milk (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
* Revolutionary Road (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
* Frost/Nixon (Universal), Ron Howard
* Milk (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
* The Reader (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature

* The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
* Encounters at the End of the World (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
* The Garden A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
* Man on Wire (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
* Trouble the Water (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject

* The Conscience of Nhem En A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
* The Final Inch A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
* Smile Pinki A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
* The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306 A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Achievement in film editing

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
* The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
* Frost/Nixon (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
* Milk (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year

* The Baader Meinhof Complex A Constantin Film Production, Germany
* The Class (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
* Departures (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
* Revanche (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
* Waltz with Bashir (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

Achievement in makeup

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
* The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O Sullivan
* Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
* Defiance (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
* Milk (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
* Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
* WALL-E (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

* Down to Earth from WALL-E (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
* Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
* O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

Best motion picture of the year

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ce+