Oscar Nominations (continued)

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

Well I thought this is where Australia would make an appearance, with all its sunsets and landscapes, but it wasn't the case. DP Mandy Walker has a vagina, and apparently, the cinematography branch doesn't like those. I'm also surprised Revolutionary Road got snubbed, with Roger Deakins getting nominated for The Reader instead. I kept suspecting Changeling might get a nod, but not enough to change my predictions. I'm guessing this is one of the categories the Academy will award to Benjamin Button.

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

This category should have been easy to predict. 4 of the Best Picture films plus an action movie; in this case Iron Man. I thought Milk would be the Best Picture nominee to miss out, with waning support for the film. Of course The Dark Knight wasn't nominated for Picture, so that took the action film slot, and The Reader was the Best Picture nominee to miss out. I really didn't think Milk would have as much support as it did. Slumdog's ADD editing obviously wins this category.

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

Surprisingly, the Slumdog love didn't spill over into this category, and where did that Duchess nomination come from? Huh. I think they'll award this to Benjamin Button, just like cinematography.

Costume Design:
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

No Sandy Powell. Seeing as how they love her, I thought the Academy would nominate The Other Boleyn Girl. Maybe a lot of people actually forgot the movie came out this year. I'm completely surprised by the Milk nomination, since they never actually go for 70s period wear. Also, yay for Catherine Martin getting nominated for Australia. I knew that film would show up somewhere! I could see this going to either The Duchess (very showy), Revolutionary Road (love for the designer), or Benjamin Button (tech sweep for the film).

Make-Up:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

All year I thought Hellboy would make it, because of residual love for Pan's Labyrinth, but in the last couple of weeks I second guessed myself. I shouldn't have. Will they actually award Benjamin Button, even though a lot of its effects are CGI? I'm not entirely sure.

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

Yeah, no John Williams nod for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crap. Woopee!! I have no idea who will win this. Slumdog Millionaire?

Original Song:
"Down to Earth" - WALL-E
"Jaiho" - Slumdog Millionaire
"O Saya" - Slumdog Millionaire

No nomination for Springsteen's "The Wrestler." I really believe the music branch of the Academy is insane. I'm guessing the song suffered because it played over the end credits of The Wrestler, and for the past few years, the music branch has really only been nominating songs that play throughout the films. Even though I haven't heard the song yet, I'm delighted M.I.A. is now an Oscar nominee, for co-writing "O Saya." Now I'll get to see her perform at both the Grammys and the Oscars.

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

Sound Editing:
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Who could have predicted the two nominations for Wanted? And Slumdog for Sound Editing? Really? Oy. My guess is either The Dark Knight or WALL-E will win both of these.

Visual Effects:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

I think Benjamin Button takes this in a cake-walk. Although it could lose. Stranger things have happened at the Oscars.

Animated Feature:
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Why did I change my preditions at the last minute? I knew Bolt would get in over Waltz with Bashir. It's more their style. Now I know this wouldn't completely be accurate because of branches voting independently of each other and different rules for different categories, but if Waltz with Bashir wins Best Foreign-language Film, it would appear that the Academy thinks Bolt is superior to any foreign-film from last year! That is hilarious.