Oscars Live Blog

81st Academy Awards Winners List

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
• Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
• 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)
• 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)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• 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

Achievement in art direction

• “Changeling” (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
• “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé 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

Achievement in costume design

• “Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
• “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

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
• “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” Vermilion Films in association with Google.org, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
• “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

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
• “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 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
• “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
• “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya 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 Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
• “Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris, Producers

Best animated short film

• “Lavatory – Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
• “Oktapodi” (Talantis Films), A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
• “Presto” (Walt Disney), A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
• “This Way Up” A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best live action short film

• “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
• “Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
• “New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
• “The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh

Achievement in sound editing

• “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Glenn Freemantle and Tom Sayers
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
• “Wanted” (Universal), Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
• “Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects

• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
• “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
• “Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare

Original screenplay

• “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
• “Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
• “In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

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81st Academy Awards Live Blog!

Live, from my living room, we’re blogging the Oscars!

Sing with me…Hooray for Hollllywood, dahdahdahdahdah…Hollywood.

Right now we’re diving right into the E! Coverage of Live from the Red Carpet.  The festivities have already started.  Keep coming back to this post.  Refresh your screen every few minutes, and you’ll have a fabulous new update on the festivities!

5:00:  E News brings us their usual Motley Crew on the carpet with Ryan Seacrest, Juliana Rancic, Jay Manuel, and the rest.  Ryan has spotted Miley Cyrus, and he is positively giddy!

5:10:  Seacrest is interviewing Miley.  Her dress is lovely, I didn’t catch the designer.  She is her usual annoying self.  Hilights; she asks Angelina Jolie to adopt her, she discloses that her mother is wearing diamonds for the first time, she remains mum on her too old for her boyfriend, and claims her dress weighs like…100,000 pounds!

5:30: Ryan interviews Zach Efron who looks overly made up and greasy.  Still, the screams from teenyboppers nationwide are deafening, and perhaps can be heard from space!

5:32:  Ryan is now with Vanessa Hudgens, Mr. Efron’s lady friend, and tries to get her to spill on whether or not she and Zach will be appearing onstage during the show.  She keeps the details top secret.

5:35:  Commercial.  I am ripping into a bag of chips and pouring myself and Amaretto Diet Coke.  Let’s get this party started!

5:38:  Ryan from US Weekly just announced a secret that previously unannounced past winners will be making surprise appearances onstage tonight to present the awards.  I’m not exactly clear on how this will play out, as it sounds pretty similar to the way things have always been, so we’ll see.

5:41:  It appears that E! has decided to bring back their fancy Nascar technology Star Tracker.  This revolutionary device gives us a bird’s eye view of the red carpet, and floating word bubbles with famous names on them hover over the crowd and point to certain heads.  We have to take E!’s word for it that these people are who the Star Tracker is claiming.  Fancy!

5:46:  The adorable kids of  Slumdog Millionaire are talking to Ryan, he’s trying to communicate with one child who doesn’t speak English.  Nevertheless, the kids are awesome and it is cool to see them there.  Ryan manages to smut the interview up by telling the youngsters not to drink any Champagne.  Super Profesh, Ry!
5:50:  Dev Patel and Freida Pinto are talking to Ryan and he awkwardly implies that the two should date each other.  Dev suggests that there must be something else to talk about.  Ryan interrupts the interview by pulling in John Legend randomly.  Ryan resumes harassing the two about whether or not they are dating each other.

5:55:  Ryan interviews my pick for Best Actress, Melissa Leo.  She looks stunning.  Ryan tells her it’s nice to see her out of her jeans….weird silence.

5:59: Viola Davis is gorge in a golden gown.  She and her hubby are talking to Ryan and she refers to Meryl Streep as a 500 lb gorilla.  We know she’s referring to her acting skills, but we stil giggle.

6:05:  Heidi Klum and Seal are clowning on the carpet.  Heidi tells Ryan that because of the design of her dress, she has to sit on one butt cheek the entire night.

6:07:  Commercial.  We’ve officially hit the one hour mark, and I’m going to take a short break.  I’ll be back in 10 minutes, babies!

6:12:  Sarah Jessica Parker arrives on the carpet with her husband, Matthew Broadrick by her side.  Commence gossiping!

6:26:  Marissa Tomei looks lovely and is a HUGE improvement from the Golden Globes pirate costume she was wearing.  Her dress tonight is a pale pink off the sholder creation and she looks very beautiful.

6:28:  Ryan is revealing to us what Mickey Rourke is wearing and grabs him from the carpet.  He looks like Mickey Rourke.  His version of a tux is a white suit with an open shirt underneath.  He is wearing his deceased pooch Loki’s tag around his neck and refers to her as the love of his life.

