NUTSHELL: Absolutely nothing changed on the tech charts this week, so I was tempted to run the same “Nutshell” copy as last week. However, this gives me a chance to throw some thoughts out there on a race that has me curious, and namely, on of that race’s contenders: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” for Best Cinematography. The AMPAS lensing branch has shown a bias against films shot digitally for a number of years. Most recently, the guild — the ASC — found room for “Collateral” and Apocalypto,” each of them shot digitally, while the Academy turned a blind eye. The coldness of the technology has already popped up in one prominent review of the film, but might Claudio Miranda’s contemporaries form a similar opinion?
Column: “Finding a happy place”
Sort charts by: Main Categories/Technical Categories
| ART DIRECTION | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Donald Graham Burt; Victor J. Zolfo |
— |
| 2 | “Australia” Catherine Martin |
— |
| 3 | “Revolutionary Road” Kristi Zea; Debra Schutt |
— |
| 4 | “The Duchess” Michael Carlin |
— |
| 5 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” Guy Dyas; Larry Dias, Alyssa Winter |
— |
| 6 | “Defiance” Dan Weil; Véronique Melery |
— |
| 7 | “Valkyrie” Lily Kilvert, Patrick Lumb, Tom Meyer; Bernhard Henrich |
— |
| 8 | “Changeling” James J. Murakami; Gary Fettis |
— |
| 9 | “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” Stephen Scott; Elli Griff |
— |
| 10 | “The Fall” Ged Clarke; Riccardo Pugliese, Cynthia Sleiter |
— |
| CINEMATOGRAPHY | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Dark Knight” Wally Pfister |
— |
| 2 | “Australia” Mandy Walker |
— |
| 3 | “Revolutionary Road” Roger Deakins |
— |
| 4 | “Defiance” Eduardo Serra |
— |
| 5 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Claudio Miranda |
— |
| 6 | “Milk” Harris Savides |
— |
| 7 | “Valkyrie” Newton Thomas Siegel |
— |
| 8 | “Blindness” César Charlone |
— |
| 9 | “Changeling” Tom Stern |
— |
| 9 | “The Reader” Chris Menges, Roger Deakins |
— |
| COSTUME DESIGN | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Revolutionary Road” Albert Wolsky |
— |
| 2 | “The Duchess” Michael O’Connor |
— |
| 3 | “The Other Boleyn Girl” Sandy Powell |
— |
| 4 | “The Fall” Eiko Ishioka |
— |
| 5 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Jacqueline West |
— |
| 6 | “Changeling” Deborah Hopper |
— |
| 7 | “Australia” Catherine Martin |
— |
| 8 | “Defiance” Jenny Beaven |
— |
| 9 | “Leatherheads” Louise Frogley |
— |
| 10 | “Brideshead Revisited” Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh |
— |
| FILM EDITING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall |
— |
| 2 | “Slumdog Millionaire” Chris Dickens |
— |
| 3 | “Defiance” Steven Rosenblum |
— |
| 4 | “Milk” Elliot Graham, Gus Van Sant |
— |
| 5 | “The Dark Knight” Lee Smith |
— |
| 6 | “Frost/Nixon” Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill |
— |
| 7 | “Australia” Dody Dorn, Michael McCusker |
— |
| 8 | “Revolutionary Road” Tariq Anwar |
— |
| 9 | “Quantum of Solace” Matt Chesse, Richard Pearson |
— |
| 10 | “Iron Man” Dan Lebental |
— |
| MAKEUP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 2 | “Synecdoche, New York” | — |
| 3 | “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” | — |
| 4 | “Tropic Thunder” | — |
| 5 | “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” | — |
| 6 | “W.” | — |
| 7 | “The Dark Knight” | — |
| 8 | “Frost/Nixon” | — |
| 9 | “The Reader” | — |
| 10 | “Australia” | — |
| MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat |
— |
| 2 | “WALL-E” Thomas Newman |
— |
| 3 | “Revolutionary Road” Thomas Newman |
— |
| 4 | “Defiance” James Newton Howard |
— |
| 5 | “Australia” David Hirschfelder |
— |
| 6 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” John Williams |
— |
| 7 | “Milk” Danny Eflman |
— |
| 8 | “The Reader” Nico Muhly |
— |
| 9 | “Doubt” Howard Shore |
— |
| 10 | “The Happening” James Newton Howard |
— |
| MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” Peter Gabriel |
— |
| 2 | “The Wrestler” from “The Wrestler” Bruce Springsteen |
— |
| 3 | “I Want It All” from “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” Cast of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” |
— |
| 4 | “Gran Torino” from “Gran Torino” Clint Eastwood, Jamie Callum |
— |
| 5 | “Jaiho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” AR Rahmen |
— |
| 6 | “I Thought I Lost You” from “Bolt” Miley Cyrus |
— |
| 7 | “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” from “Hamlet 2” Phoebe Strole |
— |
| 8 | “All Dressed Up in Love” from “Sex and the City” Jennifer Hudson |
— |
| 9 | “Another Way to Die” from “Quantum of Solace” Alicia Keys, Jack White |
— |
| 10 | “Little Person” from “Synecdoche, New York” Jon Brion |
— |
| SOUND EDITING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Wall-E” | — |
| 2 | “The Dark Knight” | — |
| 3 | “Iron Man” | — |
| 4 | “Defiance” | — |
| 5 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” | — |
| 6 | “Valkyrie” | — |
| 7 | “Body of Lies” | — |
| 8 | “Quantum of Solace” | — |
| 9 | “Hancock” | — |
| 10 | “The Day the Earth Stood Still” | — |
| SOUND MIXING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Wall-E” | — |
| 2 | “Defiance” | — |
| 3 | “Australia” | — |
| 4 | “The Dark Knight” | — |
| 5 | “Iron Man” | — |
| 6 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 7 | “Valkyrie” | — |
| 8 | “Body of Lies” | — | 9 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” | — |
| 10 | “Cloverfield” | — |
| VISUAL EFFECTS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 2 | “Iron Man” | — |
| 3 | “The Day the Earth Stood Still” | — |
| 4 | “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” | — |
| 5 | “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” | — |
| 6 | “Hancock” | — |
| 7 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” | — |
| 8 | “The Incredible Hulk” | — |
| 9 | “Speed Racer” | — |
| 10 | “The Spiderwick Chronicles” | — |