My final Oscar predictions.

BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Warner Bros./Paramount) Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Cean Chaffin, producers.

The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) Charles Roven, Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, producers.

Frost/Nixon (Imagine Entertainment) Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, producers.

Milk (Focus Features) Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks and Michael London, producers.

Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) Christian Colson, producer.


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight

Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino

Gus Van Sant, Milk

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino

Richard Jenkins, The Visitor

Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn, Milk

Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky

Meryl Streep, Doubt

Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Josh Brolin, Milk

Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams, Doubt

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis, Doubt

Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Kate Winslet, The Reader


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Milk
Written by Dustin Lance Black

Rachel Getting Married
Written by Jenny Lumet

Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Written by Woody Allen

WALL-E
Screenplay by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon
Story by Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter

The Wrestler
Written by Robert D. Siegel


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Screenplay by Eric Roth
Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Dark Knight
Screenplay by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan
Screen story by Christopher, Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer
Based on the DC Comics created by Bob Kane

Frost/Nixon
Screenplay by Peter Morgan
Based on his play

The Reader
Screenplay by David Hare
Based on the novel by Bernard Schlink

Slumdog Millionaire
Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Based on the novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Kung Fu Panda (Dreamworks) Mark Osborne and John Stevenson

WALL-E (Disney/PIXAR) Andrew Stanton

Waltz with Bashir (Sony Pictures Classics) Ari Folman


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

Claudio Miranda, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight

Chris Menges and Roger Deakins, The Reader

Roger Deakins, Revolutionary Road

Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING

Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Lee Smith, The Dark Knight

Mike Hill and Dan Hanley, Frost/Nixon

Elliot Graham, Milk

Chris Dickens, Slumdog Millionaire


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION

Australia
Catherine Martin (art direction) & Beverley Dunn (set decoration)

Changeling
James J. Murakami (art direction) & Gary Fettis (set decoration)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Donald Graham Burt (art direction) & Victor J. Zolfo (set decoration)

The Dark Knight
Nathan Crowley (art direction) & Peter Lando (set decoration)

The Reader
Briggite Broch (art direction) & Eva Stiebler (set decoration)


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE

Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Hans Zimmer, Frost/Nixon

Danny Elfman, Milk

A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

Thomas Newman, WALL-E


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG

"Barking at the Moon", Bolt
Music & lyrics by Jenny Lewis

"Down to Earth", WALL-E
Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Lyrics by Peter Gabriel

"Jai Ho", Slumdog Millionaire
Music & lyrics by A.R. Rahman

"O Saya", Slumdog Millionaire
Music & lyrics by A.R. Rahman

"The Wrestler", The Wrestler
Music & lyrics by Bruce Springsteen


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

Catherine Martin, Australia

Deborah Hopper, Changeling

Jacqueline West, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Albert Wolsky, Revolutionary Road

Patricia Field, Sex and the City


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ren Klyce, David Parker and Michael Semanick.

The Dark Knight
Gary Rizzo, Lora Hirschberg and Ed Novick

Iron Man
Christopher Boyes, Lora Hirschberg and Michael Silvers.

Slumdog Millionaire
Richard Pryke, Ian Tapp and Resul Pookutty

WALL-E
Ben Burtt, Tom Myers and Michael Semanick


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

The Dark Knight
Richard King

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Ben Burtt and Richard Hymns

Iron Man
Frank Eulner

Kung Fu Panda
Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van Der Ryn..

WALL-E
Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood.


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Eric Barba, Paul Griffin, Steve Preeg and Whei Zeng.

The Dark Knight
Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Angulo and Paul J. Franklin

Iron Man
John Nelson, Ben Snow, Hal Hickel and David Andrews


BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Greg Cannom and Elaine L. Offers.

The Dark Knight
Conor O'Sullivan and Peter Robb-King

Tropic Thunder
Matthew W. Mungle and Michele Burke.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Baadof Meinhof Complex, Germany (Dune Films)
Uli Edel, director.

The Class, France (Sony Pictures Classics/Canal+)
Laurence Cantet, director.

Everlasting Moments, Sweden (IFC Films)
Jan Troell, director.

The Necessities of Life, Canada (Telefilm Canada)
Benoit Pilon, director.

Waltz with Bashir, Israel (Sony Pictures Classics)
Ari Folman, director.

