'Button,' 'Reader' are in the running for best picture Oscar

"The Reader"? Really?

While it was no surprise that "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" got the most Academy Award nominations Thursday - it led the way with 13 - it was something of a shock to see "The Reader" score nominations for best picture and best director (for Stephen Daldry). That Kate Winslet was nominated for playing a German woman with a dark past - you know what that means - who embarks on an affair with a teenage boy was also expected. But the category wasn't. She won a Golden Globe for supporting actress in the same role; Thursday she was nominated in the best-actress category.

Neither "The Reader" nor" Button," by the way, were as good as "The Dark Knight," which received only one nomination among the major categories: the expected and well-deserved nod for best supporting actor for the late Heath Ledger. Evidently Oscar isn't ready to recognize that sometimes a film with comic-book roots can be something more (even when it makes a mint).


"Button" was nominated for best picture, best director (David Fincher), best actor (Brad Pitt) and best supporting actress (Taraji P. Henson), among the major categories. The film, about a man (Pitt) who ages backward, is really "Forrest Gump" for grownups - which, considering the way "Gump" cleaned up at the Oscars, probably isn't a bad thing when it comes to hauling home the hardware.

Other surprises: Clint Eastwood didn't get nominations for directing or acting in "Gran Torino," his film about an aging bigot who befriends a Hmong boy. And while every actor in a major role in "Doubt" got nominated - Meryl Streep for best actress, Amy Adams and Viola Davis for best supporting actress and Philip Seymour Hoffman for best supporting actor - the film didn't get a best-picture nod, and John Patrick Shanley wasn't nominated for directing (though he was for best adapted screenplay).

Must be all about the acting then, eh?

Sally Hawkins was snubbed for her charming performance in "Happy-Go-Lucky" - certainly more deserving than Angelina Jolie in "The Changeling" - but not everything unexpected was a disappointment. Melissa Leo, for instance, was outstanding in the bleak "Frozen River"; her best-actress nomination is a welcome jolt. The same is true of Richard Jenkins, fantastic as a professor trying to help a detained man in "The Visitor." They're both really good movies whose combined audience was about the size of the line for popcorn at a showing of "The Dark Knight."

And it was nice to see Mickey Rourke's comeback officially validated, with a best-actor nomination for "The Wrestler" (Marisa Tomei got a best supporting actress nod for the same film). In fact, the best-actor category - which, in addition to Rourke, Jenkins and Pitt, includes Sean Penn for his role as Harvey Milk in "Milk" and "Frank Langella" as Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon" - looks to be the most competitive of the bunch.

Among the others? The smart money, alas, is on "Button" for best picture and Fincher for best director, though "Slumdog Millionaire," Danny Boyle's ultimately joyous (and better) film about a poor boy who wins big on a game show, might sneak in with the upset. ("Slumdog" got 10 nominations.) "Milk" and "Frost/Nixon" were outstanding, but don't bet the house on them.

Penn and Langella were great, but Rourke is the clear sentimental favorite for best actor. Anne Hathaway's performance carried "Rachel Getting Married," but it's folly to ever bet against Streep. Meanwhile, we'll go with Davis and Ledger in the supporting categories.

Will they win? We'll find out Feb. 22, when the ceremony is held. Of course, as the nominations for "The Reader" prove, there's no such thing as a sure bet.

Source : http://www.argusleader.com