6:32:  Ryan classes up the carpet by asking Queen Latifah about working with Elmo.  Hello Mrs. Seacrest, the woman is a serious actress, and this is the Academy Awards…ask her about the Secret Live of Bees,  for Pete’s sake!  She looks pretty.

6:35:  Peter Gabriel, the original “Sledgehammer” looks like my Grandpa!  What’s happening to these guys??

6:36:  Ryan Seacrest sniffs Evan Rachel Wood (I’m not kidding).  She is looking less and less like a low class Dita Von Tees everytime we see her, which is a good thing.  Apparently, she’s going to be on Broadway this summer.  Interesting.

6:39:  STOP THE PRESSES.  Juliana squeals like a freak as we catch our first sight of Brangelina!

6:41:  Potty Break!

6:45:  Here are some of our first looks from the Carpet: (All images Courtesy of Reuters.)

6:53: Ryan talks to Kate Winslet. She looks STUNNING! We see Kate’s picture on the cover of TIME magazine, and it is understated and lovely!
6:58:  We cut back from commercial with Ryan getting a fly by interview with Brad Pitt.  You may remember the Red Carpet snub delivered by Brad and Angie to Ryan Seacrest at the Critic’s Choice Awards.  At least Ryan sorta redeemed himself.

7:00:  Robert Downey Jr. looks sexy!

And now………..The OSCARS COVERAGE ON ABC IS BEGINNING!

7:01:  OMG!  Tim Gunn is hosting the official red carpet coverage on ABC!  I love that man!  The first interview here is with Kate Winslet, who is even more stunning than I originally thought.  She is fabulous!

7:06:  Mr. Gunn gets a decidedly better interview with Brangelina, telling them they are the most glorious people on  the carpet.  They nod in humble agreement.  Puke!

We’re going to take a quick break from the festivities and I’ll be back when the show starts.

Ok everyone, when the ceremony starts, we’ll be moving to a new post.  Join us at the post titled 2009 Oscar Live Blog: The Ceremony.  We’ll then move to yet a new post for the After Party.  Can you quess what the title of that post will be?

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Oscar Live Blog: The Ceremony

We are just minutes away from the Big Show, and in the meantime, here are some more images from the arrivals!

8:16: SJP and the dashing Daniel Craig take the stage for art direction award.

8:18: Curious Case of Benjamin Button actually wins an award!  Brad Pitt begins to hope again.

8:20: SJP looks like Glinda the Good Witch and Craig looks like 007, natch!

8:24:  Benji Buttons takes home another award!  This time for make-up.  They deserved that one!

8:25: Oh my god oh my god its Robert Pattinson!  (and that girl from Mama Mia).  SWOON! Wait, what are they

presenting?

8:31:  Pouring my 4th drink of the evening.  Switching the amaretto for rum, keeping the diet coke.  I just received an email from a friend watching the show.  Her keen observation?  “More Hugh”!  Agreed!  Ok, he’s back

8:32: Ben Stiller and Natalie Portman take the stage.  Ben Stiller is doing his impression of Joaquin Phoenix, complete with beard and sunglasses.  Hilarious!  Portman is pretty in pink.

8:34: They are presenting the award for some sort of cinematography category, and Ben is wandering aimlessly about the stage.  Gold!

8:36:  Slumdog takes another award.  Told ya, kids!

8:39: Jessica Beale looks a hot mess.  I don’t know what she’s talking about, and I don’t care.

8:40: Oh, she’s talking about the Technical Awards Ceremony, which was held at a previous date.  For the Emmy’s,

Kathy Griffin calls the tech awards the “Shmemmy’s”.  I think we’ll call the tech awards for the Oscars..the “Shmoscars”!  It was between that and the “Smacademy Smawards”…wait, that has a nice ring to it!

8:43: A short film by Judd Apatow with Seth Rogan and James Franco as their characters from Pineapple Express.  Mildly funny.  Fave quote,  Franco: “Who do you think is the best actor, Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama?”  Rogan: “Dude, that’s Robert Downey Jr.”

8:46: Franco, Rogan, and some guy take the stage.  He’s a cinematography guy apparently.  They’re presenting for best short film.  Didn’t we do this already?  Oh no, that was animated short.  I think my next drink is going to be Diet Coke, straight up.

8:47: Short Film winner…I would have a worse time pronouncing it than Franco just did.  I can’t decide if I like Seth Rogan’s laugh or if it makes me want to claw my own eyeballs out.  Its a tossup.

MORE PICTURES!!

8:52: Jackman is dressed to the nines as he discusses the return of the musical..Oh my, it’s another musical number with Hugh!  FAB!  Loving him right now.  Beyonce appears in a sparkly red number.

8:57: A bunch of others join Hugh and Bey on stage.  Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, people from Mamma Mia.  Hugh really has some serious pipes!

