NUTSHELL: Some might not be daunted by the early mixed-negative buzz on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (admittedly based on 20 minutes of footage), but the fanboy contingent is the one you’d have expected to give positive notices…for now, I’m a bit worried, hence the film’s drop in a number of areas. But my thoughts on the masterpiece script are well-known by this point. And anything can change once we get a look at the finished film, of course. Meanwhile, significant advances for “Rachel Getting Married” (a film that will have it’s lovers even if I don’t fall among their ranks) and “The Visitor” (expecting an awards push from Overture Films) keep the indies in the fray while the unseen big boys continue to duke it out.
Column: “Make way for the little guys…or not”
Sort charts by: Main Categories/Technical Categories
| BEST PICTURE | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Milk” Focus Features |
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| 2 | “The Soloist” DreamWorks SKG |
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| 3 | “Frost/Nixon” Universal Pictures |
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| 4 | “Defiance” Paramount Vantage |
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| 5 | “Australia” 20th Century Fox |
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| 6 | “Revolutionary Road” Paramount Vantage |
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| 7 | “The Reader” The Weinstein Company |
NEW |
| 8 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Paramount Pictures |
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| 9 | “Gran Torino” Warner Bros. Pictures |
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| 10 | “Changeling” Universal Pictures |
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| DIRECTING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gus Van Sant “Milk” |
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| 2 | Joe Wright “The Soloist” |
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| 3 | Ron Howard “Frost/Nixon” |
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| 4 | Edward Zwick “Paramount Vantage” |
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| 5 | Christopher Nolan “The Dark Knight” |
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| 6 | Baz Luhrmann “Australia” |
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| 7 | Clint Eastwood “Changeling” (or “Gran Torino”) |
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| 8 | David Fincher “The Curious case of Benjamin Button” |
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| 9 | Sam Mendes “Revolutionary Road” |
— |
| 10 | Stephen Daldry “The Reader” |
NEW |
| ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Langella “Frost/Nixon” |
— |
| 2 | Sean Penn “Milk” |
— |
| 3 | Viggo Mortensen “The Road” (or “Good”) |
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| 4 | Brad Pitt “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” |
— |
| 5 | Jamie Foxx “The Soloist” |
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| 6 | Leonardo DiCaprio “Revolutionary Road” (or “Body of Lies”) |
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| 7 | Clint Eastwood “Gran Torino” |
— |
| 8 | Richard Jenkins “The Visitor” |
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| 9 | Mickey Rourke “The Wrestler” |
NEW |
| 10 | Michael Sheen “Frost/Nixon” |
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| ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angelina Jolie “Changling” |
— |
| 2 | Kate Winslet “Revolutionary Road” (or “The Reader”) |
— |
| 3 | Charlize Theron “The Burning Plain” |
NEW |
| 4 | Anne Hathaway “Rachel Getting Married” |
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| 5 | Nicole Kidman “Australia” |
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| 6 | Melissa Leo “Frozen River” |
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| 7 | Meryl Streep “Doubt” (or “Mamma Mia!”) |
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| 8 | Sally Hawkins “Happy-Go-Lucky” |
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| 9 | Michelle Williams “Wendy and Lucy” |
NEW |
| 10 | Kristin Scott Thomas “I’ve Loved You So Long” |
— |
| ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heath Ledger “The Dark Knight” |
— |
| 2 | Robert Downey Jr. “The Soloist” (or “Tropic Thunder”) |
— |
| 3 | Kodi Smit-McPhee “The Road” |
— |
| 4 | Josh Brolin “Milk” |
— |
| 5 | Michael Shannon “Revolutionary Road” |
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| 6 | Russell Crowe “Body of Lies” |
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| 7 | Eddie Marsan “Happy-Go-Lucky” |
— |
| 8 | Peter O’Toole “Dean Spanley” |
NEW |
| 9 | Tobey Maguire “Brothers” |
— |
| 10 | Alan Alda “Nothing But the Truth” |
— |
| ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Penélope Cruz “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” |
— |
| 2 | Taraji P. Henson “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” |
— |
| 3 | Vera Farmiga “Nothing But the Truth” |
— |
| 4 | Rachel Weisz “The Brothers Bloom” |
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| 5 | Viola Davis “Doubt” |
— |
| 6 | Kathy Bates “Revolutionary Road” |
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| 7 | Queen Latifah “The Secret Life of Bees” |
NEW |
| 8 | Elizabeth Banks “W.” |
NEW |
| 9 | Rosemarie Dewitt “Rachel Getting Married” |
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| 10 | Catherine Keener “The Soloist” (or “Synecdoche, New York”) |
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| WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Revolutionary Road” Written by Justin Haythe Based on the short story by Richard Yates |
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| 2 | “Frost/Nixon” Written by Peter Morgan Based on his play |
— |
| 3 | “Defiance” Written by Clay Frohman, Edward Zwick Based on the book by Nechama Tec |
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| 4 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Written by Eric Roth; Screen Story by Eric Roth, Robin Swicord Based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald |
— |
| 5 | “Slumdog Millionaire” Written by Simon Beaufoy Based on the book “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup |
NEW |
| 6 | “The Road” Written by Joe Penhall Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy |
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| 7 | “The Reader” Written by David Hare Based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink |
NEW |
| 8 | “The Dark Knight” Written by Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan Story by David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan Based on characters created by Bob Kane |
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| 9 | “Body of Lies” Written by William Monahan, Steven Zaillian Based on the book by David Ignatius |
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| 10 | “Doubt” Written by John Patrick Shanley Based on his play |
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| WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Milk” Written by Dustin Lance Black |
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| 2 | “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” Written by Woody Allen |
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| 3 | “Rachel Getting Married” Written by Jenny Lumet |
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| 4 | “The Soloist” Written by Susannah Grant |
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| 5 | “Happy-Go-Lucky” Written by Mike Leigh |
— |
| 6 | “The Visitor” Written by Thomas McCarthy |
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| 7 | “Seven Pounds” Written by Grant Nieporte |
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| 8 | “Changeling” Written by J. Michael Straczynski |
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| 9 | “Synecdoche, New York” Written by Charlie Kaufman |
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| 10 | “Australia” Written by Stuart Beattie, Baz Luhrmann |
NEW |
| ANIMATED FEATURE FILM | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “WALL-E” Walt Disney Pictures |
— |
| 2 | “Waltz with Bashir” Sony Pictures Classics |
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| 3 | “Kung Fu Panda” DreamWorks SKG |
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| 4 | “Horton Hears a Who!” 20th Century Fox |
— |
| 5 | “The Tale of Despereaux” Universal Pictures |
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| 6 | “Igor” The Weinstein Company |
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| 7 | “Bolt” Walt Disney Pictures |
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| 8 | “Space Chimps” 20th Century Fox |
— |
| 9 | “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” DreamWorks SKG |
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| 10 | “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Warner Bros. Pictures |
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