The BAFTAs were an omen.
No Sally Hawkins. Despite early momentum, the star of Happy-Go-Lucky was shoved aside in favour of Melissa Leo and Angelina Jolie in the Best Actress race.
Yes…
The Brange.
Both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie secured nominations in their categories. Brad over Leo. Brad over Clint! Bland Brad in Benjamin Button. The Academy wants the Brange, see?
And no double nod for Kate Winslet. But yes, yes, yes for Taraji P Henson, the very best part of Benjamin Button!
Kate Winslet however was included in the Best Actress category but NOT for Revolutionary Road. In fact, Revolutionary Road was almost totally ignored. Instead, it was The Reader that received big love from the Academy and a nomination for Best Picture which means…
The Dark Knight went missing.
Heath Ledger as expected was called for Best Supporting Actor but his film was shut out. And while many, many experts were predicting that Wall-E would jump into the Best Picture slot to play with the big boys, animation still hasn’t been allowed to step up.
Benjamin Button leads the way with 13. And my Slumdog Millionaire has been nominated for 10!
But Oscar is much more politically complicated than any other award. Our little movie is still a big underdog.
Thoughts on the nominations? The full list is here.
Please send! May not be able to reply to each, but will read everything, promise!
Handicapping the races in the days to come. The campaign is ON!