NUTSHELL: I was hoping to be able to fill this space with line after line of excitement at the possibilities. “Look at all these surprises,” I hoped to exclaim. Alas, unless you want to discuss the chances of “Wanted” in the sound categories, the technical arenas were an awful bore this year, as it unfortunately turned out. But boy do I hope “The Dark Knight” cleans up in a few places. Anything to cover the stench of that pesky Best Picture snub.
Column: “Welcome to phase two”
Sort charts by: Main Categories/Technical Categories
| ART DIRECTION | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Donald Graham Burt; Victor J. Zolfo |
— |
| 2 | “Changeling” James J. Murakami; Gary Fettis |
— |
| 3 | “Revolutionary Road” Kristi Zea; Debra Schutt |
 |
| 4 | “The Duchess” Michael Carlin; Rebecca Alleway |
NEW |
| 5 | “The Dark Knight” Nathan Crowley; Peter Lando |
NEW |
| CINEMATOGRAPHY | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Dark Knight” Wally Pfister |
— |
| 2 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Claudio Miranda |
|
| 3 | “Slumdog Millionaire” Anthony Dod Mantle |
 |
| 4 | “Changeling” Tom Stern |
|
| 5 | “The Reader” Roger Deakins, Chris Menges |
|
| COSTUME DESIGN | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Jacqueline West |
— |
| 2 | “The Duchess” Michael O’Connor |
— |
| 3 | “Revolutionary Road” Albert Wolsky |
— |
| 4 | “Australia” Catherine Martin |
|
| 5 | “Milk” Danny Glicker |
NEW |
| FILM EDITING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Slumdog Millionaire” Chris Dickens |
— |
| 2 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall |
— |
| 3 | “The Dark Knight” Lee Smith |
— |
| 4 | “Milk” Elliot Graham |
|
| 5 | “Frost/Nixon” Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill |
|
| MAKEUP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 2 | “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” | |
| 3 | “The Dark Knight” | |
| MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman |
|
| 2 | “WALL-E” Thomas Newman |
— |
| 3 | “Defiance” James Newton Howard |
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| 4 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat |
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| 5 | “Milk” Danny Eflman |
|
| MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” Peter Gabriel; Thomas Newman |
— |
| 2 | “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman; Gulzar |
|
| 3 | “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman; Maya Arulpragasam (M.I.A.) |
NEW |
| SOUND EDITING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Wall-E” | — |
| 2 | “The Dark Knight” | — |
| 3 | “Iron Man” | — |
| 4 | “Wanted” | NEW |
| 5 | “Slumdog Millionaire” | |
| SOUND MIXING | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Wall-E” | — |
| 2 | “The Dark Knight” | — |
| 3 | “Slumdog Millionaire” | — |
| 4 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 5 | “Wanted” | |
| VISUAL EFFECTS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” | — |
| 2 | “Iron Man” | — |
| 3 | “The Dark Knight” | |