The nominations for the 81st Academy Awards were announced this morning honoring achievement in filmmaking for the year 2008.

There were certainly a number of shockers that people were caught off guard by (and some that I wouldn't really consider shocking). Here's what's surprising people:

• The Dark Knight receives no nominations for Best Picture or Best Director, Christopher Nolan (Personally I was not counting on this happening, and definitely think there are plenty of better films that kept it out of the running. While Nolan did a superb job directing, with his lack of digital effects for such a large motion picture, and his use of IMAX cameras to enhance the movie-going experience, he certainly was up against some stiff competition.)
• Revolutionary Road received significantly less recognition as it was not nominated for Best Picture and both Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio do not receive nominations. Also, director Sam Mendes did not receive a nomination either. (This too is not entirely a shocker to me. While Revolutionary Road interests me, it feels like a retread of American Beauty just set in a different time. I'm surprised no one has done a trailer mash-up like The Curious Case of Forrest Gump)
• The Wrestler wasn't nominated for Best Picture, and Darren Aronofsky was not nominated for Best Director
• No Best Actor nod for Clint Eastwood's performance in Gran Torino, but even more interesting, Gran Torino gets snubbed for any nominations, including Jamie Cullum's original song crafted for the movie, which I actually liked more than the song Bruce Springsteen wrote for The Wrestler (which was also not nominated for Best Original Song)
  
• Richard Jenkins gets some well deserved attention in the form of a Best Actor nomination for The Visitor

Check out the list for the major awards below, and for the full list you can check out the official website of the Academy Awards.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008)
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I)
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I)
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I)
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Achievement in Directing
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant for Milk

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Courtney Hunt Frozen River
Mike Leigh Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black Milk
Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter Wall E

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Eric Roth, Robin Swicord The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley Doubt
Peter Morgan Frost/Nixon
David Hare The Reader
Simon Beaufoy Slumdog Millionaire

The 81st Acaedmy Awards will be hosted by Hugh Jackman and broadcast live on February 22 at 8pm EST on ABC.

Labels: 81st Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Nominations, Oscars