Oscar Time!

By Ethan Alter Jan 22, 2009

Ladies and gentlemen–your Best Picture winner, Slumdog Millionaire.

That’s right folks, it’s all over. No point in pretending that there’s any suspense left to this Oscar race. Danny Boyle’s rags-to-riches tale of a Mumbai slum kid who scores the million-rupee jackpot on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is this year’s Best Picture winner, signed, sealed and delivered. At this point, the only other film that could possibly take this seemingly unstoppable movie down is Gus Van Sant’s moving biopic Milk (my personal favorite of the five nominees), but expect that movie to go home empty-handed except for a possible Best Actor win for Sean Penn (though my money’s on comeback kid Mickey Rourke at this point). A full list of nominations can be found here. I’ll be back with another post of my Oscar predictions closer to the February 22 telecast, but in the meantime, here’s my early reaction to this morning’s news.

Biggest Surprises

-Taraji P. Henson nabbing a Best Supporting actress nod for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I knew the film would clean up in the technical categories as well as the Big Two (Director and Picture). But I figured the actors would fall by the wayside as Button is much more a technical achievement than an acting showcase. Instead both Henson and the movie’s star Brad Pitt are up for acting statues, although I’m not convinced Pitt’s nomination was deserved. I’m fine with Henson making the cut, though–it’s probably the film’s most fully realized performance.

-No Dark Knight nomination for either Picture or Director. Despite everyone in the press assuming that those nods were inevitable because of the film’s astronomical box office, the Academy kept the film confined to the technical categories with the exception of Heath Ledger’s posthumous nomination (and likely win) for Best Supporting Actor. Expect the Internet to be flooded with angry rants from fanboys.

-No Bruce Springsteen for Best Original Song. Frankly, I’m not that broken up about this as his song wasn’t all that memorable. Still, the Academy usually tosses veteran rockers a bone so they can get a ratings boost by advertising a performance by Bruce Springsteen. Not this year though.

Favorite Nominations

-The Academy did right by three wonderful character actors this year, with Richard Jenkins picking up a Best Actor nod for The Visitor, Melissa Leo scoring an out-of-nowhere Best Actress nomination for the little indie that could Frozen River and the wonderful Viola Davis getting recognized for her single-scene tour-de-force supporting performance in Doubt. I don’t know that any of these performers stand a chance at winning (although Leo could suprise in a major upset), but it’s wonderful to see them have the chance to stand in the spotlight at last.

-Thank you, thank you, thank you Oscar voters for seeing through the farce of Kate Winslet’s “supporting” performance in The Reader and putting her in the Best Actress race where she belongs. This isn’t among my favorite performances of her career so I can’t say I’m rooting for her to win (sorry Kate!), but I am glad that if this does end up being her year, at least she’ll win for the right category.

-Robert Downey Jr.’s Best Supporting Actor nomination for Tropic Thunder. While it’s unfortunate that the only black dude nominated for an Oscar this year is actually a white dude playing a black dude, Downey Jr.’s performance is a marvel of comic timing and absolute fearlessness in the face of a daunting, if not impossible task. If I’m being 100% honest, I’d rather see Downey win than Ledger, though the chances of that happening are slim to none.

-Trouble the Water earning a spot in the Documentary Feature category. Hopefully the recognition will encourage more viewers to check out this important and gripping account of Hurricane Katrina’s impact on the lives of one extraordinary New Orleans couple.

Least Favorite Nominations