NUTSHELL: Regrettably, even with the critics chiming in left and right this month, little has come along to move the needle in the technical categories. We’ve seen preliminary lists in a couple of categories, but beyond that, we’re still waiting on the guilds to chime in. I’ve gone through and made some minor edits throughout, mostly in the way of knocking “Australia” down a number of pegs in a few categories. I’m left wondering, however, whether the digital photography of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” will be a hindrance for it in the cinematography category like it was for “Collateral” and “Apocalypto” before it.
Column: “A season less ordinary…or is it?”
Sort charts by: Main Categories/Technical Categories
| ART DIRECTION | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Donald Graham Burt; Victor J. Zolfo |
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| 2 | “Australia” Catherine Martin |
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| 3 | “Revolutionary Road” Kristi Zea; Debra Schutt |
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| 4 | “The Duchess” Michael Carlin |
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| 5 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” Guy Dyas; Larry Dias, Alyssa Winter |
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| 6 | “Defiance” Dan Weil; Véronique Melery |
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| 7 | “Valkyrie” Lily Kilvert, Patrick Lumb, Tom Meyer; Bernhard Henrich |
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| 8 | “Changeling” James J. Murakami; Gary Fettis |
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| 9 | “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” Stephen Scott; Elli Griff |
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| 10 | “The Fall” Ged Clarke; Riccardo Pugliese, Cynthia Sleiter |
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| CINEMATOGRAPHY | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Dark Knight” Wally Pfister |
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| 2 | “Defiance” Eduardo Serra |
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| 3 | “Slumdog Millionaire” Anthony Dod Mantle |
NEW |
| 4 | “Revolutionary Road” Roger Deakins |
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| 5 | “Australia” Mandy Walker |
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| 6 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Claudio Miranda |
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| 7 | “Milk” Harris Savides |
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| 8 | “Valkyrie” Newton Thomas Siegel |
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| 9 | “Blindness” César Charlone |
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| 10 | “Changeling” Tom Stern |
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| COSTUME DESIGN | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Jacqueline West |
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| 2 | “The Duchess” Michael O’Connor |
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| 3 | “Revolutionary Road” Albert Wolsky |
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| 4 | “The Other Boleyn Girl” Sandy Powell |
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| 5 | “The Fall” Eiko Ishioka |
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| 6 | “Changeling” Deborah Hopper |
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| 7 | “Australia” Catherine Martin |
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| 8 | “Defiance” Jenny Beaven |
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| 9 | “Leatherheads” Louise Frogley |
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| 10 | “Brideshead Revisited” Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh |
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| FILM EDITING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall |
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| 2 | “Slumdog Millionaire” Chris Dickens |
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| 3 | “Defiance” Steven Rosenblum |
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| 4 | “Milk” Elliot Graham |
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| 5 | “The Dark Knight” Lee Smith |
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| 6 | “Frost/Nixon” Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill |
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| 7 | “Doubt” Dylan Tichenor |
NEW |
| 8 | “Revolutionary Road” Tariq Anwar |
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| 9 | “Iron Man” Dan Lebental |
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| 10 | “Quantum of Solace” Matt Chesse, Richard Pearson |
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| MAKEUP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 2 | “Synecdoche, New York” | — |
| 3 | “Tropic Thunder” | |
| 4 | “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” | |
| 5 | “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” | |
| 6 | “The Dark Knight” | |
| 7 | “Frost/Nixon” | |
| 8 | “The Reader” | |
| 9 | “W.” | |
| 10 | “Australia” | — |
| MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat |
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| 2 | “WALL-E” Thomas Newman |
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| 3 | “Revolutionary Road” Thomas Newman |
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| 4 | “Defiance” James Newton Howard |
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| 5 | “Milk” Danny Eflman |
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| 6 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” John Williams |
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| 7 | “The Dark Knight” James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer |
NEW |
| 8 | “The Reader” Nico Muhly |
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| 9 | “Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman |
NEW |
| 10 | “Frost/Nixon” Hans Zimmer |
NEW |
| MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” Peter Gabriel |
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| 2 | “The Wrestler” from “The Wrestler” Bruce Springsteen |
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| 3 | “I Thought I Lost You” from “Bolt” Miley Cyrus |
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| 4 | “I Want It All” from “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” Cast of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” |
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| 5 | “Gran Torino” from “Gran Torino” Clint Eastwood, Jamie Callum |
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| 6 | “Jaiho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” AR Rahmen |
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| 7 | “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” from “Hamlet 2” Phoebe Strole |
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| 8 | “Another Way to Die” from “Quantum of Solace” Alicia Keys, Jack White |
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| 9 | “Little Person” from “Synecdoche, New York” Jon Brion |
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| 10 | “All Dressed Up in Love” from “Sex and the City” Jennifer Hudson |
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| 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 | “The Dark Knight” | |
| 4 | “Iron Man” | |
| 5 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | |
| 6 | “Valkyrie” | |
| 7 | “Body of Lies” | |
8 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” | |
| 9 | “Cloverfield” | |
| 10 | “Australia” | |
| VISUAL EFFECTS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 2 | “Iron Man” | — |
| 3 | “The Dark Knight” | NEW |
| 4 | “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” | — |
| 5 | “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” | — |
| 6 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” | |
| 7 | “The Spiderwick Chronicles” | |
| 8 | “Hancock” | |
| 9 | “The Incredible Hulk” | |
| 10 | “Journey to the Center of the Earth” | NEW |