Cinema Goulash’s Oscar® Predictions 2009
February 21st, 2009 Filed under Commentary | No Comments »It’s that time of year again, and here are my picks for tomorrow night’s Academy Awards®:
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn in “Milk”
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in “Doubt”
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”
Best animated feature film of the year
“Bolt”, Chris Williams and Byron Howard
“Kung Fu Panda”, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
“WALL-E”, Andrew Stanton
Achievement in art direction
“Changeling”, Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
“The Dark Knight”, Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
“The Duchess”, Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
“Revolutionary Road”, Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt
Achievement in cinematography
“Changeling”, Tom Stern
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Claudio Miranda
“The Dark Knight”, Wally Pfister
“The Reader”, Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Anthony Dod Mantle
Achievement in costume design
“Australia”, Catherine Martin
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Jacqueline West
“The Duchess”, Michael O’Connor
“Milk”, Danny Glicker
“Revolutionary Road”, Albert Wolsky
Achievement in directing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Fincher
“Frost/Nixon”, Ron Howard
“Milk”, Gus Van Sant
“The Reader”, Stephen Daldry
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Danny Boyle
Best documentary feature
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
“Encounters at the End of the World”, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
“The Garden”, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
“Man on Wire”, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
“Trouble the Water”, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal
Best documentary short subject
“The Conscience of Nhem En”, Steven Okazaki
“The Final Inch”, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
“Smile Pinki”, Megan Mylan
“The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306″, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde
Achievement in film editing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“The Dark Knight”, Lee Smith
“Frost/Nixon”, Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
“Milk”, Elliot Graham
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Chris Dickens
Best foreign language film of the year
“The Baader Meinhof Complex”, Germany
“The Class”, France
“Departures”, Japan
“Revanche”, Austria
“Waltz with Bashir”, Israel
Achievement in makeup
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Greg Cannom
“The Dark Knight”, John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”, Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance”, James Newton Howard
“Milk”, Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire”, A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E”, Thomas Newman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”, Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam
Best motion picture of the year
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Frost/Nixon”, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
“Milk”, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
“The Reader”, Nominees to be determined
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Christian Colson, Producer
Best animated short film
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”, Kunio Kato
“Lavatory - Lovestory”, Konstantin Bronzit
“Oktapodi”, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
“Presto”, Doug Sweetland
“This Way Up”, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes
Best live action short film
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”, Reto Caffi
“Manon on the Asphalt”, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
“New Boy”, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
“The Pig”, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)”, Jochen Alexander Freydank
Achievement in sound editing
“The Dark Knight”, Richard King
“Iron Man”, Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Tom Sayers
“WALL-E”, Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
“Wanted”, Wylie Stateman
Achievement in sound mixing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
“The Dark Knight”, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
“WALL-E”, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
“Wanted”, Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
Achievement in visual effects
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
“The Dark Knight”, Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
“Iron Man”, John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan
Adapted screenplay
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
“Doubt”, Written by John Patrick Shanley
“Frost/Nixon”, Screenplay by Peter Morgan
“The Reader”, Screenplay by David Hare
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Original screenplay
“Frozen River”, Written by Courtney Hunt
“Happy-Go-Lucky”, Written by Mike Leigh
“In Bruges”, Written by Martin McDonagh
“Milk”, Written by Dustin Lance Black
“WALL-E”, Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
UPDATE (2/22): Unfortunately, I won’t be live blogging the awards ceremony like last year - I’ll be attending Concord, NH’s first official Oscar® evening at Red River Theatres (despite the heavy snowstorm predicted for tonight!) I may, however, be tweeting throughout the evening (www.twitter.com/cinemagoulash). I’ll be sure to provide a post-ceremony wrap-up with reaction!




September is a particularly underrated film, in my opinion. While not as robust and delicious as 
Eric Roth, the screenwriter of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, won an Oscar for his screen adaptation of Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump, and has now revisited his Oscar-winning game plan by penning a seemingly ingenious script under sneaky pretenses. Here, fifteen years later, Roth (who I’ve always thought to be a very talented and prolific screenwriter) looks to recapture the “Gump” buzz by swapping out handicaps, love interests, and epic journeys through the decades without notice. Unfortunately, even when combined with David Fincher’s sharp direction and vision, the end result is a rather enjoyable, albeit a somewhat overly long and predictable film that trips over its own many uncanny resemblances.
One of the great joys of a film like Slumdog Millionaire is its ability to charm you into a story while never relying on gimmicks and trickery. Not without its honest suspense and guessing games, Danny Boyle’s (Trainspotting) latest entry kicks the magic box of contrived tomato surprise endings, misdirection and other slight of hand to the curb in exchange for sincerity, structure and a snowballing build of momentum that culminates into a naturally satisfying crowd-pleaser.
