Ranking the Oscar Nominees

[chrisnu]

I saw this on another forum, and thought this would be fun, and fit for a separate thread, rather than the FDT. Here goes:


Best Picture

1. Milk
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Frost/Nixon
4. Slumdog Millionaire

Not Seen - The Reader

Best Director

1. Gus Van Sant
2. David Fincher
3. Danny Boyle
4. Ron Howard

NS - Stephen Daldry

Best Actor

1. Mickey Rourke
2. Sean Penn
3. Richard Jenkins
4. Frank Langella
5. Brad Pitt

Best Actress

1. Anne Hathaway
2. Melissa Leo
3. Meryl Streep

NS - Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie

Best Supporting Actor

1. Heath Ledger
2. Robert Downey Jr.
3. Michael Shannon
4. Philip Seymour Hoffman
5. Josh Brolin

Best Supporting Actress

1. Penelope Cruz
2. Marisa Tomei
3. Viola Davis
4. Amy Adams
5. Taraji P. Henson

Original Screenplay

1. Milk
2. WALL-E
3. Frozen River

NS - Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges

Adapted Screenplay

1. Doubt
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Frost/Nixon

NS - The Reader

[Winston*]

The only category which I've seen more than two of the nominees is adapted screenplay (only seen 4 performances out of all 4 acting categories).

[lovejuice]

Best Picture

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Milk
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. The Reader

ns: Frost/Nixon

Best Director

1. David Fincher
2. Gus Van Sant
3. Danny Boyle
4. Stephen Daldry

ns: Ron Howard

Best Actor

1. Mickey Rourke
2. Brad Pitt
3. Sean Penn

ns: richard jenkins, frank langella

Best Actress

1. Anne Hathaway
2. Kate Winslet

ns: Melissa Leo, Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie

Original Screenplay

1. Milk
2. WALL-E

ns: Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges, Frozen River

Adapted Screenplay

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Reader

ns - Frost/Nixon, Doubt

[DavidSeven]

Best Picture

1. Milk
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Slumdog Millionaire

Not Seen - The Reader, Frost/Nixon

Best Director

1. Gus Van Sant
2. David Fincher
3. Danny Boyle

NS - Stephen Daldry, Ron Howard

Best Supporting Actor

1. Heath Ledger
2. Michael Shannon
3. Robert Downey Jr.
4. Josh Brolin

NS: PSH

[Ivan Drago]

Best Picture

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Milk
5. The Reader

Best Director

1. Boyle
2. Fincher
3. Van Sant
4. Howard
5. Daldry

Best Actor

1. Rourke
2. Langella
3. Penn
4. Pitt
NA: Jenkins

Best Actress

1. Streep
2. Winslet
NA: Leo, Jolie, Hathaway

Best Supporting Actor

1. Ledger
2. Shannon
3. Hoffman
4. Downey Jr.
5. Brolin

Best Supporting Actress

1. Adams
2. Tomei
3. Henson Viola Davis
4. Davis
NA: Cruz

Best Original Screenplay

1. Milk
2. WALL-E
NA: Frozen River, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Frost/Nixon
2. Doubt
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. The Reader

[Silencio]

Best Picture

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Milk
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Frost/Nixon
5. The Reader

Best Director

1. Gus Van Sant
2. David Fincher
3. Danny Boyle
4. Ron Howard
5. Stephen Daldry

Best Actor

1. Sean Penn
2. Mickey Rourke
3. Richard Jenkins
4. Frank Langella
5. Brad Pitt

Best Actress

1. Anne Hathaway
2. Melissa Leo
3. Meryl Streep
4. Angelina Jolie
5. Kate Winslet

Best Supporting Actor

1. Heath Ledger
2. Josh Brolin
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman
4. Robert Downey Jr.
5. Michael Shannon

Best Supporting Actress

1. Viola Davis
2. Marisa Tomei
3. Penelope Cruz
4. Amy Adams
5. Taraji P. Henson

Best Original Screenplay

1. Happy-Go-Lucky
2. Milk
3. WALL-E
4. In Bruges
5. Frozen River

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Doubt
3. Frost/Nixon
4. Slumdog Millionaire
5. The Reader

[lovejuice]

Best Picture

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Milk
5. The Reader

Best Director

1. Boyle
2. Fincher
3. Van Sant
4. Howard
5. Daldry


you're the first person to have a rather different best picture and best director ranking. care to explain?

