Reaction to Oscar Nominees

Whoa. A lot to say this year. As something really dumbfounding happened, I'll have more on that later. For now, I'll just mention my preliminary reaction to the Oscar nominees.

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
-The nominations for Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire and Milk were very expected to be heard. However, all those hopeful fans out there who were clammering to hear The Dark Knight be nominated were greatly disappointed. And they should be, as I unfortunately think the nomination for The Reader was less influenced by whatever "greatness" it showed and more so with its subject matter and credited producers.

Best Director
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant - Milk
Stephen Daldry - The Reader
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
-Well, we had a 5/5 Picture-Director race this year, the first since 2005. With the exception of Howard and Daldry, I genuinely like these nominees. Still, if The Dark Knight had to be passed on Best Picture, the Academy should have AT LEAST given Christopher Nolan credit for creating one of the most entertaining films of the year. For shame!!

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
-Predicted every nominee in this category correctly. Let's hope this really humbles Eastwood and force him to actually commit to making a good film. No complaints.

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - The Reader
-The Sally Hawkins snub was very surprising, but it's actually sort of nice that Leo managed to sneak ahead of into this race, though I wish it could have been in place of Jolie (I liked her, but wouldn't have been sad to see her snubbed this time). We knew Kate Winslet was going to get nominated, but who'd have thought she would actually go leading for The Reader. This certainly makes this race a little more interesting.

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
-Another category I predicted 100% correct. I just want people to know I called Michael Shannon! As always, go Heath and it's really nice to see Downey Jr. in this race.

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
-With Winslet going lead for The Reader, that meant an empty slot in this category, with all the "fifth slot" people getting a safe bet, like Adams, Henson and Tomei. With Winslet out of here, it makes this category an interesting one as well.

As I said, there will be an extended commentary about this disasterous situation that the Oscars have presented me.