# Academy Award nominations (2009 for 2008 films) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452 "2009-01-22T14:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/21 "2009-01-22T16:18:34Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > Really surprised at the love for _Benjamin Button_ given the lukewarm reviews I’ve heard from basically all my friends who’ve seen it. I love Fincher but I gotta agree; the people I know who’ve seen this tell me it’s an overlong snooze-fest. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/22 "2009-01-22T16:28:16Z")
And, somewhere, Tom Cruise shouts, “Why?” ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/23 "2009-01-22T16:31:24Z")
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button got 13 nominations!? I’m just in shock and i dont’ really know what to say other than Brad Pitt was REALLY better than Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, or Leonardo DiCaprio? REALLY? I thought he was by miles the weakest part of that movie. They make The Dark Knight eligible for best original score and it isn’t nominated? That score is the best one of the year! It also go robbed in Director, writing, and Best picture. It is 10 times the movie that The Reader and Benjamin Button are. Heck, I was even lukewarm on Doubt but even that was better than The Reader and Benjamin Button. No Sally Hawkins? I know she doesn’t make it on Page 6 as much as Angelina Jolie but she deserves the award more than Angelina ever would. I think hers is the best performance of the year. I guess I’m just not a fan of Angelina Jolie her performances are always big but that isn’t necessarily good! I guess she was pretty good in Changeling though, the movie just sucked. no The Dark Knight best picture? Get over yourselves academy! They nailed the big awards last year - but you couldn’t really screw those up. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/24 "2009-01-22T16:45:52Z")
I was hoping for more for _In Bruges_ after it got the Golden Globe noms, but at least they remembered it for the screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/25 "2009-01-22T16:57:38Z")
[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/curious\_case\_of\_benjamin\_button/news/1792217/oscar\_nominations\_announced\_benjamin\_button\_leads\_with\_13](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/curious_case_of_benjamin_button/news/1792217/oscar_nominations_announced_benjamin_button_leads_with_13) Good god. Yes, those up for Best Picture / Best “acheviement in Directing” are good. But they are no _Dark Knight_. And the idea that Ledger as The Joker was a “Supporting Role” is almost as asinine. Seriously, WTF is up with the OScar comittee? Yes, they notmiated good films. But they have the obnoxious habit of almost never nominating FUN movies. Yes, the Dark Knight is _fun_. But it is also incredibly awesome. Why must those brainless morons constantly diss action or “sci-fi” or whatnot with secondary Oscars? It’s like they think a movie has to not only be meaningful and “deep” but has to constantly shove that in the audience’s face at every minute of the footage in order to actually be that. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/26 "2009-01-22T17:11:31Z")
The producers of the movies decide which category an actor’s performance should be placed in. While The Joker was the main villain, he most certainly was not the lead role, that would be Batman and Batman alone. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/27 "2009-01-22T17:13:30Z")
I was surprised at first that the latest Wallace and Gromit short, _A Matter of Loaf and Death_, wasn’t nominated for Animated Short Subject, given the success at the Oscars of both Nick Park and Wallace and Gromit. Then I found out that it [won’t be eligible until next year](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7733665.stm) due to the fact it was completed one month after the Oscar deadline. I’m also surprised that _The Dark Knight_ wasn’t nominated for more categories, including Best Picture. (I know that some- including Disney themselves- wanted _WALL-E_ to get a Best Picture nod, but I’m not surprised that it didn’t, given as Best Picture nominees tend to be more “serious.”) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/28 "2009-01-22T17:28:01Z")
I’m surprised “Gran Torino” was completely shut out! I’ve seen three of the Best Pic nominees so far, I still have to see “Milk” and “The Reader” holds no interest for me. I hope “Slumdog” wins, & think that it will. Too bad “The Dark Knight” didn’t get a Best Pic nom. Of course my favorite film of the year was totally shut out (“El Orfanato”) though I didn’t expect that to get anything anyway. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/29 "2009-01-22T17:38:57Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Biggest Shock: Across the board snub for Batman in the major categories (Picture, Director, Screenplay). It still has 8, including Ledger (a lock to win, I think), but time won’t be kind to the Academy in retrospect. Will anyone look back at _The Reader_ & _Frost/Nixon_ 10 years from now the way they will _Dark Knight_ or _WALL-E_? I’m skeptical. I would say there’s zero chance anyone will remember “The Reader” in ten years. Its only chance of immortality in the pantheon of great cinema is if Winslet finally wins an Oscar and so it gets remembered as “that movie Kate Winslet finally won an Oscar for.” That said, to my mind the biggest shock is “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” being anointed the picture of the year. I’m really not surprised at all “The Dark Knight” isn’t up for Best Picture. For one thing, it’s not the kind of movie that gets that nomination. For another, I’d put Wall-E on a much higher level than “The Dark Knight.” TDK was a very, very good movie, likely better than at least one Best Picture nominee, and will certainly win the one Oscar it absolutely deserves to - Ledger’s - but it wasn’t, to my mind, a historically wonderful or groundbreaking movie. “Wall-E” was. > [@](#): > > Her biggest competition is probably Meryl (this is her 15th nod, a record for actors), but she’ll probably have to wait a little longer for Oscar #3. Of course, Pixar is a lock for Animated Feature as well, but we knew that 6 months ago. Winslet has already been robbed at least once and I’d point out that when it comes to actresses they love to hand Oscars to pretty young things in their first try out - Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Charlize Theron, Angelina Jolie, Rachel Weisz, and so on. So do not count out Anne Hathaway; I’d say she has as good a chance as anyone. Rioght now I’d say it’s 44% likely Hathaway, 44% likely Winslet, 10% Streep and 2% Leo or Jolie. > [@](#): > > Biggest Batmanless snub: Bruce Springsteen getting the boot in the Song category (which is only limited to 3 nominees!). Why did they change this? I note with some pleasure that WALL-E got a nomination for Score, a category in which animated movies are often robbed (“The Incredibles” being a very good case in point.) [QUOTE=Doctorj] Was it eligible? I thought I heard that the song has to play in the body of the movie to be nominated, not just over the closing credits. [/QUOTE] The song nominated from “Wall-E” was played only during the closing credits so apparently that’s sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/30 "2009-01-22T17:43:24Z")
