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Oscar-Winning Films 2008
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Before The Academy Awards • Oscar-Winning Western Movies
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2008 Oscar Awards
Nominations were announced 22 January 2009; polls closed 17 February;
the 81st Academy Awards show was televised 22 February 2009 on A.B.C.
complete listings of 2009 Academy Awards for films of 2008
A.M.P.A.S. site •
Internet Movie Database
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" received 13 nominations; "Slumdog Millionaire" received 10
nominations {and won 8}; "Milk" received 8 nominations; "The Dark Knight" received 8 nominations, mostly in
technical categories; both "Frost/Nixon" and "The Reader" received 5 nominations.
Best Motion Picture of The Year
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Achievement in Directing
Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire"
Stephen Daldry for "The Reader"
David Fincher for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Ron Howard for "Frost/Nixon"
Gus Van Sant for "Milk"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Richard Jenkins for "The Visitor"
Frank Langella for "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn for "Milk"
Brad Pitt for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke for "The Wrestler"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Anne Hathaway for "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie for "Changeling" {directed by Clint Eastwood}
Melissa Leo for "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep for "Doubt"
Kate Winslet for "The Reader"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin for "Milk"
Robert Downey, Jr. for "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Doubt"
Heath Ledger [1979-2008] for "The Dark Knight"
Michael Shannon for "Revolutionary Road"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for "Doubt"
Penélope Cruz for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" {directed by Woody Allen}
Viola Davis for "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei for "The Wrestler"
Best Original Screenplay
"Milk" by Dustin Lance Black
Best Screenplay Adaptation
"Slumdog Millionaire" by Simon Beaufoy
Best Foreign Language Film of The Year
"Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" [Germany]
"Entre les Murs" aka 'The Class' [France]
"Revanche" [Austria]
"Okuribito" [Japan]
"Vals Im Bashir" [Israel]
And the winner is...
"Slumdog Millionaire"
[Pathé / Fox Searchlight USA Nov 2008, India Jan 2009]
 | A young man from the slums of Mumbai becomes a contestant on a TV game show (the Hindi version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" and answers so many questions correctly that the game show host and law enforcement officials suspect some form of cheating. The surrounding story concerns religious rioting in his childhood, surviving on the streets as beggars with his brother and others, his brother's involvement with a local gangster, and finding the little girl that he has always loved (now grown up and the mistress of the gangster). Directed by Danny Boyle (co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan); written by Simon Beaufoy, based on the novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup; original music by A.R. Rahman; starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Madhur Mittal & Mahesh Manjrekar; won eight Oscars (of ten noms): Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script/Adaptation, Best Cinemato-graphy, Best Original Music Score, Best Original Song, Best Editing, & Best Sound; won 7 BAFTA Awards, including Best Film; D.G.A. Award, P.G.A. Award, S.A.G. Award, U.S.C. Scripter Award, WGA Award, many others
Fox widescreen color on Blu-ray [3/2009] 2 disks for $18.99 Fox widescreen color DVD [3/2009] for $14.99 Interscope Records soundtrack CD [12/2008] 13 tracks for $9.99 27"x40" red poster from Amazon for $19.99 27"x40" black poster from Amazon for $19.99 full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia • official movie site |
 | "Q & A: A Novel" [2005] by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup Scribner 8x5¼ movie tie-in pb [11/2008] for $10.20 Scribner 8½x5¾ hardcover [7/2005] for $18.00 B.B.C. Audiobooks America audio CD read by Kerry Shale [9/2005] for $21.24 |
[Pathé TV / Picture Production Co. Feb 2009]
23-minute documentary short co-produced & co-directed by Albert Sharpe & Dan Skinner
available on DVD & Blu-ray above; full credits from IMDb
"Australia" [Fox Nov 2008] 