[Winston*]

you're the first person to have a rather different best picture and best director ranking. care to explain?

Especially strange since the direction is almost universally considered to be the strongest aspect of Button.

[kamran]

The main eight:

PICTURE
1. Milk Grade: B
2. Frost/Nixon Grade: B-
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Grade: C+
4. The Reader Grade: C
5. Slumdog Millionaire Grade: C/C-

I don't particularly love any of these films, but Milk comes the closest to greatness. For a biopic, that's saying a lot these days.

DIRECTOR
1. Gus Van Sant, Milk

Same rankings as Picture, although I'd likely vote for Fincher as a second, since that film must have been a bitch to helm.

ACTRESS
1. Sally Hawki---

Oh right.

1. Melissa Leo, Frozen River
2. Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
3. Meryl Streep, Doubt
4. Angelina Jolie, Changeling
5. Kate Winslet, The Reader

Even Winslet has her mediocre performances, and while this one isn't exactly in the Holiday territory, I wouldn't include it in a retrospective. Even if she does win the Oscar for it. Meanwhile, Leo is trapped in movie-of-the-week territory, but she elevates it to a point that the material plays better than it actually is.

ACTOR
1. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
2. Sean Penn, Milk
3. Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
4. Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
5. Brad Pitt, Benjamin Button

I love the work of Jenkins, a favourite character actor of mine, but I'm not particularly convinced he's doing something spectacular in The Visitor. This race is between Penn and Rourke, and for good reason, because I can't decide who deserves the award more. My heart says Rourke, but I haven't seen Penn this joyful and playful in years. I'm tipping towards the former, and I think he'll come out on top next Sunday as well.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
2. Viola Davis, Doubt
3. Amy Adams, Doubt
4. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
5. Taraji P. Henson, Benjamin Button

It's a testament to Tomei's work that she really feels like a lead in her film, although her screentime is a fraction of Rourke's. She makes the most of that character, avoiding every single cliche we've seen about good-hearted strippers and single mothers. I love Viola Davis too, but I'd have handed her an Oscar for that chilling cameo in Soderbergh's Solaris five years ago.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
2. Josh Brolin, Milk
3. Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
4. Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road
5. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt

Ledger's gleeful psychopath remains one of the definitive performances of 2008, and I'm not going to snub him for the sake of being contrarian. Although Brokeback remains his best work. Brolin is a close second for actually being able to create some sympathy for White. I'm not really convinced that Shannon's much-ballyhood cameo in Revolutionary Road works, but it's still better than PSH's standard shouting and bellowing in his film.

SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED)
1. John Patrick Shanley, Doubt

The only nominee I'd actually be able to stomach voting for, and even then, I'm not happy about it. Awful category.

SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL)
1. Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
2. Dustin Lance Black, Milk

Once again, the rest of the nominees start to fade away put next to these two.

[lovejuice]

Especially strange since the direction is almost universally considered to be the strongest aspect of Button.
it's so different from his previous work i am not quite sure "strong" is the word, but it really shows how versatile fincher can be.

[The Mike]

Best Picture

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Frost/Nixon


Best Director

1. Danny Boyle
2. Ron Howard


Best Actor

1. Mickey Rourke
2. Richard Jenkins
3. Frank Langella

Best Actress

Best Supporting Actor

1. Robert Downey Jr.
2. Heath Ledger

Best Supporting Actress

1. Marisa Tomei

Best Original Screenplay

1. In Bruges


Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Frost/Nixon

Yeah, I'm pretty much useless.

