NUTSHELL: Lots of slipping and sliding this week, with “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” taking a couple of dives, but not necessarily out of too many top fives. Stephen Frears’s period comedy “Chéri” also lands on a few charts with the news that Miramax will release the film this year. The real race of interest for me in this field is Best Cinematography, where newcomers Mandy Walker and Claudio Miranda bookend the predicted five, with Javier Aguirresarobe not far behind. The lensers are generally the first to recognize newbie talent in the Oscar race, so perhaps this trio could be a force to be reckoned with as they lend their talents to what appear to be visually dynamic films.
Sort charts by: Main Categories/Technical Categories
| ART DIRECTION | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” Guy Dyas; Larry Dias, Alyssa Winter |
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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 Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Donald Graham Burt; Victor J. Zolfo |
NEW |
| 5 | “Synecdoche, New York” Mark Friednamn; Lydia Marks |
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| 6 | “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Stuart Craig; Stephanie McMillan |
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| 7 | “Chéri” Alan MacDonald; Judy Farr, Véronique Melery |
NEW |
| 8 | “Appaloosa” Waldemar Kalinowski; Linda Lee Sutten |
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| 9 | “Red Cliff” Timmy Yip |
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| 10 | “Defiance” Dan Weil; Véronique Melery |
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| CINEMATOGRAPHY | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Australia” Mandy Walker |
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| 2 | “The Dark Knight” Wally Pfister |
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| 3 | “Defiance” Eduardo Serra |
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| 4 | “Revolutionary Road” Roger Deakins |
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| 5 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Claudio Miranda |
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| 6 | “Appaloosa” Dean Semler |
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| 7 | “The Road” Javier Aguirresarobe |
NEW |
| 8 | “Red Cliff” Lue Ye |
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| 9 | “Blindness” César Charlone |
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| 10 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” Janusz Kaminski |
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| COSTUME DESIGN | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell |
— |
| 2 | “Revolutionary Road” Albert Wolsky |
— |
| 3 | “Chéri” Consolata Boyle |
NEW |
| 4 | “Australia” Catherine Martin |
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| 5 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Jacqueline West |
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| 6 | “Changeling” Deborah Hopper |
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| 7 | “Doubt” Ann Roth |
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| 8 | “The Reader” Ann Roth |
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| 9 | “Sex and the City” Patricia Field |
NEW |
| 10 | “Red Cliff” unknown |
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| FILM EDITING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Angus Wall |
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| 2 | “Defiance” Steven Rosenblum |
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| 3 | “Frost/Nixon” Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill |
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| 4 | “Body of Lies” Pietro Scalia |
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| 5 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” Michael Kahn |
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| 6 | “Changeling” Joel Cox |
NEW |
| 7 | “Revolutionary Road” Tariq Anwar |
— |
| 8 | “Australia” Dody Dorn |
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| 9 | “Doubt” Dylan Tichenor |
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| 10 | “The Reader” Claire Simpson |
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| MAKEUP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 2 | “Frost/Nixon” | — |
| 3 | “The Dark Knight” | ![]() |
| 4 | “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” | ![]() |
| 5 | “Tropic Thunder” | — |
| 6 | “Synecdoche, New York” | NEW |
| 7 | “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army” | ![]() |
| 8 | “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” | ![]() |
| 9 | “The Young Victoria” | NEW |
| 10 | “Red Cliff” | — |
| MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “WALL-E” Thomas Newman |
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| 2 | “Revolutionary Road” Thomas Newman |
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| 3 | “Chéri” Alexandre Desplat |
NEW |
| 4 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” John Williams |
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| 5 | “Che” Alberto Iglesias |
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| 6 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat |
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| 7 | “Australia” David Hirschfelder |
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| 8 | “Frost/Nixon” Hans Zimmer |
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| 9 | “The Soloist” Dario Marianelli |
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| 10 | “Defiance” James Newton Howard |
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| SOUND EDITING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Wall-E” | ![]() |
| 2 | “Iron Man” | ![]() |
| 3 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” | ![]() |
| 4 | “Defiance” | — |
| 5 | “Hancock” | — |
| 6 | “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” | — |
| 7 | “The Incredible Hulk” | — |
| 8 | “The Dark Knight” | NEW |
| 9 | “Quantum of Solace” | — |
| 10 | “Appaloosa” | — |
| SOUND MIXING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” | — |
| 2 | “Wall-E” | — |
| 3 | “Iron Man” | ![]() |
| 4 | “Defiance” | ![]() |
| 5 | “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” | ![]() |
| 6 | “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” | — |
| 7 | “Hancock” | ![]() |
| 8 | “Quantum of Solace” | ![]() |
| 9 | “Cloverfield” | ![]() |
| 10 | “Appaloosa” | ![]() |
| VISUAL EFFECTS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Iron Man” | — |
| 2 | “Hancock” | ![]() |
| 3 | “The Incredible Hulk” | — |
| 4 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | ![]() |
| 5 | “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” | ![]() |
| 6 | “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” | ![]() |
| 7 | “Speed Racer” | — |
| 8 | “The Spiderwick Chronicles” | — |
| 9 | “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” | — |
| 10 | “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” | — |

