Mickey Rourke, up for a Best Actor Oscar that he richly deserves at this year’s 2009 Academy Awards ceremony, is not your usual, play-it-safe kind of actor. (To enter our Oscar prediction contest, go here!) Just today, the Huffington Post put a up a slide show of recent promotional appearances Rourke has made in the last month during his run for gold with Darren Aronofsky’s stellar film “The Wrestler.” They are calling it a Hand-In-Pants Retrospective. I think you’ll enjoy it; here’s a taste:

So, the question is: Will Oscar voters want to give this guy a chance to get up onstage on February 22 during an internationally televised event and be himself?

Sunday night at the BAFTA Awards, Rourke won Best Actor and dropped the f-bomb repeatedly as nonchalantly as ever. The British crowd didn’t seem to mind. Here’s his speech:

And after his win at the Golden Globes, he looked as rough as ever, thanking both his dogs and his director. When the camera cut to Aronofsky, he gave Rourke an aptly timed middle finger which the network was not quick enough to edit. (Don’t think they could have CGI-ed over it fast enough– maybe cut to Brad Pitt instead?) Here’s that infamous Golden Globe moment:

Finally, before the SAG Awards (which he lost out to Sean Penn for), Rourke let slip to an interviewer that he would be wrestling at the upcoming WWE Wrestlemania event. A publicist has since retracted the comment, but you know as soon as the Oscars are over, Rourke will probably buff up and go right back in the ring. How surreal is that? Here he is not heeding the advice of a publicist:

So, as Oscar night rolls around, all I can say is, “Let the best man win!” In my opnion, that’s Rourke, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I can’t wait to see what he’s going to say.

(For the record, I predict Penn will win.)

Tags: 2009, academy awards, aronofsky, controversial, interview, mickey rourke, middle finger, Not your usual Oscar bait, speech, wrestlemania, wrestler

For a complete list of 2009 Academy Award nominees, click here.

The bias against superheroes and animated films continues, despite “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E” reaping major awards this season. “The Dark Knight” was robbed of a Best Picture and Best Director nomination!! It was stolen by “The Reader,” not even “Wall-E,” which some people predicted (and would have been way more deserving). “The Dark Knight” got seven technical awards and one acting award, for Heath Ledger as Supporting Actor, who will no doubt win.

Sally Hawkins was left out for a Best Actress nom for “Happy-Go-Lucky,” despite winning 11 critic’s awards, the most of any actress in this category. Read a full list of every critic’s award and awards show leading up to today here.

On the plus side, Melissa Leo was nominated in the Actress category for “Frozen River,” a tiny little indie film, and Richard Jenkins got a Best Actress nomination for “The Visitor.”

Clint Eastwood didn’t get an Actor nod despite “Gran Torino’”s unexpectedly big box office, and the movie failed to get a screenplay nomination, which was expected. In fac, “Gran Torino” was completely snubbed, with a total of zero nominations.

Kate Winslet scored for “The Reader,” which she won a Golden Globe Supporting Actress award for, but for not Best Actress in “Revolutionary Road,” which she also won at the Globes.

“The Reader” is a Weinstein film, and Harvey really knows how to campaign for this stuff. Despite mixed reviews,  “The Reader” received five nominations. Four of those were in the major categories. This is more than likely due to the weighted ballots that the Academy gives out. If lots of people put “The Reader” at number one, and more people put “The Dark Knight” at a lower spot on their ballot, “The Reader” gets in. That said, it has absolutely no chance of winning Best Picture or Director.

Dev Patel was left out of the Supporting Actor race, despite the 10 total nominations for “Slumdog Millionaire,” but Michael Shannon’s nomination for “Revolutionary Road” is a bit of a surprise.

It’s too bad Rosmarie DeWitt didn’t get noticed for Supporting Actress in “Rachel Getting Married.”

“In Bruges” and “Frozen River” surprise “The Wrestler,” “The Visitor,” and “Rachel Getting Married” by taking their predicted Original Screenplay nominations. Jenny Lumet’s screenplay for “Rachel Getting Married” was tied for the most wins in this category in critic’s awards, with Dustin Lance Black’s “Milk,” which is now by far the favorite to win.

Werner Herzog scored a Documentary nomination this year for “Encounters at the End of the World,” despite his film “Grizzly Man” getting a surprise snub in 2006.

They snubbed The Boss! Bruce Springsteen, who already won the Golden Globe for best song for “The Wrestler,” didn’t even get an Oscar nomination this morning, while “Slumdog Millionaire” got two.

Now eight-time nominee and DP extraordinaire Roger Deakins got a nod for “The Reader,” but the Academy missed out on his sumptuous work in “Revolutionary Road.”

Total nominations for multiple-nominated films:

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” 13 nominations
“Slumdog Millionaire” 10 nominations
“The Dark Knight” 8 nominations
“Milk” 8 nominations
“Wall-E” 6 nominations
“Doubt” 5 nominations
“Frost/Nixon” 5 nominations
“The Reader” 5 nominations
“Changeling” 3 nominations
“Revolutionary Road” 3 nominations
“The Duchess” 2 nominations
“Frozen River” 2 nominations
“Iron Man” 2 nominations
“Wanted” 2 nominations
“The Wrestler” 2 nominations

Tags: 2009, 2009 Oscar snubs, academy awards, academy awards snubs, and, complete list, jan. 22, nominations, oscar snubs, oscar surprises, Oscars, who got snubbed

Complete list of 2009 Oscar nominees. Complete list of 2009 Academy Awards nominees. The bias against superheroes and animated films continues, despite “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E” reaping major awards this season. Read a full list of Oscar snubs and surprises here. Win your Oscar pool. Play the odds! We tallied them all this year, so you wouldn’t have to! For a full list of every awards winner and nominee this season, click here.