8:59: Apparently the musical number was written by Baz Luhrman.  No wonder it was so fun!

9:02: Best Supporting Actor montage can only mean one thing…bring on the boys!

9:03: We continue with our parade of past winners.  Here we have onstage,  Cuba Gooding Jr., that guy from Little Miss Sunshine, another guy I recognize but can’t name, Christopher Walken.  Cuba makes everyone uncomfortable by saying what has inevitable crossed all of our minds…Robert Downey Jr. is nominated for a role he played in blackface.  People are happy to move on to Walken.  Heath Ledger’s family is in the audience as Kevin Kline intros his nomination.

9:09: Best Supporting Actor, Heath Ledger.  Accepting the award is his father, mother, and other family members.  A somber moment in the night’s excitement.  Well deserved, Mr. Ledger.

9:11: A tribute to High Definition?  I’m confused about the current montage.

9:13: This is for documentaries, I think.  Yup.  Presenting is Bill Maher.  Bill makes an uncomfortable comment about our “silly gods” in reference to his own doc film, “Religulous.”

9:15:  Man on Wire wins.  I need to see this one.  In a first, the person accepting the award does a magic trick!  Fancy!

9:19:  Commercial Break!  Time to refill the drinkiepoo and pop open some more snackiecakes!  My ass has begun to take the shape of this chair.  I consider doing some stretches, and am quickly distracted by my cheddar and sour cream ruffles.

9:21: Hilarious commercial with Tom Cruise and Jimmy Kimmel.  Tom tricks Jimmy into running into a burning building to save his cat, only to reveal that he doesn’t have one. The spot is to advertise a Cruise appearance on Kimmel.  Silly!

9:25: A montage of explosions and cars can only mean the special effects cats are on the way.  Ohhh look! Will Smith!

9:27: Benji Buttons takes another award!  Brad Pitt begins to squirm a little more with anticipation..

9:29: And now for the most highly anticipated award of the night…SOUND EDITING!  The award goes to…The Dark Knight.  I totally agree.  I could really hear that film.  It sounded really awesome!

9:31: Wait a damn minute…Sound Mixing!  That’s my new fave category!  Slumdog takes it.  B.S.!  I totally thought Benjamin Button should have gotten it.  They mixed the HELL out of that sound!

9:34:  Wil Smith remains onstage.  Now, the award for film editing.  I really do have an appreciation for the editing process.  And the winner is…Slumdog as they continue to wipe the floor with their competion! Jai Ho!

9:37: And now for another crazy short commercial break.  Potty time!

9:42:  Eddie Murphy takes the stage looking Botox-eriffic!  He is presenting some honorary award to Jerry Lewis.

9:45: Jerry Lewis takes the stage.  Looking pretty good, actually.  Not quite as puffy as in past appearances.

9:46: Side note, what the heck is Philip Seymour Hoffman wearing on his head??

9:47: Email from friend, “Where the hell is the beefcake?  When will Hugh take off his shirt?  Where’s Gerard Butler?  George Clooney?”  My reply, “Umm, hello?  Didn’t you see Seth Rogan?  I’m still sweating!”

9:54: Zac Efron and Aleisha Keyes present music awards.  I am going to pick Defiance for original score.

9:55: Curse you, Slumdog!  Why do they always show a split screen of the other Slumdog cast members whenever someone from the movie wins.  They have to be tired of smiling by now.

9:56: Ok, now original song.  2 songs from Slumdog and one from Wall-E.  Wonder who will win?  The Slumdog folks are performing their songs now.  I just got “Jai Ho!” out of my head, damn you!

9:58: John Legend performs the Wall-E song because Peter Gabriel is too awesome to do it himself.  John Legend does it better.

10:00: Jai Ho!  Jai Ho!  Jai Ho!  I can’t fight it!

10:02: Best Original Song, JAI HO!  I’m not too mad about this one.  Peter Gabriel aka Smuggy McSmuggerson couldn’t even get up there and sing his own song.

10:03: Jai Ho apparently traslates to “May you win.”  Well, it is working!  And may I add, Jai Ho, Melissa Leo!

10:08:  Winner of the Foreign Language film gives a great speech in broken English.  Presented by Liam Neeson and the gorge Freida Pinto.

10:10: I’m so going to watch the Oscar wrap up on The View, are you?

10:11: Queen Latifah in electric blue to introduce the In Memorium montage…oh, she’s singing.  I don’t really think of her as a singer.   I’d also like to add my usual gripe with the In Memorium montage.  I think you should clap equally for everyone who has passed or not at all.  I think it is tacky how some people get thunderous applause and some people get nothing.

10:16:  Meh.  I kinda hated the whole Latifah singing during the montage.  Cheese factory.

10:18: Reese Witherspoon. What’s wrong with her eyes?  She looks rough!  Her dress is horrendous.