Top 10 Films SEEN In 2008 (2 of 2 parts)

Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi)

This is yet another masterpiece from one of the masters of Japanese cinema, Kenji Mizoguchi. This emotionally heartwrenching tale of a family of a kind Japanese governor whose liberal policies have forced him out of power and tore his family apart is beautifully told through wonderful photography, acting and direction. It's one of the absolute must-sees of world cinema. Odd fact: The title character of this film is actually a supporting character with less than 10 minutes of screen time. (8/2)

Himala (Ishmael Bernal)

This is one of the major classics of Filipino cinema and now I know why. This is probably one of the best films about religion I have ever seen (And I'm not just saying this because I know the screenwriter personally). After a solar eclipse is seen in a drought-striken poor, rural Filipino town, a young woman claims to have witnessed a vision of the Virgin Mary and starts faith-healing and her alleged success is what turns the town into an overnight tourist attraction and media frenzy. Great performances, striking imagery and thought-provoking themes make this film truly one of director Bernal's masterpieces. Very Bunuelesque in certain aspects. It was recently voted as the BEST film of the Asia-Pacific region. (8/8)

WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)

PIXAR has done it yet again. This is further proof that it is above and beyond any animation studio in Hollywood today. Though the main characters are robots, this is probably one of the sweetest, most touching and most moving love stories ever captured on film. Add to that plenty of laughs, eye-popping visuals and thought-provoking anti-consumerist satire and the result is one of the best films of 2008, certainly the best 2008 film I've seen so far this year. (8/16)

Shoeshine (Vittorio DeSica)

Regarded as one of the greatest films in the Italian neo-realist movement and with good reason: It's a great film. It's an absolutely heartbreaking sad tale of two boys during post-war Italy whose friendship and lives are changed forever and definitely not for the better. I would rank this alongside Bicycle Thieves as among De Sica's masterpieces. (10/26)

Playtime (Jacques Tati)

The last film I've seen in the year 2008. And it's shaping up to be one of my all-time favorites. This film is partly a satire on the absurdity and complications of modern life, a cautionary tale on big corporations making the world a less real, dull place and part slapstick comedy. All brilliantly depicted through some truly bravura filmmaking. It's sweet, intelligent, funny, the kind of film that makes you love life. What a way to end the year. (12/31)

Top 10 Films SEEN In 2008 (1 of 2 parts)

I'd like to apologize to any of my readers out there for not blogging more often. Don't worry. Blogging more often is in my list of New Year's resolutions.

Anyway, I thought I'd welcome 2009 by posting my Top 10 list. But unlike most other critics, I'm not going to post my Top 10 films of 2008 since I'm still way behind on 2008 releases. Instead I'm going to post my Top 10 films seen in 2008, regardless of when it was released. These are the top 10 best films I've seen for the first time on 2008. This is gonna be a two-parter and it will be in chronological order rather than order of preference.

There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)

This is the best film of 2008 and very easily writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's best work and undeniably his first REAL masterpiece. Day-Lewis blew me away as the spiritually bankrupt Daniel Plainview. He's matched scene for scene by Dano and Freasier. Jonny Greenwood's score is SUPERB. I regard this as one of the best films of the decade so far. (2/14)

The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer)

My viewing of the Jonathan Demme remake beforehand did not in any way reduce my appreciation and enjoyment of the original which I've just seen for the first time. Though that film was interesting, this film is a freaking masterpiece, an intriguing thriller that is far from dated. Great acting work by Sinatra, Harvey and Lansbury. (4/1)

Closely Watched Trains (Jiri Menzel)

This is a comedy-drama about a young man's sexual awakening set against the backdrop of a Nazi occupation during World War II. It's one of the masterpieces that borne out of the Czech New Wave and it's easy to see why: The way it blends a quiet character comedy with the looming tragedy is nothing short of masterful. (5/12)




















La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini)


AT LONG LAST! Watching Fellini's masterpiece for the first time is like biting into an extraordinarily rich dish and wondering why the hell you waited this long to see it. Gorgeously shot, fabulously acted and brilliantly directed, this alternately funny, sad and outright bizarre journey of a journalist through contemporary Italy is quite an experience to watch. One of the greats. (7/11)

















The Exterminating Angel (Luis Bunuel)


This film has everything I love about Bunuel's cinema: It's funny, crazy, absurd, surreal, disturbing, creepy and thought-provoking. I loved it. It's about a group of people in a dinner party who couldn't seem to get out of the music room of their host's house. It would make an interesting double feature with The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeousie. (7/26)