Are we Oscar coherent?

So, finally the nominations have been announced by the Academy and we at The GNBI looks back our own set of nominations and gauge how correct or incorrect we were. Better to say, how closer or far were the thought process of the Academy and Team GNBI.
On January 18, four days ahead of the final nominations, The GNBI had given a list of the nominations and the winners -- which are our favourites for this year to get the golden statuettes -- in the six top categories. These were not predictions as stated earlier but our choice.
The Academy has chosen more or less the same as in most of the categories we were able to score above 60 per cent. The biggest disappointment for us was the Academy’s complete neglect of Sam Mendes directed Revolutionary Road that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. We, however, stand by our choice and consider the cinematic depiction of one of the Robert Yates’ novel as this year’s one of the finest.
We are also not changing our winners list, as all our winners feature in the Academy’s nominations too. We hope our winners will take home the Oscars.

Best Motion Picture
Whom Academy Chose
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Milk

Whom We chose
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Score: 3/5 Most Likely Coherent
We thought that Rachel Getting Married and Revolutionary Road would make it to the Academy list, but they instead chose Frost/Nixon and The Reader -- the films that have political overtones.

Achievement in Direction
Whom Academy Chose
David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)
Stephen Daldry (The Reader)
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Gus Van Sant (Milk)

Whom We chose
David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Gus Van Sant (Milk)
Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road)
Woody Allen ( Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Score: 3/5 Most Likely Coherent
The Academy chose to repeat the Best Film list in this category too by nominating their directors. But it still makes us wonder why they chose to ignore Sam Mendes and his Revolutionary Road.

Best Actor
Whom Academy Chose
Richard Jenkins (The Visitor)
Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
Sean Penn (Milk)
Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

Whom We chose
Brad Pitt (The Curious case of Benjamin Button)
Colin Farrell (In Bruges)
Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
Sean Penn (Milk)

Score: 4/5 Coherent
We had chosen Colin Farrell for his performance in comedy thriller In Bruges but Academy preferred Richard Jenkins for The Visitor.

Best Actress
Whom Academy chose
Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Kate Winslet (The Reader)

Whom We chose
Anna Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)
Kate Winslet (The Reader)
Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky)

Score: 3/5 Most Likely Coherent
We made a very unique and peculiar preference by nominating Kate Winslet twice in the same category for her role in Revolutionary Road and The Reader, but the Academy again chose to ignore the film adaptation of Yates’ novel. Quite intriguing to see that Revolutionary Road that gave Winslet the Golden Globe Award fails to get even a nomination at the Oscars. Interestingly, the Academy preferred to bring in Angelina Jolie for Changeling and dropped Sally Hawkins. We think America needed Sally to lift the spirits.

Best Supporting Actor
Whom Academy chose
Josh Brolin (Milk)
Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Whom We chose
Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Josh Brolin (Milk)
Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)

Score: 4/5 Coherent
We had a wild card entry for this category in Dev Patel, but the Academy had its own in Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road!!!

Best Supporting Actress
Whom Academy chose
Amy Adams (Doubt)
Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Viola Davis (Doubt)
Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)

Whom We chose
Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Viola Davis (Doubt)
Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)
Tilda Swinton (Burn After Reading)

Score: 4/5 Coherent
So finally, Doubt has two nominations in this category. Our choice for Swinton was dropped by the Academy to make way for Amy Adams and we are not complaining because we knew that Adams has all the right acting attributes to make it to the list.

The Rahman Moment
For India, this year the Academy Awards will be a great event. Thanks to Slumdog Millionaire which has fetched A R Rahman THREE Oscar nominations -- for Best Original Score where he will be competing with Alexandre Desplat (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), James Newton Howard (Defiance), Danny Elfman ( Milk) and Thomas Newman ( WALL-E).
-- for Best Original Song where he notched two nominations Jai Ho with Lyric by Gulzar and O Saya with Lyric by Maya Arulpragasam. In this category his third and only competitor is Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman for Down to Earth (WALL-E).
With Golden Globe already in his pocket, Oscar statuette is what he and rest of India will be looking for.
To view the complete list of Oscar nominations click here