The nominations for the 81st Academy Awards have been released.  No best song for Springsteen?  Nothing for Eastwood? Encounters at the End of the World over Gonzo?  Have another chamomile, you pussies.

Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor, Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn, Milk, Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Really?], Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married, Angelina Jolie, Changeling, Melissa Leo, Frozen River, Meryl Streep, Doubt, Kate Winslet, The Reader

Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, Milk, Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt, Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight, Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, Doubt, Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Viola Davis, Doubt, Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire, Stephen Daldry, The Reader, David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon, Gus Van Sant, Milk  [MORE CATEGORIES AFTER THE JUMP…}

Wow.  Nice to see Mickey Rourke on there, but The Wrestler is a hell of a lot better than any of their best picture nominees.  Frost/Nixon?  Milk?  The Reader?  Is this an award for great filmmaking or the IMPORTANT STORY FROM HISTORY award?  And I’m sure you’ll all notice the Dark Knight snub.  Even if you don’t think it deserves a best picture nomination (I’m on the fence, myself), Chris Nolan still deserves a best director nod (this dismissive wank is for you, Ron Howard).  It’s much harder to make a believable movie about Batman than it is to make yet another holocaust masturbation.  Do they realize what they’ve done? They’ve made us bored.  With THE HOLOCAUST.  At some point, they may have to recruit some members of the Academy who aren’t a million years old.  Just a thought.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
Wall-E

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Roth–The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley–Doubt
Peter Morgan–Frost/Nixon
David Hare–The Reader
Simon Beaufoy–Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Cinematography
Tom Stern Changeling
Claudio Miranda The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Wally Pfister The Dark Knight
Roger Deakins, Chris Menges The Reader
Anthony Dod Mantle Slumdog Millionaire

Editing
Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Lee Smith The Dark Knight
Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill Frost/Nixon
Elliot Graham Milk
Chris Dickens Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction
James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis Changeling
Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando The Dark Knight
Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway The Duchess
Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt Revolutionary Road

Costume Design
Catherine Martin Australia
Jacqueline West The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Michael O’Connor The Duchess
Danny Glicker Milk
Albert Wolsky Revolutionary Road

Best documentary feature
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
“Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
“The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
“Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
“Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject
“The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
“The Final Inch” A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
“Smile Pinki” A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
“The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306” A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Best foreign language film of the year
“The Baader Meinhof Complex”, Germany
“The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), France
“Departures” (Regent Releasing), Japan
“Revanche” (Janus Films),  Austria
“Waltz with Bashir”, Israel

Achievement in makeup
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
“Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

Best animated short film
“La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
“Lavatory – Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
“Oktapodi” (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
“Presto” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
“This Way Up”, A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes Best live action short film
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
“Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
“New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
“The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank

Achievement in sound editing
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Richard King
“Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
“Wanted” (Universal),Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
“Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
“Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Fingers crossed, Bolt!  This just might be your year!