Today sees the announcements of the nominations for the 81st Academy Awards… and continuing the familiar trend for us UK folk, most of the Best Film nominations haven’t been released here yet.

Speaking of Best Film, it’s nice to see the Academy haven’t got caught up too much in the (Dark) Knight Fever, giving most of its predictable nominations to its production values, rather than say… story. Though Heath’s Best Supporting Actor nod wasn’t surprising to anyone. Least of all, him?

Nice for us Brit-lings, is the number of nominations that Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire has received – 10 to be exact. But the re-teaming of the wonderful Fincher / Pitt partnership has cleaned up with the most nominations – a whopping 13 in total – including: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay…

2009 Oscar Nominations:

Best Film
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Director
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – David Fincher
Frost/Nixon – Ron Howard
Milk – Gus Van Sant
The Reader – Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire – Danny Boyle

Actor In A Leading Role
The Visitor – Richard Jenkins
Frost/Nixon – Frank Langella
Milk – Sean Penn
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button -
Brad Pitt
The Wrestler – Mickey Rourke

Actor In A Supporting Role
Milk – Josh Brolin
Tropic Thunder – Robert Downey Jr.
Doubt – Philip Seymour Hoffman
The Dark Knight – Heath Ledger
Revolutionary Road – Michael Shannon

Actress In A Leading Role
Rachel Getting Married – Anne Hathaway
Changeling – Angelina Jolie
Frozen River – Melissa Leo
Doubt – Meryl Streep
The Reader – Kate Winslet

Actress In A Supporting Role
Doubt – Amy Adams
Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Penélope Cruz
Doubt – Viola Davis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Taraji P. Henson
The Wrestler – Marisa Tomei

Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt – John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan
The Reader – David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy

Original Screenplay
Frozen River – Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
In Bruges – Martin McDonagh
Milk – Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

Animated Feature
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Austria
Waltz with Bashir

Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat
Defiance – James Newton Howard
Milk – Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire – A.R. Rahman
WALL-E – Thomas Newman

Original Song
WALL-E – “Down to Earth”
Slumdog Millionaire – “Jai Ho”
Slumdog Millionaire – “O Saya”

Sound Editing
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

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

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

Animated Short
La Maison de Petits Cubes
Lavatory – Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

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