Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures/Merrick MortonBrad Pitt versus Angelina Jolie. Heath Ledger versus Robert Downey Jr. Bruce Springsteen versus Miley Cyrus.
Those are some of the matchups for the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards, out this morning with nominations.
Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will vie for Best Picture against partner Jolie's Changeling. Ten films overall were nominated. The others: The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL-E and the not-yet released Doubt, The Reader and The Wrestler.
Despite a category that's about as crowded as Pitt and Jolie's house, there was no room for a couple of notable films.
Box-office bust Australia and the upcoming Revolutionary Road, featuring the Titanic reteaming of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, both were denied a shot at the top prize. Australia earned but one nomination overall; Revolutionary Road, zero.
Benjamin Button and Milk led with eight nominations each, including ones for their respective leading men: Pitt and Sean Penn.
The late Ledger is up against Hollywood survivor Downey for Best Supporting Actor. Downey, who's been getting the Best Actor push for Iron Man, is in the game for Tropic Thunder. Ledger earned his expected nod for tormenting Batman in The Dark Knight.
Springsteen will try to hold off Cyrus in Best Song. The two penned nominated cuts for The Wrestler and Bolt, respectively.
Sorting through the other nominations:
- Clint Eastwood, 78 years young, earned two individual nods: one for Best Actor, for Gran Torino, and one for composing the score for Changeling.
- Proving himself mortal, Eastwood was not nominated for Best Director, even though he helmed both Gran Torino and Best Picture contender Changeling.
- The Best Director category, which names only five nominees, not 10, gives a better picture than Best Picture of this awards season's true heavyweights. As such, look for Slumdog Millionaire, helmed by nominee Danny Boyle, Benjamin Button (David Fincher), Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard), The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan) and Milk (Gus Van Sant) to dominate the Oscar discussion.
- Another award show, another Best Actress nomination for Rachel Getting Married's Anne Hathaway. Her competition comes chiefly from the Brad Pitt wing of Hollywood: Jolie, his offscreen costar, up for Changeling; and Cate Blanchett, his Benjamin Button costar.
- Not adverse to lots and lots of movie stars attending its show, the Critics' Choice Awards presents trophies for Best Action Movie and Best Comedy. And yes, that means Wanted and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, two nominees from those categories, will not go unnoticed this winter.
- If you used the Critics' Choice Awards as your Oscar guide last year, you did OK in the office pool. No Country for Old Men, Daniel-Day Lewis, Javier Bardem and Ethan and Joel Coen all duplicated their Critics' Choice wins come the Academy Awards.
The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards, voted on by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, are due to be presented Jan. 8.
Next key stop on the Oscar train: Thursday's Golden Globe nominations.
Here's the complete list of nominations:
Picture
- Changeling
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight
- Doubt
- Frost/Nixon
- Milk
- The Reader
- Slumdog Millionaire
- WALL-E
- The Wrestler
Actor
- Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
- Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
- Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
- Sean Penn, Milk
- Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Actress
- Kate Beckinsale, Nothing But the Truth
- Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
- Angelina Jolie, Changeling
- Melissa Leo, Frozen River
- Meryl Streep, Doubt
Supporting Actor
- Josh Brolin, Milk
- Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
- Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
- James Franco, Milk
Supporting Actress
- Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
- Viola Davis, Doubt
- Vera Farmiga, Nothing But the Truth
- Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
- Kate Winslet, The Reader
Ensemble
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight
- Doubt
- Milk
- Rachel Getting Married
Director
- Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
- David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
- Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
- Gus Van Sant, Milk
Screenwriter
- Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
- Dustin Lance Black, Milk
- Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
- Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Animated Feature
- Bolt
- Kung Fu Panda
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
- WALL-E
- Waltz With Bashir
Young Actor/Actress (Under 21)
- Dakota Fanning, The Secret Life of Bees
- David Kross, The Reader
- Dev Petal, Slumdog Millionaire
- Brandon Walters, Australia
Action Movie
- The Dark Knight
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Iron Man
- Quantum of Solace
- Wanted
Comedy
- Burn After Reading
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall
- Role Models
- Tropic Thunder
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
TV Movie
- John Adams
- Recount
- Coco Chanel
Foreign-Language Film
- A Christmas Tale
- Gomorrah
- I’ve Loved You So Long
- Let the Right One In
- Mongol
- Waltz With Bashir
Documentary
- I.O.U.S.A.
- Man on Wire
- Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
- Standard Operating Procedure
- Young at Heart
Song (Performer/Composer)
- "Another Way to Die," Jack White and Alicia Keys/Jack White, Quantum of Solace
- "Down to Earth," Peter Gabriel/Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, WALL-E
- "I Thought I Lost You," Miley Cyrus and John Travolta/Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele, Bolt
- "Jaiho," Sukhwinder Singh/A.R. Rahman and Gulzar, Slumdog Millionaire
- "The Wrestler," Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler
Composer
- Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Clint Eastwood, Changeling
- Danny Elfman, Milk
- Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, The Dark Knight
- A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
(Originally published Dec. 9, 2008, at 6:34 a.m. PT.)