 | PREDICTION 12/2008: Oscar nomination for Best Picture, maybe Best Director 1939 Australia: An English aristocrat inherits a gigantic cattle station, and local cattle barons plot to take her land. So she joins forces with a rough-hewn stock-man to drive a herd of cattle across hundreds of miles of unforgiving land, only to arrive at Darwin, Australia as Japanese forces begin bombing the town. Co-produced, co-written & directed by Baz Luhrmann; starring Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Brandon Walters, Jack Thompson, David Gulpilil, Wah Yueh, Tony Barry & Jamal Bednarz-Metallah; Oscar nom for Best Costume Design, won 3 of 5 noms for Australian Film Institute Award, won 3 Satellite Awards video/DVD not yet available; full credits from IMDb • official movie site |
"The Dark Knight" [2008]
Heath Ledger [1979-2008] won Oscar for Best Supporting Actor • full credits from IMDb
"Departures" aka 'Okuribito' [Japan 2008]
won Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film • full credits from IMDb
http://www.departures-themovie.com/
"Doubt" [2008]
full credits from IMDb
"Frost / Nixon" [Universal/Imagine Dec 2008]
 | PREDICTION 12/2008: Oscar nomination for Best Actor for Langella After U.S. President Richard M. Nixon's near-impeachment then resignation over WaterGate, Australian talk show host David Frost outbid C.B.S. for an exclusive interview with the ailing Nixon. For 12 interview sessions, Nixon managed to overrun Frost with lengthy self-justifying lectures. But then a drunken phone call by Nixon to Frost ramps up the pressure: either Nixon will succeed in restoring his political luster (and Frost go bankrupt), or Frost must implicate Nixon definitively in the Watergate scandal. Co-produced & directed by Ron Howard; script by Peter Morgan, based on his play; starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Matthew Macfadyen, Toby Jones, Andy Milder & Rebecca Hall; Oscar noms for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing; won AFI Movie of The Year Award, won Best Adapted Screenplay Satellite Award Universal Home Video widescreen color on Blu-ray [4/2009] for $20.99 Universal Home Video widescreen color DVD [4/2009] for $19.98 Varese Sarabande soundtrack CD [12/2008] 14 tracks for $14.99 full credits from IMDb • official movie site • movie entry at Wikipedia |
 | "Frost/Nixon: A Play" [London 2006, Broadway 2007] by Peter Morgan London & New York performances directed by Michael Grandage and starring Michael Sheen & Frank Langella; Langella won Best Actor Tony Award, Drama Desk Award & Outer Critics Circle Award Faber & Faber 7½x5 playscript pb [4/2007] for $11.20 Broadway play credits at IBDb • play entry at Wikipedia |
 | "Frost/Nixon: The Original Watergate Interviews" [May 1977] 88-minute TV special culled from 28 hours of in-person interviews.Co-produced & hosted by Sir David Frost; directed by Jørn Winther; starring interviewee Richard Nixon Liberation Ent. color DVD [12/2008] for $13.49 Universal Home Video VHS [1/96] 6 hours on 5 tapes - out of prodn/rare full credits from IMDb |
at Spirit of America Bookstore
"Milk" [2008]
full credits from IMDb
http://www.amazon.com/Milk-Blu-ray-Sean-Penn/dp/B001FB55KI/
"The Life & Times of Harvey Milk" documentary []
won Oscar
"The Reader" [2008]
full credits from IMDb
"Revolutionary Road"
[DreamWorks Dec 2008]
 | PREDICTION 12/2008: Oscar nomination for Best Actress for Winslet Mired in creeping boredom in the suburbs, with unfulfilled lives and careers, a prosperous Connecticut couple decides to move with their two children to France to escape the consumer- ist demands of capitalist America. Co-produced & directed by Sam Mendes; based on the novel by Richard Yates; starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates & Michael Shannon; cast won Ensemble Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Paramount widescreen color Blu-ray [6/2009] for $13.99 Paramount widescreen color DVD [6/2009] for $16.99 Nonesuch soundtrack CD [12/2008] 15 tracks for $14.99 full credits at IMDb • official movie site |
 |  "Revolutionary Road" [rediscovered 1961 novel] by Richard YatesThe book is compared to Updike, and described as 'well written, witty & intriguing' Vintage 8x5¼ pb [4/2000] for $10.17 Greenwood Press 8½x5¾ hardcover [10/71] for $89.95 |
"Vals Im Bashir" animated feature [Israel 2008]
nominated for Best Foreign Language Film • full credits from IMDb
"The Wrestler" [2008]
full credits from IMDb
http://www.amazon.com/Wrestler-Blu-ray-Mickey-Rourke/dp/B001TOD9VI/
 | "Screen World Volume 60: The Films of 2008" [2009] Edited by Barry Monush Applause Books 9¼x7½ hardcover [11/2009] out of print/used |
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