The nominations for the 2009 Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars, have been announced and I've been mulling over the nominations and there are some interesting nominations.

Yes, Heath Ledger is up there, but he's facing stiff competition, there's a lot for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and a few mentions for Slumdog Millionaire. For the full list of nominations have a look at the main article, and then we can start discussing them.

Best Picture (that'll be film)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

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

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
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 Actress
Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

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 Foreign Language Film
Revanche - Austria
The Class - France
The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany
Departures - Japan
Waltz With Bashir - Israel

Best Animated Feature Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Wall-E
In Bruges
Frozen River

Best Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

Best Original Song
Down To Earth - Wall-E
Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire
O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Changeling
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Cinematography
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Changeling
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
The Reader

Costume Design
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Australia
Milk
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Best Documentary Feature
The Betrayal
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble The Water

Best Documentary Short Subject
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306

Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Make-up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Best Live Action Short Film
Auf der Strecke (On The Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Best Animated Short Film
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory - Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

Sound Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Iron Man
Wanted
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Wanted
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

The nominations list comes through the BBC, and the comments from the nominees that follow come through The Hollywood Reporter.

I'm no one for counting the amount and saying that there's a clear runner, although if you did that you'd find that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was doing the best and running with fourteen and Slumdog Millionaire (Filmstalker review) with ten. Milk (Filmstalker review) received eight, The Dark Knight (Filmstalker review) received seven and both The Reader and Frost/Nixon (Filmstalker review) received five each.

Does that really matter? They are all different categories. Well the more nominations in different categories a film receives the better the film in it's entirety, well that's the idea anyway, and so could you say that at this stage The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has already beaten the competition as the best film.

However let's not get ahead of ourselves, these are just the nominations, so let's throw the statistics to the side and look at some of the categories.

Well I'm looking at the Best Film category, since the word picture describes something entirely different, and I'm agreeing with everything there. I don't think there's a film there that doesn't deserve to be, although I can guess there are going to be some people wondering why The Wrestler isn't up there. I'm struggling to decide which would be a clear winner.

No surprises for Best Director considering the Best Films, but I did think that Slumdog Millionaire was a co-director spot. However the question here is why doesn't Christopher Nolan get a mention? Well the answer is that there's probably only space for the directors of the Best Films.

I'm really glad to see the Best Actor filled so well, and for Richard Jenkins to be there for The Visitor (Filmstalker review), and he also said something about his nomination and the film.

“Having been an actor for many years now, I am moved by the fact that something like this can happen at this point in my career, particularly for a film that has meant so much to me.”

No surprise to see Frank Langella for his Nixon performance in Frost/Nixon, nor Sean Penn for Milk or Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. Again, a difficult decision.

Good to see Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet there, but I have to say I'm much happier to see Meryl Streep appear up there, although personally I think it's Winslet again. Jolie said of her nomination that she was honoured to have worked with Clint Eastwood and that was memorable enough, but her comments for Kung Fu Panda were the best:

“I am also happy that 'Kung Fu Panda' also was noticed by the Academy and proud to be a part of a film my entire family loves so much.”

As for Supporting Actress I'm in agreement with Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, although I was sorely disappointed by that film, and Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler is a great choice too.

I really did like Josh Brolin in Milk, but I thought Emile Hirsch was a much more interesting Supporting Actor there. Speaking about the film Brolin said:

“When I read it, I was so emotional and taken with the story that I just wanted to do this story. It's a timely story, and as timely as it can be with Prop. 8. So obviously, it's an important movie and a very visceral film at that”

I have the feeling it will go to Heath Ledger because he's dead. Harsh, but I wholeheartedly believe that's why he's getting awards for his performance – yes it's very good, but the score and dialogue are huge for that part. I have to ask though, where is Michael Sheen?

I'm a little surprised by the Foreign Language film, and I'm really struggling with choosing a winner there, The Class or Waltz with Bashir.

No surprises for Animated Film or Adapted Screenplay. I would love to see Original Screenplay go to Milk, but I think for originality In Bruges will get it.

Cinematography is, I think, pretty clearly going to go to The Dark Knight, don't you? However it might well lose it to Button for Visual Effects.

Finally, skipping over the more technical and smaller categories, Best Documentary I think will easily go to Man on Wire.

Any thoughts? Disagreements? Something to say about the nominations?