"Milk" nabs Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Director, Screenplay Oscar nominations

I haven't seen Grand Torino or The Changeling yet but most of the reviews, while positive, said neither movie was among Eastwood's best work.

...than Rourke does: considering the love for Milk, and, aside from Rourke and Tomei, the lack of love for The Wrestler (it even failed to get an Original Screenplay nom or the widely expected high-profile Original Song nom for Bruce Springsteen), I think Penn will be carried to the win.

Also, the energy right now is with Boyle, not Fincher. I'd really be surprised if the latter wins.

Yeah, I agree. I think Milk's only real chance is with Best Original Screenplay. I think Hollywood will be too intoxicated with the story of Mickey Rourke's screen comeback to give Best Actor to Penn.

That it might win two awards for best picture.

Seriously, this it fantastic news. I am sure millions of more people are going to see the film, if not because of the buzz but because this gives them permission to go to a gay movie or rent it when it goes to dvd.

 

yes WW - Sean Penn would just tell everyone to just suck it. and HFPA doesn't have a good relaationship with Penn so he wasn't really expected to win that night. I was really moved by Rourke's performance - but come on!!! he wasn't acting - he was just playing himself - and ANY ACTOR CAN DO WHAT HE DID.... it wasn't reallly a stretch for him (or to any actor who would play the part). But Penn - wow - only two actors (i speak of the men only) for the whole year have been effective in getting to the heart of the character and losing one's self in the role - Sean Penn and Heath Ledger. it would be a travesty if both actors were not honored.

and your right once agan - no animated film has ever won the screenplay. (and WALL-E was only brilliant in the begining - and completely faltered in the end)

and your right again - the best original screenplay usually goes to the lone-best-picture-nominated-film. They usually do honor films that were best pic material. Since 1944 (were they limited the best picture choices to 5) only 5 films were the exception - in 1991 "Bugsy" (the lone best pic nominee) lost to "Thelma and Louise"; Braveheart (who won best pic in 1995) lost to "The Usual Suspects"; "Almost Famous" in 2000 won over best pic winner "Gladiator" and nominee "Erin Brokovich"; "Talk to Her" won over best pic nominee "Gangs of NY"; and "Eternal Sunshine" won over "The Aviator" in 2004.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY:
Only MILK (among oscar script nominees) was nominated for Best Orig. Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America (they are usually the same group of people who would vote in the oscars) - so i would presume (though with reservations) that they would vote for the one they actually nominated in their guild. - I mean - wouldn't they look stupid if they would vote for a film they did not even bother honoring in their own group?!?! so everything's going Milk's way!!!! (but always remember: this was also the case in 2005 for brokeback mountain in the fucked up best pic category!!!!!!)

i got teary eyed just by reading his reaction... this would be a great acceptance speech!! i do hope he wins.. thank god woody wasn't nominated.  and puh-leaze - Wall-e (though an enjoyable film) has a very weak script (and a horrible second act - i wished it were just a short film - the first 30 min. was breathtaking - but only to falter after that and until the end) so no contest - Dustin would (and should) take home the gold. 

AMPAS is much much more complicated than that. the academy cannot be quantified by simple mathematics heck - even Einstein would be stumped!

i have been following the Oscars for 24 years now (i said i would stop after the 2005 disaster but like what was said in the film that should have won that night - 'i wish i knew how to quit you - oscars'). and i have been also following OscarWatch for ages (now called AwardsDaily). So i really wished that it were that simple.

But there is a silver lining! - the absence of Batman. only The Dark Knight can derail (or dewheel) the bandwagon of Slumdog Millionaire. There are only FOUR films that have been loved consistently by the critics and the guilds and they are (in order) - WALL*E, The Dark Knight, Slumdog Millionaire and Milk. So if there's a movie that can beat the dog it would be MILK!!!! not even the technically driven "epic" with 13 nominations can come close to the excellence (and the showers of recognition) of Sd$ and Milk.

So if we were to put AMPAS into a simple equiation (if it were possible) - just for the heck of it - it would be like this:

Great FYC (For Your Consideration) MARKETING +plus SLUMDOG FATIGUE -minus HOMOPHOBIA =equals BEST PICTURE TRIUMPH!

but again - AMPAS is AMPAS - no one ever knows what animal (or animosity) they can pull out of their hat.

BAFTA already gave a Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor (to Jake Gyllenhaal) for Brokeback Mountain. If it gave an award to Milk, it'd run the risk of being called a fag hag by all the other film awards. It's bad enough that Britain already has all those theatre awards where there's a sharp intake of breath and silent preening about being politically correct whenever someone straight wins a prize without having the rough-tough Golden Lion of Berlin, Palme d'Or and Oscar sniggering over their pints at after-show parties that BAFTA's noble Greek mask ought to be pink! Besides which: British director of money-making British film about colonial legacy India based on a British TV show starring an nicely brown actor from a critically acclaimed TV series who still lives with his mum and dad in Harrow versus local American politician whom most of the voters won't have heard of... well, how do you think it'll turn out? BAFTA generally likes Sean Penn and there's a lot of residual sympathy left over from him having been married to Madonna (Guy Ritchie will probably vote for him out of solidarity), but I can't see BAFTA dissing a home-grown success.

do you think other awards shows get together and call each other names behind their backs? Seriously, do you? BAFTA is unlikely to give Milk a major run of awards because given their past history, members of BAFTA tend to reward British films where they can and the most obvious British film to garner the awards is Slumdog. And no, I don't have a complex about BAFTA being gay. As I pointed out, BAFTA already gave a heap of awards to Brokeback Mountain, so it doesn't need to prove anything about homophobia. If I recall correctly, BAFTA gave the 'race' movie, Crash, only one major award - and that was a Best Supporting Actress mask to British actress Thandie Newton. Man, I may have been taking the piss in my post, but do you seriously think Milk is going to beat Slumdog Millionaire in Britain?

For a US-based site, there's really quite a lot of UK coverage here. Apart from the wonderful Tim and Ryan's Gay in the UK vlog, you could look at the constant coverage of John Barrowman or Hollyoaks or Doctor Who, or the blitzes on Skins and Shameless and Graham Norton, or the increasing awareness of Russell Tovey. Let's face it, even though he's out, probably more people in America know Russell Tovey is gay because of AfterElton than know - or possibly care - in his own country.

I get where you're coming from on the BAFTAS and you make a valid point. However, it's only in the last couple of years since the BAFTAS moved their awards from November to February that they've had any importance - and that importance is based on how the increasingly large number of British members of the American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences are likely to vote in the Oscars. At the moment - and this can and probably is changing - the BAFTAS are frequently a fairly parochial affair.

...on the site, there has been a massive amount of coverage of Oscar night - concentrating on Dustin Lance Black's and Sean Penn's win. Just hunt around the site a little more and I'm sure you'll find it.

Try http://www.afterelton.com/movies/2009/2/milkvictorious

or

http://www.afterelton.com/blog/brianjuergens/pop-quiz-what-did-you-think-newer-gayer-oscars

and navigate some of the links from there. I can also recommend the liveblogging of Oscar night that AfterElton did - the comments of the staff and readers of AfterElton are a hoot and well worth a read.