81th Annual Academy Awards (2009)
Presentation to air on TV on Sunday, February 22, 2009 for films released in 2008.

... and yes, we skip some categories... just because I don't care about best editing, for example.

I've come to the notion that it's not necessarily the *best* in each category, but a combination of the quality of the nominees and politics. It's all politics and who you know, man. So I have both my picks that deserve to win, and those I figure are the "popular" picks to win (and those aren't always the same, obviously).

The is whom I think ought to win, the is my guess of who will win, and once announced, the title in bold is the actual winner.

Category	Nominees
Best Picture	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button     Frost/Nixon   Milk     The Reader   Slumdog Millionaire
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
Actor in a Leading Role	Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button     Frank Langelia - Frost/Nixon   Sean Penn - Milk     Richard Jenkins - The Visitor     Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Actress in a Leading Role	Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married     Angelina Jolie - Changeling     Melissa Leo - Frozen River   Meryl Streep - Doubt   Kate Winslet - The Reader
Actor in a Supporting Role	Josh Brolin - Milk     Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder     Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt   Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight     Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
Actress in a Supporting Role	Amy Adams - Doubt     Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona     Viola Davis - Doubt   Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Animated Feature Film	Bolt     King Fu Panda WALL-E
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
Foreign Language Film	The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)   The Class (France)     Departures (Japan)   Revanche (Austria)     Waltz with Bashir (Isreal)
Music (Score)	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button     Defiance   Milk     Slumdog Millionaire     WALL-E
Music (Song)	Slumdog Millionaire - Jai Ho     Slumdog Millionaire - O Saya WALL-E - Down to Earth
Visual Effects	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button     The Dark Knight     Iron Man
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   Doubt   Frost/Nixon     The Reader     Slumdog Millionaire
Writing (Original Screenplay)	Frozen River     Happy-Go-Lucky     In Bruges Milk     WALL-E