81st Annual Oscar nominees

Well, the day has come, after a year full of outstanding films, the Academy has finally released its list of nominees for the 81st Annual Academy Awards, a.k.a. the Oscars.

81st Annual Academy Award Nominations

Now I cannot say I've seen all of these films, so this may seem very opinionated .. let's face it, it is. None the less, I'm just going to write my highlights/predictions.

Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Best Supporting Actor Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Best Original Screenplay WALL-E
Best Animated Feature WALL-E
Best Makeup Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Best Visual Effects Iron Man

Well, that's obviously not all the categories, but just ones I'd like to point out. Out of the Best Picture category, Slumdog was the only one I've seen, but it was brilliant, so that's why it's my pick; same reasoning for Best Director, Danny Boyle. For Best Actor, I don't think I need to repeat myself, as you can just see my review of The Wrestler. Now, Marrisa Tomei is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Wrestler, but as you can read from my review, I felt her character to be an unnecesary part of the film, and that's she's unlisted.

Now here's the nomination that's been on everyone's mind since July, Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor in The Dark Knight. Now, personally, I enjoyed his performance as the Joker, as did many others. But I can't help but feeling he wouldn't be nominated had he not passed away. So my feeling is, he's going to end up winning because it's his only chance to, but it may not feel as deserved to some.

Other highlights; Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Feature definetly belong to WALL-E. Another film I've reviewed (twice even), WALL-E excells beyond any animated feature I've seen before, and even above some live action films; so any award it's nominated for it probably deserves. Lastly, two films not recognized in the big categories, but at least mentioned in the right places: Hellboy II for Best Makeup and Iron Man for Best Visual Effects.

So what do you think of my thoughts? Oh, really? Fine then. I can't be the only shocked by Robert Downey Jr's Best Supporting Actor nomination for Tropic Thunder; seriously, that really surprised me... in a bad way. None the less, The Curious Case of Benjaman Button (13), Slumdog Millionaire (10), The Dark Knight (8), Milk (8), and WALL-E (6) are in the top 5 for most nominations, so I'm sure we can expect to see them on the winners list at least a few times each.

The 81st Annual Academy Awards air February 22nd on ABC. See you then!