A very belated birthday...

It seems that I forgot the blog's 2nd birthday, which was back on October 12th. Apologies (yup, I just apologized to a website...that's how much I fear technology).

It's time: nominees for the 2nd Annual Texan Awards (it's like the Oscars, minus the acceptance speeches)

With the 2008 Award Season entering its last few weeks, I've decided to unveil my own set of nominees. This year was particularly difficult to narrow down to five-per-category, and in a few I've made an exception and allowed a sixth nominee. While this would seem to indicate that I found 08 to be an amazing year for movies, it's actually quite the opposite. There were only a handful of GREAT films, with everything else worth watching landing in "solid", "good", or "very good" territory. At times I was banging my head over who should get the "fifth slot" in a certain category, but hopefully, these are really the people/movies that I think are the top 5 in their respective categories. You'll see some that may surprise, delight, or even disgust you (which is another similarity the nominees have with the Oscar roster); there are a few unconventional choices, and nominees that come from films that deeply divided critics and/or audiences. So, without further adieu, your 2008 Texan Award Nominees are.....(I've tried my best to keep them in alphabetical order)

PS: If you haven't seen the 2007 Nominees and Winners, click HERE and HERE

BEST PICTURE




BEST DIRECTOR


Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire


Ari Folman - Waltz With Bashir


Baz Luhrmann - Australia


Martin McDonagh - In Bruges


Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight



BEST ACTOR




Colin Farrell - In Bruges


Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon


Sean Penn - Milk


Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler


Michael Sheen - Frost/Nixon




BEST ACTRESS




Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married


Sally Hawkins - Happy Go Lucky


Melissa Leo - Frozen River


Meryl Streep - Doubt


Kristin Scott Thomas - I've Loved You So Long


Kate Winslet - The Reader




BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR




Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder


Ralph Fiennes - In Bruges


Ralph Fiennes - The Duchess


Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight


Brandon Walters - Australia




BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS




Amy Adams - Doubt


Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona


Viola Davis - Doubt


Samantha Morton - Synecdoche, New York


Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler


Evan Rachel Wood - The Wrestler



BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Australia: Baz Luhrmann, Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood
Happy Go Lucky: Mike Leigh
In Bruges: Martin McDonagh
Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Woody Allen
WALL-E: Andrew Stanton

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Doubt: John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon: Peter Morgan
Let the Right One In: John Lindqvist
Slumdog Millionaire: Simon Beaufoy
The Dark Knight: Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, David S. Goyer

BEST EDITING
Australia
In Bruges
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
Waltz With Bashir



BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Australia


In Bruges


Slumdog Millionaire


The Dark Knight


The Fall



BEST ART DIRECTION & SET DESIGN

Australia

Hellboy II: The Golden Army


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


The Fall


Slumdog Millionaire


Waltz With Bashir



BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Australia


Hellboy II: The Golden Army


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


The Duchess


The Fall

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Carter Burwell - In Bruges
David Hirschfelder - Australia
AR Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Max Richter - Waltz With Bashir
James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer - The Dark Knight

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
By The Boab Tree by Angela Little - Australia(CLICK)
Rock Me Sexy Jesus by The Ralph Saul Experience - Hamlet 2(CLICK)
The Wrestler by Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler(CLICK)
Jai Ho by AR Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire(CLICK)
Little Person by John Brion - Synecdoche, New York(CLICK)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

I've Loved You So Long (France)


Let the Right One In (Sweden)

Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
WALL-E
Waltz With Bashir

BEST MAKEUP
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight
007: Quatum of Solace

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Australia
Iron Man
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
007: Quantum of Solace

BEST SOUND MIXING
Australia
In Bruges
Iron Man
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight

BEST SOUND EDITING
Australia
In Bruges
Iron Man
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight

The winners will be announced on February 21st, the day before the Oscars. Additional "special" categories will also be revealed that day.