Was Springsteen’s song the first one in the credits? If so, it was eligible: > [@AMPAS](#): > > An original song consists of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the motion picture. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the motion picture or as the first music cue in the end credits. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/31 "2009-01-22T17:45:38Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The producers of the movies decide which category an actor’s performance should be placed in. While The Joker was the main villain, he most certainly was not the lead role, that would be Batman and Batman alone. Not quite true. The producers, via the trade ads, usually suggest which category an actor should be nominated for. However, the Academy voters are not obligated to follow along. Case in point: Kate Winslet was being touted in the supporting category for the performance that got her a lead nomination today. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/32 "2009-01-22T17:48:24Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/curious\_case\_of\_benjamin\_button/news/1792217/oscar\_nominations\_announced\_benjamin\_button\_leads\_with\_13](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/curious_case_of_benjamin_button/news/1792217/oscar_nominations_announced_benjamin_button_leads_with_13) > > Good god. > > Yes, those up for Best Picture / Best “acheviement in Directing” are good. But they are no _Dark Knight_. And the idea that Ledger as The Joker was a “Supporting Role” is almost as asinine. He unquestionably was in a supporting role. I’m curious as to what definition of that term would not include Ledger’s role. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/33 "2009-01-22T17:53:39Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/curious\_case\_of\_benjamin\_button/news/1792217/oscar\_nominations\_announced\_benjamin\_button\_leads\_with\_13](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/curious_case_of_benjamin_button/news/1792217/oscar_nominations_announced_benjamin_button_leads_with_13) > Yes, the Dark Knight is _fun_. But it is also incredibly awesome. Well, there’s your problem. Incredibly stupid. Incredibly ludicrous. Incredibly heavy handed. Incredibly inflated. Incredibly lots of things. But definitely not incredibly awesome. Or slightly awesome. Or in the same universe as awesome. The Oscars have huge - almost insurmountable - credibility problems as it is. But no one, absolutely no one, could ever take the Oscars as more serious than the Golden Globes in the future if it gave a Best Picture nomination to Dark Knight. It would be the end of their existence. And Ledger was obviously a supporting role. A good one, the best part of the movie, deserving of an acting nomination. But a supporting one. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/34 "2009-01-22T18:38:22Z")
If this is gonna be the official Oscar thread I wonder if the 13 noms for Benjamin Buttons is some kind of record. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/35 "2009-01-22T18:53:54Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Biggest Batmanless snub: Bruce Springsteen getting the boot in the Song category (which is only limited to 3 nominees!). There will be some great Bollywood numbers at the ceremony, but _Slumdog_ might split the vote and Peter Gabriel could end up the winner since his is the only nominated song in English. Nitpick: “O Saya” contains an entire portion in English. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/36 "2009-01-22T19:18:01Z")
Merged two Oscar-related threads. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/37 "2009-01-22T19:19:09Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > Good for Viola Davis, though. She did a great job with that role. (Does it rival Judi Dench for least screentime for a supporting actress nod?) [Beatrice Straight](http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/academy.awards/interactive/gallery.firsts.mosts.leasts/content.3.3.html) was on screen for less time in **Network**. Different category, but Anthony Quinn had less screen time in [Lust for Life](http://www.filmsite.org/bestsuppactor.html). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/38 "2009-01-22T19:20:16Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > If this is gonna be the official Oscar thread I wonder if the 13 noms for Benjamin Buttons is some kind of record. The record is 14, held by Titanic and All About Eve. The record for most Oscars won is 11, for Ben-Hur, Titanic and Return of the King. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/39 "2009-01-22T19:22:43Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > If this is gonna be the official Oscar thread I wonder if the 13 noms for Benjamin Buttons is some kind of record. No, \*All About Eve \*and \*Titanic \*got 14. :: shakes fist at Marley :: ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452/40 "2009-01-22T19:23:02Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > If this is gonna be the official Oscar thread I wonder if the 13 noms for Benjamin Buttons is some kind of record. **Titanic** and **All About Eve** each got 14. I suspect that there were fewer categories for \*\*All About Eve \*\*to draw from in 1950. Several films have gotten 13 each, including recently **The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King**. ETA: Rio, by Duran Duran. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academy-award-nominations-2009-for-2008-films/482452.md?page=3)