Oscar Picks for the 81st Year of the Event

Here are my picks, Should win is my pick from the nominees, not necessarily my favorite, just fyi. Except for best song, gave some credit to where it was due.

Best Picture

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Frost/Nixon
* Milk (Should Win)
* The Reader
* Slumdog Millionaire (Will Win)

Best Director

* David Fincher (Should Win)
* Danny Boyle (Will Win) – Though he is one of the best directors out there
* Stephen Daldry
* Ron Howard
* Gus Van Sant

Best Actor

* Richard Jenkins
* Frank Langella
* Sean Penn (Will Win) – Though I am fine with this, he was great
* Brad Pitt (Should Win)
* Mickey Rourke

Best Actress

* Anne Hathaway (Should Win)
* Angelina Jolie
* Melissa Leo
* Meryl Streep
* Kate Winslet (Will Win)

Best Supporting Actor

* Josh Brolin
* Robert Downey, Jr.
* Philip Seymour Hoffman
* Heath Ledger (Should and Will Win)
* Michael Shannon

Best Supporting Actress

* Amy Adams
* Penélope Cruz (Should Win)
* Viola Davis (Will Win)
* Taraji P. Henson
* Marisa Tomei

Best Original Screenplay

* WALL-E
* Happy-Go-Lucky
* Frozen River
* In Bruges (Should Win)
* Milk (Will Win)

Best Adapted Screenplay

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Frost/Nixon
* The Reader (Should Win)
* Slumdog Millionaire (Will Win)
* Doubt

Best Animated Feature

* Bolt
* Kung Fu Panda
* WALL-E (Should and Will Win)

Best Foreign Language Film – No Idea, none were released by me yet

* Revanche (Austria) in German – Götz Spielmann
* The Class (France) in French – Laurent Cantet
* The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) in German – Uli Edel
* Departures (Japan) in Japanese – Yojiro Takita
* Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew – Ari Folman

Best Animated Short

* La Maison En Petits Cubes
* Lavatory
* Oktapodi
* Presto (Should and Will Win)
* This Way Up

Best Art Direction

* Changeling
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Should and Will Win)
* The Dark Knight
* The Duchess
* Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography

* Changeling
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Should and Will Win)
* The Dark Knight
* The Reader
* Slumdog Millionaire

Best Costume Design

* Australia
* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Duchess – (Should and Will Win)
* Milk
* Revolutionary Road

Best Documentary Feature

* Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)
* Encounters at the End of the World
* The Garden
* Man on Wire (Should and Will Win)
* Trouble the Water

Best Documentary Short – No Idea

* The Conscience of Nhem En – Steven Okazaki
* The Final Inch
* Smile Pinki
* The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306

Best Film Editing

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Dark Knight
* Frost/Nixon
* Milk (Should Win)
* Slumdog Millionaire (Will Win)

Best Live Action Short – No Idea

* On the Line (Auf der Strecke)
* Manon On the Asphalt
* New Boy (Ireland)
* The Pig (Grisen)
* Toyland (Spielzeugland)

Best Makeup

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Should and Will Win)
* The Dark Knight
* Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Best Original Score

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat (Should Win)
* Defiance – James Newton Howard
* Milk – Danny Elfman
* Slumdog Millionaire – A.R. Rahman (Will Win)
* WALL-E – Thomas Newman

Best Original Song

* “Down to Earth” from WALL-E
* “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (Will Win)
* “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire
(Not Nominated But Should Win – The Wrestler by Bruce Springsteen)

Best Sound Editing

* The Dark Knight
* Iron Man
* Slumdog Millionaire
* WALL-E (Should and Will Win)
* Wanted

Best Sound Mixing

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* The Dark Knight
* Slumdog
* WALL-E (Should and Will Win)
* Wanted

Best Visual Effects

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Should and Will Win)
* The Dark Knight
* Iron Man