10:20:  Best Director, Danny Boyle.  God, I’m good!  So far, all of my predictions from yesterday have been fulfilled!

The big exciting awards are next!

10:25:  The best actress montage means that a slew of best actresses are about to hit the stage!

10:28: Taking the stage to present the Best Actress Award…Shirley McClain, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Halle Barry, Marion Cotillard, and some others.  God, Kate Winslet is beautiful!  Halle intros Frozen River.  Jai ho, baby!  If you haven’t seen Frozen River, you’re dumb.  Go rent it.  Sophia Loren’s tan intimidates me.

10:32: I love Angelina Jolie’s choice of green earrings with her black dress.  She won’t win, but nice earrings.

10:33:  Best Actress, Kate Winslet.  Prepare for her breathless waterworks as I officially change my name to Nostradamus.

10:36: Time for the Men, baby!

10:37:  Let’s see, who do we have here..Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Sir Anthony Hopkins, Adrian Brody…what, no Russell Crowe?!?!  Whatevs.

10:41:  Richard Jenkins is the MAN!  Like my fave Melissa Leo, he will not win, but he is the MAN!

10:42:  But you know who’s really the man??  Sir Anthony.  Such a stud.  He’s wins my vote for the night’s hottest Silver Fox!

10:43:  While they were showing Mickey Rourke in the audience, I think Robert Pattinson who was sitting behind him was trying to seduce me through the T.V.

10:45: Best Actor, Sean Penn.  I’ve done it again!  So let’s recap…Natalie has picked every winner in the major categories so far this evening.  AND, for bonus points, I also predicted accurately that Sean Penn would deliver a political speech.  Further, how the hell did he know I’m a “commie loving, homoloving, son of a gun”??

10:49: Ok here we go…Stevie Speilbergie takes the mic to present Best Pic.  Let’s see if I am batting a perfect game.

10:52:  Kinda neat montage juxtaposing previous oscar winning films with the current noms.

10:53: Drrrrrrummmmrrrollllll….Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire!  I am fairly certain that Slumdog will be running for Pres. in 2012!  Oh, and by the way, I correctly guessed every winner in every top category.  Where’s my award??

10:55: Good Night from Hugh Jackman!  Wait, now we’re going to see a collection of upcoming films.  Let’s see what we can look forward to!

11:00:  Upcoming films we are looking forward to, Sherlock Holmes, Inglorious Basterds, Public Enemies…and Fame?  Did anyone else know that a remake of Fame was on the horizon?  Jai Ho!

Well, folks.  That’s all from the Ceremonies.  I’ll be heading over to the new post now for the after parties.  However, I don’t know how much blogging will be happening there tonight as they haven’t even started airing them yet.  But, fear not.  I’ll be recording them and sharing all of the dirt as I am able.

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So, before the big show, I decided I’d share my top picks in the biggest categories.  Let’s see how well I match up.

Actress in a Supporting Role:

Who I think should win – Taraji P. Hensen.  Although The Curious Case of Benjamin Button didn’t really do it for me as I’d hoped, her role was fantastic.  Plus, it is just fun to say her name.

Who will win – Penelope Cruz.  I saw the movie and she was good in her role, but Oscar worthy?  I don’t think so.  But she will win, nevertheless.

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Who I think should win – Heath Ledger.  The accolades he’s received for his role in The Dark Knight are well deserved.

Who will win – Heath Ledger.  (see above)

Actress in a Leading Role:

Who I think should win – Melissa Leo.  Her portrayal in Frozen River of a woman who will do almost anything to keep her family together was inspirational and authentic.

Who will win – Kate Winslet.  Because she’s Kate Winslet.

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Who I think should win – Richard Jenkins.  I love this man and he can do no wrong in my eyes.  The Visitor was an amazing little movie, and he blew me away.

Who will win – Most are guessing Mickey Rourke, riding the wave of his comeback success.  I’m going to go out on a limb and pick Sean Penn for Milk.  The Academy loves Mr. Penn, and there will need to be at least one preachy political speech from a movie star during the broadcast.  Who better to deliver it?

Best Director:

Who I think should win – Ron Howard.

Who will win – Danny Boyle.  As you can see, I don’t know a lot about directing, so there is very little I can add here for my choices.  Just guessing, really.

Best Picture:

Who I think should win – Frost/Nixon.  It was the best film of the bunch for me.  I would have liked to see Frozen River and/or The Wrestler get a nod here.  But of the choices, this is my pick.

Who will win – Slumdog Millionaire.  The little film that could has swept every award show so far this season, why stop now?  Jai Ho! (that’s the name of the tune that will win Best Song, btw!)

Alright, folks.  Those are my picks.  What do you think?  Who’s going to take home Oscar this year?  Let’s see if we’re right!

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