[Pop Trash]

Best Picture:
1. Milk
2.
3.
4. Slumdog Millionaire
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Director:
1. Gus Van Sant (Milk)
2. Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
3. David Fincher (Benjamin Button)

Best Actor:
1. Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
2. Sean Penn (Milk)
3. Brad Pitt (Benjamin Button)

Best Actress:
1. Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)

Best Supporting Actor:
1. Heath Ledger (TDK)
2. Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
3. Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)
4. Josh Brolin (Milk)

Best Supporting Actress:
1. Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
2. Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)
3. Taraji Henson (Benjamin Button)

Best Original Screenplay:
1. Wall-E
2. Milk
3. In Bruges

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Errr...none since I thought the problems Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire had were primarily with their weak screenplays. I didn't see the other films nominated.

Best Cinematography:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Benjamin Button
3. Slumdog Millionaire

Best Editing:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Milk
4. Benjamin Button

Best Art Direction:
1. The Dark Knight
2. Benjamin Button
3. Revolutionary Road

Best Costume Design:
1. Revolutionary Road
2. Milk
3. Benjamin Button

Best Makeup:
1. Benjamin Button
2. The Dark Knight

Best Original Score:
1. Wall-E
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Milk
4. Benjamin Button

Best Original Song:
1. The MIA song from Slumdog Millionaire
2. Peter Gabriel's Wall-E song
3. The non-MIA song from Slumdog Millionaire

Best Visual Effects:
1. Benjamin Button (it actually deserves this one)
2. The Dark Knight
3. Iron Man

Best Animated Feature:
1. Wall-muthafuckin-E

Best Documentary Feature:
1. Man on Wire
2. Encounters at the End of the World

[eternity]

BP:
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Milk
3. Frost/Nixon
4. Slumdog Millionaire
5. The Reader

BD:
1. Fincher
2. Van Sant
3. Howard
4. Daldry
5. Boyle

Best Actor:
1. Mickey Rourke
2. Richard Jenkins
3. Brad Pitt
4. Sean Penn
5. Frank Langella

Best Actress:
1. Anne Hathaway
2. Angelina Jolie
3. Kate Winslet

Best Supporting Actor:
1. Michael Shannon
2. Heath Ledger
3. Robert Downey Jr.
4. Josh Brolin

Best Supporting Actress:
1. Taraji P. Henson
2. Marisa Tomei
3. Penelope Cruz

Best Original Screenplay:
1. In Bruges
2. Wall-E
3. Milk
4. Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Adapted Screenplay:
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. The Reader

[Hugh_Grant]

Best Picture
1. The Reader
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Milk
4. Frost/Nixon
.
.
.
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Director
1. Danny Boyle
2. Stephen Daldry
3. Gus Van Sant
4. Ron Howard
5. David Fincher

Best Actor
1. Richard Jenkins
2. Mickey Rourke
3. Sean Penn
4. Frank Langella
.
.
.
5. Brad Pitt

(Honestly, 1-3 are so close.)

Best Actress
1. Kate Winslet
2. Meryl Streep

Best Supporting Actor
1. Robert Downey, Jr.
2. Josh Brolin
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman

Best Supporting Actress
1. Marisa Tomei
2. Penelope Cruz
3. Viola Davis
4. Amy Adams
5. Taraji P. Henson

Best Original Screenplay
1. WALL-E
2. Milk
3. In Bruges

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. The Reader
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Frost/Nixon
4. Doubt
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

[Morris Schæffer]

Best Picture

0. The Dark Knight
1. Frost/Nixon
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Not Seen - The Reader / Milk

[Kurosawa Fan]

Best Picture

1. Milk
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director

1. Gus Van Sant
2. David Fincher
3. Danny Boyle

Best Actor

1. Richard Jenkins
2. Sean Penn
3. Brad Pitt

Best Actress

1. Meryl Streep

Best Supporting Actor

1. Robert Downey Jr.
2. Heath Ledger
3. Josh Brolin
4. Philip Seymour Hoffman

Best Supporting Actress

1. Penelope Cruz
2. Taraji P. Henson
3. Viola Davis
4. Amy Adams

Original Screenplay

1. WALL-E
2. Milk
3. Happy-Go-Lucky

Adapted Screenplay

1. Doubt
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Slumdog Millionaire

[Ezee E]

Best Picture:
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Milk
3. Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Actor:
1. Rourke - The Wrestler
2. Jenkins - The Visitor
3. Penn - Milk
4. Pitt - Benjamin Button

Actress:
1. Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
2. Jolie - Changeling
3. Streep - Doubt

S-Actor:
1. Ledger - Dark Knight
2. Shannon - Revolutionary Road
3. Hoffman - Doubt
4. Brolin - Milk
5. Downey - Tropic Thunder
2-5 are all really equal. Great performances all around.

