Today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally announced the nominations for the 81st Academy Awards. Biggest surprise to me was the exclusion of Kate Winslet from the Best Supporting Actress category, though she will probably still win as Best Actress for The Reader. Yes, The Reader. The role for which she got a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, while Revolutionary Road got her the Globe for Best Actress.

The rest of the list is pretty straight-forward, basically what everyone has been predicting. No WALL-E nomination for Best Picture unfortunately, though it will win Best Animated Feature. The Andrew Stanton animated masterpiece was nominated for Best Original Screenplay however! Most Academy Award nominated film of 2008 is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with thirteen nominations.

After the jump are the major awards and on the Academy’s website, you’ll find the complete list (professional link) and the popular listing here.

Best Picture

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros.)
• Frost/Nixon (Universal Studios)
• Milk (Focus Features)
• The Reader (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight/Warner Independent)

Best Director

• David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
• Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)
• Gus Van Sant (Milk)
• Stephen Daldry (The Reader)
• Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Best Actor

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

Best Actress

• Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
• Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
• Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
• Meryl Streep (Doubt)
• Kate Winslet (The Reader)

Best Supporting Actor

• Josh Brolin (Milk)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
• Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
• Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams (Doubt)
• Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
• Viola Davis (Doubt)
• Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
• Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)

Best Original Screenplay

• Courtney Hunt (Frozen River)
• Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky)
• Martin McDonagh (In Bruges)
• Dustin Lance Black (Milk)
• Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter (WALL-E)

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Eric Roth; screen story by Eric Roth, Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
• John Patrick Shanley (Doubt)
• Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon)
• David Hare (The Reader)
• Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)

Best Animated Feature

• Bolt (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
• Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation)
• WALL-E (Pixar Animation Studios)

Best Foreign Language Film

• The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
• The Class (France)
• Departures (Japan)
• Revanche (Austria)
• Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

Best Original Score

• Alexandre Desplat (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
• James Newton Howard (Defiance)
• Danny Elfman (Milk)
• A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire)
• Thomas Newman (WALL-E)

Best Original Song

• “Down to Earth” (WALL-E)
• “Jai Ho” (Slumdog Millionaire)
• “O Saya” (Slumdog Millionaire)