The 81st Academy Awards nominations were announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

BEST PICTURE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”

BEST ACTOR
Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road”

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”
David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”
Gus Van Sant, “Milk”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Dustin Lance Black, “Milk”
Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”
Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Marttin McDonagh, “In Bruges”
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, “WALL-E”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire”
David Hare, “The Reader”
Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon”
John Patrick Shanley, “Doubt”
Eric Roth, Robin Swicord, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Baader-Meinhof Complex” (Germany)
“The Class” (France)
“Departures” (Japan)
“Revanche” (Austria)
“Waltz with Bashir” (Israel)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Bolt”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“Wall-E”

BEST ART DIRECTION
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”
“Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling” Tom Stern
“Slumdog Millionaire,” Anthony Dod Mantle
“The Reader,” Chris Menges
“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button,” Claudio Miranda
“The Dark Knight,” Wally Pfister,

BEST FILM EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
“The Dark Knight,” Lee Smith
“Frost/Nixon,” Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
“Milk,” Elliot Graham
“Slumdog Millionaire,” Chris Dickens

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“Australia,” Catherine Martin
“The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button,” Jacqueline West
“The Duchess,” Michael O’Conner
“Milk”, Danny Glicker
“Revolutionary Road,” Albert Wolsky

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
“Encounters at the End of the World”
“The Garden”
“Man on Wire”
“Trouble the Water”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Slumdog Millionaire,” “Jai Ho,” A.R. Rahman
“Slumdog Millionaire,” “O Saya,” A.R. Rahman & M.I.A.
“Wall-E,” “Down To Earth,” Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman

BEST 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

BEST MAKEUP
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Colleen Callaghan, Fionagh Cush
“The Dark Knight,” Peter Robb-King, John Caglione Jr.
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” Mike Elizalde, Thom Floutz

BEST SOUND EDITING
“The Dark Knight,” Richard King
“Iron Man,” Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes
“Slumdog Millionaire,” Tom Sayers
“Wall-E,” Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
“Wanted,” Wylie Stateman

BEST SOUND MIXING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Mark Weingarten, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce
“The Dark Knight,” Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
“Slumdog Millionaire,” Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
“Wall-E,” Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick
“Wanted,” Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Eric Barba
“The Dark Knight,” Chris Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul Franklin, Tim Webber
“Iron Man,” John Nelson

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
“Manon on the Asphalt”
“New Boy”
“The Pig”
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)” 

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”
“Lavatory - Lovestory”
“Oktapodi”
“Presto”
“This Way Up”

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
“The Conscience of Nhem En”
“The Final Inch”
“Smile Pinki”
“The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306″

Tags: 2009, 2009 oscar nominees, 81st, academy awards, announced, complete list, dark knight, jan. 22, new, nominations, nominees, oscar nominations, Oscars

“Let the Right One In” will not be competeing for an Academy Award this year. This happened a while ago, but with the shortlist being announced yesterday, it’s new news to me. Each country is allowed one submission and Sweden chose “Everlasting Moments” instead. Turns out, though, that it may be the Academy’s difficult and silly eligibility rules that kept the “right one” out this year. It could be that Sweden didn’t choose it because he film is not eligible before next year. The eligibility year is not a calendar year for this category, and “Let the Right One In”  premiered in the U.S. after September 30, 2008. I’ve been doing research online to find out if this is the eactual reason Sweden never submitted the film. If you can find a reliable source that confirms this, please leave a comment!

From ComingSoon.net: Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 81st Academy Awards. Sixty-five films had originally qualified in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Austria, Revanche, Gotz Spielmann, director;
Canada, The Necessities of Life, Benoit Pilon, director;
France, The Class, Laurent Cantet, director;
Germany, The Baader Meinhof Complex, Uli Edel, director;
Israel, Waltz with Bashir, Ari Folman, director;
Japan, Departures, Yojiro Takita, director;
Mexico, Tear This Heart Out, Roberto Sneider, director;
Sweden, Everlasting Moments, Jan Troell, director;
Turkey, 3 Monkeys, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director.

In the meantime, “Let the Right One In” competed directly with  the movie Sweden chose instead in that country’s movie awrdsjust two days ago. Variety reports that “Let the Right One In” won five awards at the Golden Bugs, the equivalent of the Oscars in its native Sweden. The ceremony took place Monday night.

The movie took prizes for Director (Tomas Alfredson), Script (John Ajvide Lindqvist, based on his novel), Cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema), Set Design (Eva Noren) and Sound (Per Sundstrom and Ljudteamet). When it came time for the biggie, though, Best Film, it lost out to Jan Troell’s “Everlasting Moments.”

Tags: academy awards, film, foreign, ineligible, language, Let the Right One In, not picked, not submitted, oscar, shortlist, sweden, wins, won

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the seven films that have been shortlisted and still have a shot for the Oscar for best visual effects.

“Australia”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
“Iron Man”
“Journey to the Center of the Earth”
“The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”

And of course, the one movie that every effects house in town worked on was left off the list, probably because it was too silly and its colors were too bright and it’s edits were too fast. I didn’t expect “Speed Racer” to get any other nods, but considering that the VFX artists basically became virtual cinematographers, this is soooooooo damned lame. To read more about why this is so wrong, read my SIGGRAPH 2008 blog from L.A., written after a panel featuring talented artists from BUF, Digital Domain, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Industrial Light & Magic.

Also, “Mummy” and “Australia” over “Cloverfield”? Sad and wrong.

Tags: 2008, 2009, academy awards, oscar, snub, Speed Racer, visual effects