S-Actress -
1. Tomei - The Wrestler
2. Adams - Doubt
3. Davis - Doubt
4. Henson - Button

[NickGlass]

PICTURE
1. Milk: 8.5
2. The Reader: 5.5
3. Frost/Nixon: 5.5
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: 5.0
5. Slumdog Millionaire: 3.5

Milk is triumphant. The only reason The Reader and Frost/Nixon register slightly higher than Benjamin Button and Slumdog--the former too loosely defined and the latter too rigid--is because "tasteful" mediocrity apparently pays more than jarring, misguided failure.

DIRECTOR
1. Gus Van Sant, Milk
2. David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
4. Stephen Daldry, The Reader
5. Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon

Mediocrity, however, is not superior in the director's circle.

ACTRESS
1. Melissa Leo, Frozen River
2. Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
3. Kate Winslet, The Reader
4. Meryl Streep, Doubt

The only nominee not seen (well, I've seen most of the performance, screaming and all, just not the actual 140 minutes of quizzical expressions and shrill pleading in the film): Angelina Jolie, Changeling

I find myself oddly alienated from this category this year. Melissa Leo seems to be the type of indie, just-under-the-wire contender I would be rooting for in any other year (see: Ryan Gosling), and perhaps her genuine performance in enhanced by the fact that everything around her is so spuriously crafted. Hathaway is fine, even though her own "big" moments are the parts I found most falsely written (a Hathaway-Dewitt combo-nom would have been most appropriate). Winslet and Streep are still queens, they're just royalty that did not pick the right character to play, or choose the right amount of subtlety to play it.

ACTOR
1. Sean Penn, Milk
2. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

3. Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
4. Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
5. Brad Pitt, Benjamin Button

Man, that was tough.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Viola Davis, Doubt
2. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
3. Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
4. Amy Adams, Doubt
5. Taraji P. Henson, Benjamin Button

Davis, Cruz and Tomei do an equal amount of work shaping humans out of their scarcely-written characters, but Davis has the upper hand in effect (mostly due to her brilliant use of snot). The three of them are near-equals in my eyes--as difficult a decision as Rourke or Penn.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Josh Brolin, Milk
2. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
4. Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road
5. Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder

I'm not a bad person. I'm not a bad person. I'm not a bad person. Brolin succeeding in being a complex, conflicted human being AND a villain.

SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED)
1. David Hare, The Reader
2.
3.
4.
5.

I quote kamran/Ali: "The only nominee I'd actually be able to stomach voting for, and even then, I'm not happy about it. Awful category." I, of course, am referring to Hare's adaptation (I disliked the book as well, but it's not a poor adaptation). If Shanley had done anything with his already-rich material-- instead of just layering on obvious, ostentatious directorial decisions--then maybe his screenplay would be worthy of praise. I also believe, without a doubt, that Slumdog's screenplay is its worst feature.

SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL)
1. Dustin Lance Black, Milk
2. Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
3. Wall-E people
4. Martin McDonough, In Bruges
5. Courtney Hunt, Frozen River

I don't know what to make of this category this year, so I won't.

[lovejuice]

PICTURE
1. Milk: 8.5


this is a surprisingly high score. do you have a review somewhere?

[NickGlass]

this is a surprisingly high score. do you have a review somewhere?

No full review, unfortunately, but I've spread enough comments throughout the film's official Match-cut thread to piece together why I love it so much.

[lovejuice]

because i can. :)

1. On the Line – Reto Caffi
2. Manon on the Asphalt – Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
3. The Pig – Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
4. Toyland – Jochen Alexander Freydank
5. New Boy – Steph Green and Tamara Anghie

Manon on the Asphalt is not great by any standard. it just yells "me!", so i have no choice by honor it.