This is the first time since 1995 that I’m home on Oscar night to watch the show . . . and it’s not the kind of thing that I’d enjoy Tivo’d. Trouble is, I haven’t seen one new movie in all of 2008. So what should I watch out for, and what do I need to know, to make sense of it all?
from the list of nominees, I have seen and would totally recommend that you see (whether they win or not):
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Iron Man
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler
all of these are #1 great movies which I loved and would love to see win an award if I actually cared enough to watch it, and #2 apparently stand a good chance of winning. If you only have time for 1 movie, make it Slumdog, as that’s the leading candidate for Best Picture and Best Director. Doubt is also a good candidate, as there are a number of actors nominated all around, and I would give a statue to EACH of them if that were possible. It’s definitely gonna be interesting to see who from that ensemble wins and who doesn’t (in one case because they are up against each other).
Hijack - why the heck did Benjamin Button get an EDITING nomination? It was a 2 hour movie that ran almost 3 hours! Did it impress enough people that they were trying to make it feel like WE were living his entire life too?
I’ve seen all of the films nominated in the regular categories, only one of the Foreign Language films (Waltz With Bashir) and only one of the Documentary Features (Man On Wire). I haven’t seen any of the shorts.
fusoya is right. If you can see only one film, go see Slumdog Millionaire before Sunday, because it’s going to win the most awards, including, I’m certain, Best Picture and Best Director, and, I believe, Adapted Screenplay, Score, Editing, and possibly Cinematography and Song (“Jai Ho”). WALL-E will win Best Animated Feature. Either Mickey Rourke or Sean Penn will win Best Actor. Kate Winslet will win Best Actress. Heath Ledger will of course win Best Supporting Actor. Best Supporting Actress is up in the air, but I think it’s between Penelope Cruz and Viola Davis. The Original Screenplay will go to Milk (I hope, anyway).
If you have any other specific questions about how to make sense of it all, I’ll try to answer. I’m an Awards junkie and pay attention to all this stuff. I live for Awards season and love just about all of these movies.
If you’ve got the time, AMC Theaters are doing their Oscar Preview tomorrow – all five Best Picture noms for $30. It starts at 10:30 AM. Mrs. Cliffy and I went two years ago and it’s definitely doable, although you’ll wake up with a sore ass Sunday. I’m going tomorrow.
–Cliffy
I came in this thread to post the exact same thing, but I see I’ve been beaten to the punch! It’s awesome. My only complaint is that there is only so much free popcorn I can eat before I get nauseous. At least now I know my limit. 
And fusoya’s list is perfect. I think Doubt should have made it on to the Best Picture list, but I’ll definitely be happy if Slumdog Millionaire wins. Those are the two I’d most recommend watching, also.